Flea market at Porte de Clignancourt/Saint Ouen

[kerouac]

Sorry, but this report is too fragmented and dispersed to be able to copy and paste it again here, but here is the link that should show those of you who have never been there just about everything you ever wanted to know about what you might see at the flea market.

www.anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pictures&action=display&thread=3319&page=1

[Jody]

As always a GREATphoto essay! We used to do St Ouen regularly but what I like I can't afford! But the silver pictures make me start to rethink that. I do love silver !!

Hope you will join in the Oct GTG , I'd love to meet you!

[holger]

I enjoyed browsing the link. There were some nice really vintage clothing items, some interesting pieces of furniture and a wide array of silver table pieces. One could equip an apartment fairly well with the table ware and wooden items.

Thanks.

[sistereurope]

I enjoyed the essay as well. I especially enjoyed the juxtaposition between the really cheap junk and the pricey antiques...
Thanks Kerouac!!!

[Shoesy]

That's quite a collection of silver, but I have a feeling that it would be extremely hard to find inexpensive bargains among valuable items. As for the other stuff, I don't particularly enjoy rummaging through someone else's discarded junk, though I bet objects worth buying do exist, and with a minimal amount of patience and effort, they can be found.

[mez]

Thanks for the tour. Flea markets aren't my thing, so you have satisfied my curiosity.

I did enjoy looking at the vintage clothes. That's about the only thing that appeals to me.

PS. Have you managed to find out what that round-wooden-stacked-container thing is ?

[Jody]

it would be fun to have a set of old silverware for use in the apartment

I don't think it's weird at all. My silver I use everyday is almost 200 years old and looks great. Don't know if I'd have it in a rental apartment though. You could have a few settings to use yourself and hide it away when the apt. is rented out!

[mossie]

Yes a super report. Although I have been to Clignancourt twice I find it too large, suppose it is OK once you understand the layout
I prefer Vanves which is on a much smaller scale.

As for silverware at table, that is a great idea. Only problem, as the old saying has it. After one has visitors, one has to count the spoons. ;D ;D

[Shoesy]

Annette - I agree with you that traditional mirrors would look perfect above those lovely fireplaces. Wonderful idea! As for the silverware, I would be afraid to leave it in a rental. Hey......and don't leave Darryl there either, even though he could really embellish that apt., any apt. for that matter. ;D

[sunshine817]

In all seriousness, Annette, the rental owners I know in France and in the US have ended up furnishing their places with the absolute cheapest, bottom-dollar stuff they could find, because people can and will rob you blind.

My friends in Florida who had a condo on Anna Maria Island had to replace the silverware at least once a month, and the dishes about once every 6 months, because so much of it would disappear that a family of four couldn't even sit down and eat together.

And many are the gites we've rented in the countryside that have an inventory list when you collect the keys...and there's often a clause in the contract that says they'll take inventory when you leave...and if everything's there, you'll get your deposit back.

I actually end up adding to the equipment most of the time...i end up buying knives and decent kitchen towels, then leaving them, as it was too much hassle to take them home on the plane...so we've never been charged a red cent against our deposit.

[Jody]

Funny!! sunshine. Our last apartment did not have a spatula or a , I don't know what you call it..the thing you flip eggs or pancakes with!! And the wine glasses were THICK. I bought all of that stuff and left it there!

[Truffaut]

Mar 9, 2010 16:31:36 GMT -5 sunshine817 said:

In all seriousness, Annette, the rental owners I know in France and in the US have ended up furnishing their places with the absolute cheapest, bottom-dollar stuff they could find, because people can and will rob you blind.

OK, I really have to take exception to this. Let's take a little tour around our Paris living room shall we? A ca. 1830 Charles X mahogany folding games table used as a computer desk; a ca. 1920 Régence Revival mahogany table with brass gallery used as a telephone table; a Napoleon III style dining table and chairs; a ca. 1925 Art Deco rosewood bar; a late 19th century Louis XIV style fruitwood commode; a Napoleon III giltwood mirror; leather club chairs; handmade wool Oriental rugs; 6 mid-19th century lithographs of Paris architectural sites; three early 20th century oil on canvas paintings of Parisian scenes by listed artists....

We made the very deliberate decision NOT to furnish our apartment cheaply and we have been rewarded by very respectful guests who have taken very good care of our property. My advice is to furnish your home in the way you like. The appropriate guests will come your way (though you'll have considerably less control if you use somebody else to manage your rentals). In six years, we've had one broken Industrielle Moderne table; one stolen cookbook; one soiled tablecloth; one broken oven door, and admittedly dozens of broken dishes and glasses. My advice is to skimp on the dishes--I don't know how it happens (too much wine, perhaps?) but we're constantly replacing those. Be sure to get something very plain that you know you can match a year or two down the road.

[Truffaut]

Oh....sheets, towels and pillows go fast too. We're booked about 40 weeks a year, so the apartment gets about as much wear as a real home. We keep eight complete sets of towels, three changes of sheets and four pillows for each bed on hand and we find all of it needs to be completely replaced at least once a year. Blankets and coverlets do seem to last, though.

[sunshine817]

Fair enough, Truffaut -- I can see both sides of the argument, to be really honest.

And I think you hit on the core of it -- you don't use an agency for your flat, which is more work for you, but also allows you some degree of control over who gets to stay there. The folks with the condo in Florida found that even the artwork was disappearing off of the walls -- Laura has the taste of a decorator, and had all kinds of cute "beachy" signs and paintings...she was furious when they disappeared -- and yes, they were using an agency.

I think things like stained tablecloths, lost silverware, and broken dishes just come with the territory -- so those should be serviceable and little more. (The flatware that's so flimsy that it seems like it's made of stamped aluminum foil is TOO cheap...I was thinking more along the line of Carrefour/Walmart/Ikea -- inexpensive, but usable.)

[gertie]

I'd say from the experience my family had with a property in Colorado Truffaut has it about right. We used to watch the discount shops for sets discounted down to practically nothing because some of the cups were broken, or for more than one box of the same pattern with a piece or two broken for years. After the advent of the internet, my mother happened on a closeout of a business in a nearby town and we picked up boxes and boxes of one stoneware pattern at a price working out to about 8 cents per piece. The family finally opted to get rid of the property because of a developer offer, and we still give away 4 place setting (minus cups, what is it with cups?) packs to friends and children of friends that marry or head out to first college apartments.

[Truffaut]

Personally, I wouldn't consider using an agency to manage our apartment. As Sunshine points out, it's much less work, but you really do give up all control. Some of the agencies are very conscientious and take good care of the property, but most of them are really bad (at least on the owner's side of the equation).

[luckyluc]

I also believe that people will act according to their surrounding. If the place look cheap, renters will not care much, but if it is clean and have nice furnishing and an personal ambiance they will act more like a guest at a friend's house. Like T. taugh me I always interview potential renters over the phone, it is more work but so far it always paid off.

[Laura NY (aoi33)]

Annette, if you have room in the cave, I would buy the dishes, glasses, silverplate, sheets and towels in bulk and leave the extras in the cave until you need them. Shopping for yourself when you are in Paris is one thing, having to spend time replacing basics from breakage or wear is another. Also, if you buy in in bulk now, you know that all the pieces and bedding will match for a long time to come.

As for the pillows, do make sure you have a selection of both firmnesses and materials.

I have done very well on eBay on bulk Frette flat sheets (which should fit French beds, but double check) and on a vintage silverplate pattern I like. I purchase every well priced bulk lot of it which comes up, at about a dollar per piece, and have amassed quite a collection of it over time. EBay.fr is also great, especially since you have a French address to send things to.

You are going to have so much fun putting this together!

[framboiseetrose]

Thank you, Kerouac, for this wonderful post. I seldom go to the Marche aux Puces but I remember going with French friends to Chez Louisette. The lady singer at that time was a Piaf-look-alike complete with the outfit and make-up. It was fun and we enjoyed the lunch! Your post brought back some good memories........

[Anne]

We've been renting summer houses all over France for many years, and came to realize that we are - mostly unconsciously so - much more careful in places when we have had a personnal connection with the owner(s), in whatever form. This helps realize that this is really someone's place, while dealing with an agency makes it hardly more personal than a hotel, just a financial transaction. I'm sure that this is one of the main reason why Luc and Truffaut haven't had any major complain about their tenants.
There is one type of item where I wouldn't spend much money though : sofa and armchairs, unless you plan to refuse people with young children. There are enough people who don't mind letting their children settle on sofas or armchairs with soiled shoes ...