I stayed at Laura’s place for a month and couldn’t have asked for a better experience or host. Laura was very easy to communicate with and considerate. For example, she came by a couple times during my stay with fresh sheets and to do a little tidying up. And after I said I didn’t drink coffee, she got an electric kettle and moved the coffee maker. These are just a couple examples of how lovely she was.
The physical apartment: it’s a walk-up without an elevator as advertised, but I quickly got used to the stairs. The space is super clean, her bed very comfortable, and it was a perfectly sized space for 1-2 people. Laura kindly set aside some closet space for me. The kitchen is well equipped with an induction stovetop, cookware, utensils, plate ware, etc. The bathroom is small but not too cramped, and the facilities worked great and had good water pressure. The washer worked well and Laura had a drying rack I could use as well. Between the windows in the kitchen that face the courtyard and the window in the bedroom facing the street, there was a lot of natural light. At night, the street was very quiet.
Location: The apartment is not physically close to the center of Paris, but is only 1-2 minutes walk from the 5 metro line. On the metro, it takes about half an hour to reach the Seine. Walking, the apartment is 10 minutes from Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which was beautiful and one of my favorite parts about the location; 30 minutes from the Canal St Martin area; ~1 hour from the Rue de Charonne / Bastille area; and a little over an hour from the Louvre area. If your stay in Paris will be short, I would perhaps consider somewhere closer to city center, but as my stay was long, I was happy to walk and take the metro.
In the end, I had a wonderful stay and wanted for nothing. I would stay at Laura’s again in a heartbeat. Merci beaucoup, Laura!