Parisian Apartment. Part Six. L'appartement: High Ceilings.

 

High ceilings. High ceilings. High ceilings. Repeat. High ceilings. High ceilings. High ceilings.

Keep this mantra going in your head when you’re looking for your Parisian apartment.

                                                          It holds the key to happiness.

 

 

In typical Parisian Haussmann apartments, the floor with the highest ceilings is the second floor, the étage noble or bel étage. Basically what this means is that the rich people get the prettiest floor. By the way, in Paris, the second floor is actually the third floor. Anyway, on this hoity-toity floor, the ceilings are the highest, the windows are the tallest, which meets the light is the best. The higher the floor, the lower the ceilings, the less the light. I live on the third floor and my windows are more than 8 feet tall. Can you imagine what the second floor is like!

Even if you have a teeny tiny Parisian apartment, if you have high ceilings, you have everything. With high ceilings, you will most likely have floor-to-ceiling windows. This also allows you to have dramatic skyscraper curtains! This is par for the course in Paris. So much so that at the typical department store, BHV, there are ready-made skyscraper curtains. No custom curtains needed. They are already there for you.

 

 On a side note, be careful what you wish for. With these high ceilings and the beaucoup de light, you are definitely, definitely, definitely going to need blackout curtains. For every room. Otherwise, you will not get any sleep.

 

High ceilings create the illusion of space. My apartment is not that big, but it feels grande, because my ceilings are so high. With all of these Parisian apartments and the high ceilings, I feel like Parisians decorate vertically as opposed to horizontally. Everything is tall, tall, tall. This creates drama, drama, drama. This is why you barely have to do anything to have a great apartment in Paris.

What are you going to do with those tall walls and ceilings? Embellish them, of course! Stay tuned for Parisian Apartment. Part Sept. Boiserie.