From the Archives: If I Designed It– A Parisian Pied a Terre

{The Living Room in this Chic Parisian Apartment is the Perfect Blank Slate}

UPDATE: Greetings from Paris! Be sure to follow along @palomacontrerasdesign and @shoppalomaandco to see what fabulous treasures we find for our shop while we are here! In the meantime, here is a favorite Paris-themed post from the LDV archives featuring a dreamy apartment in the 7th arrondissement where we are currently staying.

After my recent trips to Paris, I have completely fallen in love with the City of Lights. While I won’t be attending Deco Off and Maison et Objet later this month, I am already thinking about my next trip there to gather inspiration and find beautiful antiques and art for my clients. When you work in a creative field, it is important to take time away from the daily grind and visit places from which you draw inspiration and allow you to refuel creatively. Otherwise, it is so easy to get bogged down in the details of the day to day. It may sound a little ridiculous, but I think I have reached a point in my life when I am going to make it a goal to visit Paris at least once a year. There are several places stateside that are important for my travels including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and I usually wind up there multiple times a year. Paris will obviously take a bit more planning, but I have found it to be the place, along with London, from which I find the most inspiration and where I have had the most luck finding the things I am seeking.

{I love the high contrast effect of the crisp white walls and ebonized floors as seen here in the living room. I also love the Giacommeti-style plaster chandelier in this room.}

As such, on a recent weekend, I decided that it would be fun to look at real estate listings in Paris in case I should ever have a pied-à-terre there. I found a beautiful duplex apartment in the 7th arrondissement on the Left Bank, which I love, and quickly let my husband know I’d found the perfect spot for us. With his eyes rolled, he asked for the price tag then chuckled when I told him it was $12.9 million. A girl can dream, right? Regardless, I couldn’t help but imagine how I would design this beautiful apartment if I were in charge of the decoration.

{Beautiful Parisian Moldings}

{The kitchen has a beautiful La Cornue range, pretty taupe cabinetry and marble countertops. The only major change I would make here would be to the pendants over the island and I would possibly change the shelves to something that feels a bit lighter in the space.}

{The Master Bedroom}

{How stunning is the master bathroom? Notice the marble clad doors– insane!}

{A Guest Bedroom}

{The Private Entrance Hall}

{A Sculptural Staircase}

{The Duplex has a Private Tree-Lined Alley and Gardens}

If this beautiful apartment belonged to me, or more feasibly to a client, I would want to balance the classic bones of the spaces with a mix of modern and traditional pieces. The crisp color palette of the space itself is so pure and beautiful, that I would want to keep the interiors from feeling fussy, so I would keep any pattern to a very bare minimum and instead focus on an interesting mix of silhouettes and beautiful textures. Specifically, in the living room, I would envision a huge abstract painting, perhaps a Cy Twombly to anchor the space. I would add smoky, antiqued mirror above the fireplace to draw the eye up and open up the space further. I would keep the beautiful plaster chandelier in the manner of Giacometti that is already in the room and add a mix of interesting furniture silhouettes from different periods. A long, skirted sofa in chocolate velvet would add luxurious texture and rich color to the space, while a pair of skirted chairs with bullion fringe would add a feminine touch.

A pair of Mies van der Rohe lounge chairs in chrome and rattan would add a sculptural and textural touch to the space, while a pair of antique French benches upholstered sumptuous peacock blue velvet would add a hint of color and a wink to the origins of the building. Metallic accents, by way of a 1970s brass coffee table by Karl Springer and a little brass drum table add a bit of glamour, while a chunky abaca rug underfoot adds more texture, grounds the room, and keeps the space from feeling too formal. I could move right in!