This is a stunning apartment with very helpful hosts and a great check-in/key system. We really liked the area - arty and fun, close to several metro stations, and an easy walk to the Pompidou Centre.
The look and feel of the apartment was really special, softened by the golden stones. The place is much bigger than the images suggest, spread over two floors, spacious and vast. We were staying during a heatwave in Paris, and it was always a relief to enter the apartment because it remained cool.
However, the layout was a little illogical (no doubt forced by construction limitations) with the bedrooms upstairs and the bathrooms downstairs. The bathrooms are spacious and modern and plenty of towels are provided. The toilet upstairs was temporarily out of commission because of a plumbing problem, so there was a lot of going up and down the stairs (note, no banister for those with mobility issues). I admit I was always turning the wrong way at the top and bottom of the stairs.
There are plenty of good mirrors and also tons of storage. Yes!
The main bedroom can only fit a double bed, but it was really comfortable. The other room had a pull-out sofa which was fairly comfortable. Both bedrooms are pretty small.
The main bedroom is right on the street front (just window and curtains separating you from the activity outside). This is the only source of natural light in the apartment. Although our stay included Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, we were not overly disturbed by noise outside on the street.
The kitchen is big, and looks like it has all you need. This is deceiving though. We
struggled to find the cutlery until the last place we thought to look (the drawer under the oven - why?). The cutting board is tiny, and the knives are okay, but speckled so you keep trying to wash off the speckles. There is no dishwasher. There is no teatowel, just a hand towel that we had to use instead, no teapot, no toaster that we could find, just four mugs and two demitasses, and a coffee machine that rejected every type of pod we bought (ugh, such a waste of earth's resources, please have a plunger as an alternative). We did not locate the simple basics such as salt and pepper, sugar, oil and so on. There were two small bottles of water (grateful for that) and four coffee pods.
The dining room is lovely and huge, but the likelihood of being able to prepare and serve a meal worthy of it using the kitchen is pretty slim.
We really liked the place, but it lets itself down a bit on the details. Maybe we were expected to eat every meal out (save for breakfast as the boulangerie across the road is great), but for many, especially on longer stays, it is fun to go the markets and shop local to prepare a special meal. You can't really do that here.
An added note, we had a late flight and queried if we could leave our luggage but it was not possible. However, the host recommended a great service - nannybags - and it was cheap, convenient and reliable. Excellent concept, highly recommended.