My piece of Paris -- and peace of mind
[Music] Finding a place to live in Paris is not easy Just ask anyone -- French people or foreigners You might call me crazy then for deciding to give up my place in the neighborhood visitors say is the best area in the city I mean you know the Marais, right? Narrow streets, amazingly historic cafes everywhere... Central... It just looks like quintessential Paris It's the 'Hood of Dreams This has been home for me for a decade So why did I swap it for a very different corner of Paris? One that feels sort of more like, I don't know... Berlin? Does this look like postcard Paris to you? First let me explain a little bit about Paris' housing market It is tough There aren't enough apartments and the demand is huge, which means prices are high To give you an idea of rent you're looking €1.5K-€2K to rent an apartment in the city But there are extremely few decent places that come up, and they go super fast Oh, to land a place you need to earn at least three times the rent So €4.5k-€5K a month before income tax This, by the way, is what average salaries look like in Paris after taxes Landlords prefer renting to French people with ultra-solid jobs, like workers for the government or for big companies I'm an actress which means I do not have the best profile as a renter I used to have a regular office job with a great salary But to be perfectly honest, I'm much much happier doing what I do now That sort of happiness, money cannot buy And I'm very much attuned to my surroundings Which brings me to my reasons for giving up this place in the Marais after so many years It wasn't the ugly tiled floor -- though that didn't help It wasn't the low ceiling, the lack of direct sunlight, or the bathroom so small I had to close the door to get to the sink Or the street noise at all hours Or that my cat had no room to play It was largely because the Marais that I used to love barely exists anymore, or that's what I feel anyway What is very important to Parisians is "vie de quartier", which means the sort of neighborhood life you get around you and the neighborhood character reflecting your own character On the face of it, the Marais has that...
So many cafes, shops, galleries and everything Visitors love how densely packed the attractions in the Marais are -- I did too But if you live here for a long time, you get to see the changes Many of the bistrots and boulangeries I used to love have gone, some taken over by clothing chains, some bought up by new owners who want them to be trendy tourist places There's more English spoken than French It's still a fun place, and one I love to go to, like a lot of Parisians But the reality is that the Marais is now more geared to visitors than locals So that's the combination of factors that made me want to move But the icing on the cake was... well the icing on the cake I had a birthday -- I won't tell you what age, but this shot is candle accurate And it made me think Paris is my home -- it will always be So I want a piece of it I don't want to just be a renter, I want to be an owner Now even if I wanted to stay in the Marais, there are factors to consider as an owner You're basically heading towards $1 million for a 500-square-foot apartment Even the other nearby areas in Paris that I love, the 10th and the 11th, are pricey But I was determined to stay in eastern Paris, which for me is the coolest side of the city and where most of my friends live So I looked at the two other arrondissements I really like... The 19th...
And the 20th Here, places are half the price of the Marais, there's more choice also And they are neighborhoods for Parisians, with a great vie de quartier Whenever you're looking for a place, you're looking for the neighborhood -- what kind of vibe you're looking for The second thing is the apartment itself -- it's really important, and I had very certain criteria [Music] And the third part is your budget, and I'm not going to lie -- it plays a part! The three of these together made it so that I ended up in the 19th And I do love it -- I spent a lot of summers here so it just kind of made sense [Music] Moving out though is such a pain And the water is cut off, so I can't do the dishes because I took the dishwasher away yesterday and the thingamabob is leaking even though I got a bouchon -- a stopper -- for the faucet But it's still leaking, so I had to turn off the water completely in the kitchen I feel like I'm living like an animal I just want it to be over with It's been busy, crazy, ugly, messy... So I need a good breakfast before I go and tackle a whole lot of things that I didn't even know existed in my apartment, and clean it, and hopefully leave Moving house is not fun So what we have here is my new apartment I love it so much -- it's all mine, mine, mine, all mine! Look at this skylight! So much sun... The apartment I found, after a lot of looking, had almost everything I was looking for I will wake up with the sun every morning, it will shine right through the bedroom in my eyes (Wooden) floor, sunlight, top floor, 50m2, big bathroom, old beams and a cellar room (or a 'cave')... Lots of space for clothes -- Yes! Finally! That's great 'cause I love the smell of burning wood But I was extremely afraid of something going wrong, so I've bought -- what have I bought? So I have bought this, and I have to learn how to use it I suppose you just take that out and go pssshhht This is the bathroom When you're taking a bath, you can have a great view of Parisian rooftops Yeah, it's huge How is it that when you move, stuff just appears as if out of nowhere? I have too many shoes! How did I keep all of this? The cave is a blessing, and a curse I'm afraid of caves, and this one needed a bit of fixing I hate them -- they they consist of everything I was afraid of as a child This is terrifying me And honestly, I truly still, in my body, believe there are monsters [Genuine screams] Thank god! Don't do that! [More screams, sorry] Why isn't it coming up? I hate this place, I hate this place so much I actually needed to do a bit of fixing everywhere in the apartment before I could think of it as home However, I really needed to prioritize because, you know, I don't want to get into the details but it costs So prioritizing is the way to go The first thing I did was to get in an electrician to do a whole bunch of things Because especially these things wouldn't work without proper...
uh... electricity?...wires? Whatever... Someone's coming tomorrow to paint the whole thing I bought a whole bunch of paint Yeah, I don't like anything shiny so I'm going for a matte, white matte look I was so tired when I went to pick up the paint that I was just like... and then the lady was giving me all of her attention -- and I'm so not used to this in Paris, that I just panicked and was like 'This is fine!' I don't understand how blue would go with this and then that But this is a fourth priority -- fourth, because the third one is more important That is the parquet -- the floors Because it's a beautiful wood, it's just ruined because it needs to be done So someone -- after the painter -- someone's coming to just strip this back and then put... varnish? Is that what it's called?... put on top It should look really good [Music] I can tell you it's a really mixed arrondissement, there's a bit of everything Not as chic as the Marais, for sure It's not what you'd expect from Paris Which is both a good thing -- maybe not such a great thing either I do believe it will take some getting used to, 'cause, you know, it's quite different But it's got very good things about it as well It's a nice neighborhood, it's got really weird things...
Like a submarine I don't often ask this, but I couldn't resist... If you like my channel, please sub-scribe [Music] The northern part used to be warehouses but now the city is rapidly gentrifying it Some parts are still a bit sketchy, but with some very cool fun spots as well [Music] The part south of the canal is a bit more traditional Paris And the park area is very much sought after You don't see visitors, you see people who actually live in the neighborhood, or live in Paris and come here specifically to be in this neighborhood So it's a huge difference But I do think really that, if you are coming to Paris, the Marais is one of the most beautiful places you can stay at It's fun, it's vibey As a person who lives in the neighborhood though, it's different... I don't look for the same things as visitors do...
I want a life of the quartier, I want a life of the neighborhood I want to have little shops that I go buy my groceries at I want to know the people who work in those shops So I realize that the neighborhood I moved into has a lot of downsides, sure But I do feel a lot more of the life of the quartier here [Music] My cat, Calvin, also needed to love it [Music] I've done quite a bit of things I put mastic -- I don't know what that is in English -- around the bathtub Also, what's lovely about this apartment is that it's so quiet and peaceful, you can hear yourself think, and so sunny and everything However last night late I was here, and there was absolutely no noise except for my breathing... And that guy, who's super loud It's impossible to be around this thing I mean this was here before and I thought 'Oh great, I can use this' But no -- unless I want to not get any sleep So I ordered another one What else did I do ? I put up the shelves, because I have a lot of books So I put up some shelves over here That could be nice, just kind of put them up there Hopefully it will hold, 'cause otherwise I'll go through the door and *boing* And I bought a lot of these things, to put one right along here and perhaps two over here and over here to put all my books in However... Paris apartments, as charming as they are, are... ...handmade So nothing is straight It would look wonky all the time So, given up on that I'll have to do -- I'll have to throw away some books, I guess That's painful It's really painful So voilà. Now I'm going to clean the inside of the cabinets, which are filthy So frigging dirty! This is stuff that won't come off Out of sight, out of mind -- What? Yeah -- out of sight, out of mind Not all the renovation went smoothly I don't know if you remember there was this awful aluminium foil type thing here and I thought I'll take it off and I'll put one of these nice little easy stick-on tiles So I took it off and I started from there And I thought it's fine, it's just some, you know, tape -- double-sided tape -- so I'm just going to get the right stuff for it, to remove it And then the further and further I got I realized...
This... And I have no idea how to plaster If I was renting this place, I wouldn't even care, I wouldn't even touch it Now that I got my own place, I thought I should make it nice, because it's my place... Wrong! So I don't know what -- and my eye keeps itching I really wanted this video to be one of those where I show you the image Before, and then magically an amazing After But, yeah, that's not happening... I don't give a shit about YouTube! I really don't care about -- look at what I have to live with! Put that camera away! I hate my life...
I don't care what my reasoning was for moving... Big mistake -- stay where you are I'm not doing a video about this, this is like too much work and then to on top of it make a video about it -- are you crazy? You're no help Why don't you do anything, huh? You sleep all day, and then when I come tired at night, you just -- you're all energetic and wake me up 3,000 times a night What's that about? Why did I ever do this? I should have just let it be... All right -- I plastered For the first time in my life, I plastered something, and my god! It's fun, but when it gets to like problematic areas it's really difficult See, when you see this stuff on YouTube, you're just like -- it goes from as if it all happened in one day It goes from this horrible thing, to this beautiful thing -- Whee! Not like that It takes forever, there's a lot of waiting involved Voilà! But I'm pretty happy with what I did I think for a first timer I didn't do too badly I wish I had Cinderella's abilities and call on all the rats of Paris to come and clean this crap up for me I'm the real Cinderella I have to do this all by myself It may not be perfect, but my apartment is a lot better And as I said -- it's mine! I am very lucky, I know that, to have a place in Paris that I own... No arguments with the landlord, no worries about changing things inside That gives me peace of mind No matter what happens, I can always call Paris home
2024-12-05 16:00
