Paris Style Video: Suburban Paris Luxury Home Staged for Sale

Irwin Weiner ASID - Greetings from Paris! Jay Johnson and I are on Day 5 of our vacation in the beautiful French capital, and that of course means that we're on "assignment" for Design2Share. We never go anywhere without reporting back on residential and home trends, and that includes the latest international hotel scene and other looks in public spaces that will soon influence the shape of home style. Our fifth feature shows a Luxury Portfolio International suburban Paris home for sale, modeled after George Washington's Mount Vernon, with an interior that has been subjected to one of the most thoroughly modern real estate home staging schemes I've ever seen. (After looking at the replica of an early American home, I was cringing to see cheap reproduction American furnishings inside, but leave it to the French - they've taken a traditional shell and turned it into a clean, modern space.)

Interior design, as our readers know, is the process of decorating and adding a client's personality into the living space; real estate home staging takes away the personality and stages the home so that any potential buyer can imagine themselves living there. Staged homes sport neutral design schemes, and many professional stagers love white objects placed in rooms - they "float" in the space, add no obtrusive colors or patterns that would distract buyers, show size and scale in a room, and show off the utility and functions of the space. This particular home is staged well, even down to a white grand piano. Click here to look at other Luxury Portfolio International Paris real estate.

After a beautiful weekend, we'll be saying good-bye to Paris on Monday. Then it's back to the New York, and everyday reality. We can't wait to show off some of the sights of Paris and the style discoveries we've made this week; we'll save those for future posts. Au revoir!

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Elastic Living Luxury Apartment Rentals - Is It for You?

Irwin Weiner ASID - There's a groundswell of enthusiasm for "elastic living." By that we mean apartment, condo, and hotel-like buildings that offer short-term or longer-term accommodations, fully furnished, with complete-package amenities (maid service, room service, gym, pool, concierge).

Your small or large suites are bigger than what you'd find at a hotel, they're decorated as they would be for a luxury apartment or house (albeit "staged" and missing that interior design stamp of the owner's personality), and they have generous kitchens. The result: you're living in a luxury condo that mimics an intimate boutique hotel.

Corporations and individuals who travel and work a lot find elastic living properties to be the height of convenience; think an actor working for several months on location shooting a movie or TV show on location away from home or a busy executive who has an extended project away from her home office. AKA Luxury Furnished Suites is one such provider in multiple cities (e.g., Beverly Hills, NYC, Philadelphia), and the view of a terrace in their Central Park location (see top photo) shows the allure and fantasy of a fully-furnished luxe accommodation, which they cleverly refer to as a "Pied-À-Terre On Demand."

The following video interviews people who live in these elastic living rentals - and don't you think they would be ideal situations for families who are decorating their homes and have to move out for a period of time while their demolition, renovation, and interior design projects are in full swing?

Bonus

Click here for What's Wrong with a Hotel Look for My Home?

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7 of the Most Expensive Furnishings and Decor Pieces in the World

Irwin Weiner ASID - Eileen Gray's Dragon Armchair (top) was crafted between 1917 and 1919. It recently sold at auction for $29 million. Imagine if your interior designer were to suggest to you that you spend that much money on one item for your home! While I'd love the commission on such a purchase ... well, long gone are the days of decorators walking around with clients who have wads of blank checks stuck in their pockets.

Still, let's fantasize, shall we? Imagine having the Dragon Armchair or one of these other ultra-expensive items decorating your home. Click on each photo for more information. (Middle: Birds of America by James Audubon - $7.9 million. Below, from top to bottom: Harrington Commode by Thomas Chippendale - $5.9 million; Artemis and the Stag - $28.6 million; Great Silver Wine Cistern - $3.8 million; Badminton Cabinet, 1732 - $36 million; Qianlong Dynasty Vase, mid-18th Century - $83.2 million.) 

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