We have a small apartment in Paris. When we did a bit of remodeling and made our kitchen into what is called an “American kitchen”, we added a new stove and over that stove, a ventilater that is supposed to wisp all of the smoke and grease up through a filter and outside somewhere. However, I’m starting to think the vent leads right back into our apartment as whenever I take down a painting or plate from the wall I see the shape of whatever was on the wall. Then I get a sponge and spray the area with my trusty 409, a cleaning product I bring back with me from the States for its cleaning power with grease, and when I clean a small area, I end up having to clean the whole wall which, it turns out, has a thin film of greasy dirt. One wall in our living room I have not been able to get clean for some reason and it started to irritate me whenever I sat on the couch and saw a sort of black cloudy area. I finally decided to paint the irritating wall. It has been over three years since our apartment was painted, so maybe it is time in any case.
I make a trek to Castorama in Nation near our apartment. This is a French Home Depot. When I got to the paint center I had my sticker shock when I found a gallon can of paint costs over 50 Euros. I know gas is more expensive here in France and that paint is petroleum based but I couldn’t believe the price. I finally found a brand of paint by Castorama, one of those generic type of things, and bought it for 24 Euros which still seems high to me. A new paint roller was over eight euros. I do miss my forays into my Home Depot of old where repainting, and other household do it yourself projects always seemed affordable. I must say my wall looks so much better now. I may even extend my project into our bedroom but I don’t think I have enough paint.