The Paris Apartment



The Paris Apartment is a style of interior design where the focus is on the French boudoir and all things related to and inspired by French design and decor. The style incorporates all aspects of design, from the ceiling to the floor, walls and trims to the furniture, light fixtures, curtains, soft furnishings, books, and color palette. The boudoir furnishings used include chaise lounges, vanities, slipper chairs, beds, daybeds, nightstands, chandeliers, sconces, lamps, paintings, armoires, dressers, mirrors, and rugs. Each is hand crafted and all have worn, original painted patinas, traditional French details, and generally range in time period from 18th Century France through the Art Deco period. Treating these historic items as important heirlooms and caring for them as stewards is as important as the aesthetics themselves. The style includes other international items with character to complete the look so that it can be seen both as a collection and as a style of decoration reflecting one's individuality.

Description and history
The style started in a New York City boutique and evokes the classic decoration found in highly ornamental apartments in Paris where there are moldings on the walls and ceilings. Other architectural elements include fireplace mantles, chevron and patterned wood floors, French doors, and windows. Details include hardware, chandeliers, chaise lounges, settees, boudoir chairs, sumptuous curtains and pillows, muted paintwork, and overall "bon gout." The result of The Paris Apartment style is to achieve an elegant, relaxed, modern, yet opulent effect. Renovating and restoring antique furniture and vintage fabrics, tapestries, and textiles is an important factor in getting the look. Finding, updating, and repurposing items from salvage houses, auctions, thrift stores, antique shops, estate sales, and consignment shops remains a popular way to create the look on a budget.

Fundamental elements of The Paris Apartment style include showcasing art on gallery walls, incorporating large furniture in small spaces, and embracing a maximalist aesthetic with an aura of excess. The style at the same time encourages a minimalist approach, using only what the owner needs—bedding, pillows, furniture, etc.—and only the best while focusing on details such as painted walls and ceilings, special doors, floors, and decorations. From Paris to Provence, the style takes inspiration in many forms from interior and exterior, whether it be architecture, gardens, fabrics, artwork or nature's colorful palette.

Trompe-l'œil, meaning "to fool the eye" is incorporated into the decor,creating an optical illusion of a 3 dimensional image on a 2 dimensional space,and can be used on doors, floors or walls. Many of the original 18th century painted pieces have a natural "distressing" on a furniture's finish with the wear predominantly on the hand rests or legs.This is a highly coveted original patina that is usually restored and protected while keeping the aging. The look can be imitated on unpainted pieces by applying glaze or painting, then rubbing and lightly sanding the top layer to reveal the wood or base coats. Newer vintage pieces are selected for their likeness to traditional French furniture, and can be interwoven into the look with a distressed finish. It is possible to create elaborate furniture with traditional handles, appliques, flower garlands, and other patterns.

The same design concepts of employing genuine antique and vintage objects are used for the bathroom, dressing room, boudoir suite, garden, and balcony, in keeping with The Paris Apartment style.

Earlier bedspreads, velvet, antique and vintage linens, vintage and antique chandeliers, and lovely rugs are other desirable decorative goods.

The New York Times described the look as "playful and whimsical."

Decorators describe The Paris Apartment as cozy, peaceful, romantic, and inviting, similar to a French château or an old friend's apartment, whether it be a man or a woman. The style is typically linked to femininity.

Variants of The Paris Apartment style include:
 * Hollywood Regency
 * Baroque and Rococo
 * French country
 * Gustavian (Swedish)
 * Napoleon III style
 * Louis XV style
 * Art Deco
 * Art Nouveau
 * French Moderne

Inspiration and in other media
In 1993, designer Claudia Strasser opened a boutique with the same name in New York City. It was a 450 square foot storefront designed to look like a small Parisian apartment, filled with antiques, vintage furniture, and home décor from France. The notoriety and unique shop piqued the interest of Judith Regan, editor at HarperCollins who approached Strasser to write a book on the style. Strasser wrote ''The Paris Apartment, Romantic Décor on a Flea Market Budget," which was published in 1997.

Readers of The Paris Apartment were taught how to create rooms with moldings, restore furniture, repay with faux finishes, trompe-l'œil and create a style based on their personal preferences, using The Paris Apartment as inspiration. Strasser wrote her second book, Paris Flea Market Style, in 2013.