There's no better way to find inspiration for decorating in the elegantly nonchalant French manner than to see the real thing. Torontonians Grant Innes and Rony Zibara own a Paris pied-à-terre, located in the heart of one of the city's most historic neighbourhoods, furnished entirely with local flea market and antique store treasures. While you may not have the local Paris marche aux puces at your door, a closer look yields secrets that can easily be adapted at home in Canada.
To live in Paris, by and large, means to live in an apartment like this one – only one quarter of the city's population lives in private houses. Given the French passion for antiques, many of them created during a time when rooms were much larger than those in the average apartment, decor that's full, overstuffed and loaded with detail and charm is part of the signature look, and Innes and Zibara's apartment is a perfect example.
The apartment is on the top floor of what was once a hotel particulier – a large and lavish private residence – during the reign of Louis XV, with sections that date back even further.
Perhaps the most beautiful feature is a majestic wrought-iron and marble staircase that spirals counter-clockwise, in classic French fashion, to the top floor. (The counter-clockwise spin was supposedly designed to accommodate the fighting arm of a right-handed swordsman, backing up the stairs as he fought to defend his family above.) At one time, says Innes, the staircase was covered in elaborately carved walnut panelling, but during the last days before the French Revolution, the besieged inhabitants removed the panels, one by one, and burned them for firewood.
Innes, a painter, and Zibara, a creative consultant, admit that while the look is consciously eclectic, they did have a ‘master plan' – of sorts. Part of that plan involved colour. “The whole city is very art-directed, so colour is important here,” laughs Innes. His inspiration, he says, was the softness of the local landscape, covered in fog rolling in from the nearby River Seine: shades with an undertone of grey, such as grey-blue, grey-green, dusky terra cotta, and pale, cool yellow. Clear hues, especially in accessories, add a crisp counterpoint: a bit of black in a cast-iron bust on the mantel, a grouping of fruit portraits (painted by Innes) in the living room.
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