Friday, January 16, 2009

Maison de la Pierre (Our Apartment).


The number one request I've had for this blog is to post pictures of our new place.  I've hesitated because I don't feel like I've done it justice with my decorating but didn't want to wait any longer.  In my defense, this is an historic property with antique wood paneling throughout which I am not allowed to mar with nail holes so I can't hang anything, hence, the walls are extremely bare.  Also in my defense, I don't have a job at the moment (or a pay check) and so, furniture purchases are few and far between.  Anyway, having said all that the apartment is beautiful all on it's own.   The photo above is the view from the Laundry Room.  Needless to say, I enjoy ironing now (and doing the laundry... indoors).



The house was built in 1769.  It is on the official list of  tourist sights in our town and so is open to the public.  It is a well-known residence and when I meet people in town I can just tell them "Je habite a Maison de la Pierre" and they know what I'm talking about!   A single family (well-known in town, super nice, and English speaking) owns the entire "front" half of the building which faces Grand Rue and have two stories plus the ground floor which is all storage.  The other half is owned by the community and was recently renovated and split into two apartments.  The one above us is still vacant.
 
The photos above show our side entry into the courtyard.  We have the second floor on the "back" of the house as well as a huge storage cave below.  The building is perfectly symmetrical with a beautiful interior courtyard right in the center.  My dream is to host a party in it before we leave.




We have a very large foyer at the entrance with beautiful built in cupboards.  Maisie doesn't like to say the word foyer (or cupboard) so we call it the lobby. 
 

The foyer opens on the right to the kitchen, on the left to the guest room and directly into the very large living room. The Living room has a non-working marble fire place and a blue ceramic tiled (also non-working) antique heater in the opposite corner.  The windows look onto a very quiet back street (and some ugly pink apartments).  


A blurry shot of the kitchen which has been totally modernized.  It and the foyer are the only rooms without paneling.


Maisie's room.  We both wanted the room with the fireplace... but I lost.


This is the Guest Room, currently known as the Webkinz room since we don't have any furniture for it yet.  All the rooms are well proportioned and carefully detailed.  I've never lived anywhere so beautiful in my life! 




8 comments:

Matthew said...

It obviously goes without saying that I'm green with jealousy. Moving on...

Beautiful pictures of a beautiful home. Very nice. If you want to decorate the walls, you should try to find 3M Command Strips (http://tinyurl.com/7nf49e) at your local market. They do a great job of helping you decorate your walls while remaining completely removable leaving not a trace behind.

If you can't find them, let me know. They're so small we could mail them w/o a huge expense.

sue said...

You're never coming back, are you?

carrie said...

Of course we're coming back. Can you believe they don't have donuts here?

sue said...

Well, I didn't know about the donuts. No amount of gorgeous scenery, fabulously historic apartments and delicious horsemeat can make up for a lack of fine breakfast dining. Whew. What a relief.

ScrappyGoodness said...

I love the house! Glad things are going well. Jealousy still continues. *smile*

AMBER said...

Your home is GORGEOUS!! I am so happy that you get to live in such a beautiful place. I love everything about it.

Shelly said...

I suppose there is no comparison, not even Evergreen, 2nd Street or Robson Historic districts? I would never leave.....its magical!! Maybe you have to come home for mexican food and donuts!! Thank goodness!!

Jeanne Birmingham said...

or come home for pizza and cinnamon buns. but no pizza this year because the Cardinals are in the Superbowl so Matty wants to actually watch the game.