Before joining the cleaning revolution here at Housekeep, I lived and worked in Paris as an au pair. During my time in FranceI picked up a few tips and tricks that will bring a touch of Parisian chic to your home.
1) Lavender bags
As a way of keeping your clothes fresh, place a bag of dried lavender in your drawers. You may think this is something that your grandmother would recommend, and you are probably right. But the French take this little tradition seriously. Forget the promises that your fabric softener makes you, even your oldest socks can smell like one of the lavender fields of Provence with this little trick. You can make your own from the herbs in your grandmother’s garden, or alternatively buy them easily from gift shops and garden centres.
2) Savon de Marseille
Soap. Not the anti-bac stuff you keep on the kitchen sink. Real soap.
Soap has been made in the southern city of Marseille for at least 600 years. Savon de Marseille or Marseille soap is part of the family of ‘castile soaps’ - traditional and ancient soap varieties that have an olive oil base. True Savon de Marseille should be slightly greenish in colour and come in a big cube, sometimes weighing in between 500g 1 kg. It is now available in much smaller forms, and recently liquid varieties have started appearing. The olive oil base means that it is gentle even on sensitive skins.
The French swear by it, using it to get the wine stains out of clothes and to remove the remains of pain au chocolat from the faces of the children. I brought a huge brick back from France, and it has pride of place on my bathroom sink. You can buy blocks from amazon, or alternatively a liquid savon de marseille is available from Zest in Soho or John Bell and Croyden, havens of french beauty brands. Solid or liquid, this is the perfect multipurpose cleaning item. Use it to wash your dishes, your clothes and your dog.
3) Fresh flowers, fresh bread, fresh coffee.
It is one thing to see that your home is clean, it is a whole other thing to smell that your home has been cleaned. I always feel that smell is often the most overlooked part of a truly great clean. Not for the French though. Parisians are already famous for their numerous parfumeries, and many of the world’s greatest perfume houses can be found in Paris. So it is fitting that for a true Parisian, no clean is complete without the final flourish of scent. Fresh bread from the boulangerie, fresh flowers from the fleuriste, and fresh coffee in the cafetière - these are the smells that take me back to Sunday mornings in Paris. Best of all, all of this can be sourced from any small supermarket near you!
4) Throw open the windows!
Parisians like to live en plein air - out in the open - even in the heart of the city. Parisians are easily as busy as Londoners, and the weather is not so different either. But Parisians make an effort to take their morning coffee either at a café or on their balconies. Open windows and balconies are even found on the smallest of chambres de bonne. These are a type of small studio flat in the roof of a larger house, which used to belong to the wealthy family’s housekeepers, and very popular with students and the French version of hipsters - les bóbós. Parisians love to decorate these balconies and window sills with flower boxes and candles, so that even a five minute coffee break feel like a luxury. Try picking up a potted lavender from your local supermarket or florist to get you started, then expand your range of colours and scents. Guaranteed to make everything from a humble window sill to a roof terrace feel more luxurious.
5) La Femme de Menage
Every Parisian home has a femme de menage. This is the french equivalent of the housekeeper.
Parisians like to work on their own appearances - perfect manicures, well pressed shirts, the latest designer shoes. What they do not like doing is spending time ruining their nails and their clothes by cleaning. From the old grand apartment complexes of the 16e district to the modern warehouse conversions in the 13e district, every Parisian home relies on the femme de menage to keep everything together and their homes chic and tidy. This is an easy part of French life to copy - simply log on to housekeep.com and book a visit from one of our amazing housekeepers. They will keep your maison chic and tidy, whilst you can pretend to be living in the Parisian dream.
Remember what Audrey Hepburn said - “Paris is always a good idea.”