I would consider myself a francophile. I love French cooking. I also love French decor items, cookware, china, and furniture. My favorite place in the world and on my short bucket list of places to visit is Paris.
One of my good friends is moving back to France after living there on and off again for 40 years. She packed up some things to be shipped over and got rid of the rest of her stuff. She was starting over. Many of the pieces of furniture came from France and were shipped over to the US many years ago.
By a twist of fate, I was lucky enough to have two pieces of French antique bedroom furniture from her childhood. The pieces are petit but so is our bedroom.
A couple of years ago, when we painted and redecorated our bedroom, we sold our enormous furniture and picked up two small dressers secondhand. I have found that I missed all that storage in our bedroom and could never find anything in my dark closet.
Now, I have a “new” French armoire and a make-up vanity. I’ve wanted a vanity like this for decades! The two pieces fit our bedroom perfectly and look like they belong there, as if they’ve been there all along.
I also adopted my friend’s large rosemary plant she’s had for years, taking it in during the winter and putting it outside in the summer. She was going to leave it behind but asked if I wanted it. Of course, I would take it!
The plant is so aromatic you can smell it as you walk by it, and I cook a lot with rosemary. I hope to keep it alive and happy; I will try my best after asking her how to care for it.
Our bedroom is my little piece of France right here in Vermont. It feels like a small apartment bedroom in Paris. I love it! I am glad Marty likes it, too, even though it is on the feminine side. Nothing else in our house is girlie or frilly, but our bedroom is the one exception.
My friend purchased a new home in France with plenty of room for guests. We have a standing invitation anytime we can get to France. Plus, I could have a tour guide show me the ropes in Paris and not be disappointed by tourist traps.
Even though I didn’t see my friend often, catching up when we picked up my new Parisian furniture was a sweet goodbye. I’ll miss her, but I know France is where her heart is.
Vive la France! 🇫🇷
Well you need to plan a trip and just go! Put things on hold for 2 1/2 weeks, (the half will be travel time), especially since you have a local to guide you. The fall is a very nice time to visit France, harvest season and nice weather.
Looks great!!!
I just discovered that the famous American painting
Whistler’s Mother is in Paris, the Musee d’Orsay.
It was acquired by the French state in 1891.
Conversation started with a family member about the attack on the Mona
Lisa and moved on from the Louvre to the Musee d’Orsay which to me
is one step below heaven.
There is currently an exhibit about Gaudi, the famous Spanish
architect.
https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/exhibitions/gaudi-213307
When I get to Paris and see that museum, they are going
to have to pry me out at the end of the day.
that’s some rosemary bush, may it live long and prosper
What I neglected to say is the big picture: The Musee d’Orsay’s impressionist and post impressionist paintings include works by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Vincent Van Gogh…
It shows the arts of the period from 1848 to 1914 (it picks up where the Louvre ends): paintings, sculptures, furniture and photography. It’s the world’s largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art work from the period 1848 – 1904.
I could go to Paris for a week, spend every day in that museum and be in bliss.