Archive
The kitchen is a workroom, not a social space. It is compact, everything is within reach of one position, and the entertaining happens at th...
As days shorten, French homes move light lower and warmer rather than brighter. Candles appear on the table in October and stay until March....
Most French homes have no dedicated guest room. A sofa converts, a study takes a bed, and no square metre is held empty for eleven months ag...
Mail is dealt with on the day it arrives, standing at the entryway, into one of three outcomes: bin, act, file. It never reaches a horizonta...
A French person eating alone still lays a place: plate, glass, napkin, cutlery. Eating from a container standing up is not a shortcut, it is...
A French household assumes an object can be mended. Shoes are resoled, pans are re-tinned, chairs are re-caned. Replacement is what happens ...
September is the real new year in France. Households reorganise, subscriptions restart, and the home is put back in order after the summer. ...
French flowers arrive in small quantities and often as one variety. A bunch of the same thing, cut short, in a plain vase. Mixed bouquets wi...
Wooden floors are waxed, not sealed under plastic. They mark, they age, and the marks are accepted as history rather than damage. A floor th...
Matching sets are regarded as a sign that a room was bought rather than assembled. Chairs differ, glasses differ, and the coherence comes fr...
Old before new, and one piece at a time. Brocantes and vide-greniers are the default source, and a room assembled over ten years is consider...
French bedrooms are heated less than living rooms, often not at all. The window is cracked at night for most of the year and the bedding doe...
In August, French cities empty. Shops close for three weeks with a handwritten sign on the door. The country accepts that everything importa...
The Saturday market shop is a fixed household event, not an errand. What comes home determines what is eaten, and the week is planned backwa...
French homes commonly keep the dining area free of television. The room has one function and the household changes activity by changing room...
Cupboards close. Bookshelves hold books, not boxes. If an object is out on a surface in a French home, it is either in use or it is there fo...
Small bin, emptied daily. French kitchens do not have a large bin, because a large bin is a licence to let waste sit for three days and a sm...
Not for appearance. Ironed bed linen slides better, packs flatter, and lasts longer because the fibres lie flat instead of abrading against ...
French households keep two sets of everything and no more: two sets of sheets per bed, two sets of towels per person. One in use, one in the...
The entree is where the outside is put down: keys, coat, shoes, bag. It is small, it is functional, and it exists so that the rest of the ho...
No French living room has a single ceiling light on at night. Light comes from three or four low sources at different heights, none of them ...
A French room is under-furnished by American standards. Fewer objects, more space between them, and every piece able to justify itself. Empt...
Every French household airs the rooms for ten minutes each morning, whatever the season. It is called aerer, it is not optional, and it happ...
French kitchens are famously compact by American standards, and that is deliberate. A smaller kitchen means everything is within arm's reach...
In France, the kitchen towel is linen, not terry cloth. Linen dries faster, lasts decades, absorbs better, and gets softer with age. Every F...
The French never use overhead lighting as the primary light source. Instead, they layer: a floor lamp in the corner, a table lamp by the sof...
Every French home has a small table near the entrance. It holds keys, a small tray, perhaps a candle. It is the transition between the outsi...
French beds use a duvet and two square European pillows, no top sheet, no decorative pillows. The bed is made in under 60 seconds. Shake the...
In France, fresh flowers are not reserved for special occasions. A small bouquet from the market every week is a household staple. But the r...