THE EPIC APARTMENT TOUR YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR: AN AND JEFF EDITION
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- You asked for it and FINALLY-- the boxes are unpacked and we're ready for "company", here in Nice, France.
Yes, you'll note that when we shot the video, we still needed a few finishing touches, but, we're ready to show you the "before" and "after", of the furnished apartment we rented in Nice France.
The apartment was not "perfect" when we rented it, but it had most of the things on our "wish/needs" list and we realized in a very tough real estate/rental market, we couldn't be too picky about things and if we saw something we liked "enough", we needed to jump on it, or we'd lose it to someone else. We looked beyond the furniture and other things provided by the landlord, and imagined our life in this apartment, once we made the necessary changes to make it "our own". Now, the apartment IS perfect--FOR US!
So come with us, and take a peek at the inside of our apartment.
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Hi! We are An and Jeff Scott, two happily retired 70 year old seniors from the USA, who sold most of our stuff, and with our bossy little Yorkie, Bella, moved to the sunny south of France, to enjoy our “golden years” and the joie de vivre available to us, in beautiful Nice, France.
Moving from the USA to a foreign country was no small “project”. Through our videos, we’ve been taking you through the Long Stay Visa process, the packing, the purging, the moving, searching for an apartment, creating a great Dossier, learning the way things are done administratively in France, and sharing the steps, talking about what we’ve learned and the ups and the downs.
And now, we continue to share our life, our new life, here in Nice, getting settled, adjusting to the “French” way of doing things, dealing with the French “red tape” and all the while, making every wonderful day in Nice, the best day ever…
SUBSCRIBE, FOR FREE, to our channel and come with us!
MUSIC CREDITS:
ES_What a Little Smile Can Do by Oakwood Station
ES_The Way She Looks At Me by Guustavv
Most of my videos are shot with my Samsung Galaxy S20 Note Ultra Smartphone and a circular ring light, as needed.
Jeff and An what a great job you have done with your apartment. It looks beautiful. I love the antique furniture pieces that came with the apartment. The kitchen looks beautiful. I love that couch. This was a great video. So nice that you took footage of the before and after! Jeff is so funny.
Love your apartment! You’ve done so much in such a short time to make it your own. Congrats! We’re living vicariously through you two until we can move there ourselves. Thanks so much for sharing all that you do. Bella looks so happy, too. Love her little step up onto the bed. The cabinets you added to the kitchen look terrific & add so much functionality to the space. Love the custom sofa & dining chairs too. We’d be spending a lot of time on that balcony, too. It’s a terrific spot to unwind & watch the world go by.
Yes I totally agree - the kitchen cabinets were a perfect purchase for the kitchen! Bravo!!👏
An &Jeff you have done a great job.I love to see you and if I go to Nice I would love to meet you.
Lovely apartment ! Balcony is the best with all the beautiful plants u have . Seems like Bella is loving Nice 🐶❤️
Thank you for sharing! Enjoy your life in Nice!
Perfect apartment! Just what we will be looking for. We are coming to Nice in September just to get more familiar with the city. I filled out our request to work with the Adrienne Leeds group last night.
Your apartment is beautiful. You have good ideas on where to place furniture and chose very functional pieces for the space. So happy you are there. Future videos of what you find in Nice and France? Looking forward to those too!
A wonderful transformation to a cozy apartment.. Bravo!! Bella is adorable. Take care, Ralph Rocchiccioli
Thank you for sharing! You did a great job, it does look like your home! Happy for Bella, she seems very happy.❤
Beautiful job decorating a compact space in what looks like a lovely location. Félicitations, An et Jeff !
Thank you for sharing! You did a great job, bravo! Bella also seems very happy!❤
Congratulations to An and Jeff on creating your beautiful new home! We have waited with great anticipation to see it! 2 exposures with terraces and bright day light - who could ask for more? It certainly gives us encouragement when it comes to our apartment search.😎. Loved what you did with the dinning room and your double consoles as kitchen “ cupboards “ was a great design choice.👍🏼 We envy Jeff’s’ ability to construct all the furniture- we’ll definitely have to depend on IKEA’s service department!! Hahaha😉. You 2 should be so proud. Thanks for the tour!
James and Malcolm
Don't underestimate yourself. I opened the first box of dining room chairs and from diagrams alone, I figured out how to put the chairs together. Each one took maybe 10 minutes, if that. The bed and 2 sideboards were the most time consuming but they give you the little Allen wrench to tighten everything. That was the only tool we needed on all of the furniture. You can do it 😉
An and Jeff, what a lovely home you have! Enjoy, enjoy! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!! I plan to retire to Nice in approximately one year and am finding your videos invaluable.
Thank you for sharing! You did a great job, bravo! Bella also seems very happy!❤
Super nice job! You’ve made the space so beautiful and cozy. Thank you for sharing with us all. ❤
I’ve been waiting for this video. I’m so happy you are finally settling in your new home and you did a great job with your space. Your tips are so valuable. Someday we too will find our place. Just waiting on my husband. Looking forward to our return to Nice next week. I’m so ready, I’m packed😂 Hopefully our schedules will work for us to meet even for a brief time. Abientot!
We’ve really enjoyed following your journey
That Jeff is a star.
Congratulations! I’ve followed your journey, and am so happy to see you realizing your dream. I love where I live, but dang politics may have me packing. Thanks for the videos.
Politics in Florida and the US in general contributed to our decision to move to France as well. Not the main reason, but in the top 10.
Jeff. You are totally a crack up. Enjoy you so much
Beautiful apartment, Great Job.
Lovely home 🏡 🇫🇷 💗Enjoy all of the hard work! Cheers!! 🥂 🎊
CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES ALWAYS!!!!!
Lovely apartment. I'm sure having your things really helps it feel more like home.
Looking forward to it!
You’ve created a beautiful space for the two of you❤
❤I love your apartment! Nice style!!
Also, that couch!!!
Wonderful apartment and beautifully decorated. Enjoy!
You, Jeff and Bella look very happy. Congratulations. Which district in Nice are you located or would you recommend?
Wow! Lovely!
Great tour of the apartment. Is kind of a big apartment. Love how you arrange everything. Love the antique pieces. It looks homey. Enjoy it. Thanks for sharing.
Love your sofa.
How exciting! You've really made it your home sweet home! ❤
Well done An & Jeff (and Bella too who no doubt supervised 😊). You've managed to transform the entire apartment into a functional and organized living space that's both aesthetically pleasing and cozy! Side note, I'm also in France (farther west than you), and would love to meet up some day in Nice, peut-être à l'heure de l'apéro. I so appreciate your easy-going and unpretentious nature and of course, Jeff's great sense of humor.
Drop us a note to the email address in the details under the video and perhaps we can set something up later in the month. 😊
@@postcardsfromourgoldenyears Thank you, I will! :-)
An, Jeff, I finally watched your tour of your apartment! Adorable! I personally loved all the antics furniture, especially wine glass cabinet. I would not change anything - it is so beautiful in your living room! I have a question - do you have neighbors above your apartment and on the same floor? How is the noise from nearby apartments? And one more question - do you experience mosquitoes season? If yes, how do you deal with them? Thank you! Lena
Yes, we have neighbors above us and next to us. Our building is very quiet. We do occasionally here 2 little children who live above us, running across their floor. And if they drop something that makes noise when it hits the ground. One time it sounded like they dropped a bag of marbles. It's very rare. Most people in the building are our age and we never hear them. No loud music. No loud parties. It is mosquito season now, however we have put lots of geraniums on our terrace that keeps them away from our apartment. So far I think we had 1 mosquito in the apartment. Other people we see here in Nice talk about a problem with mosquitoes because they don't have Air conditioning and sleep with their windows open. We keep our windows closed in the evening. We had more mosquitoes in Florida than we have ever had here. We have never even had any problems walking home at night. Maybe it is because we're away from the water where they breed.
Lovely! The apartment has great bones - tall ceilings, marble floors, double exposition, multiple balconies. I assume it has an elevator and is located in a lively area (le quartier les musiciens, perhaps?). You've done a great job integrating old and new - it gives it a bit of history. As for the hall bookcase - there are contact papers imitating wood, that can be removed if/when you move. Anyway, it's a homey base for your future travels.
I am a new scriber to your channel. Love the beautiful apartment in Nice.I really enjoy yours and Jeff's adventures. Everytime I watch a video of yours, it fills me with a warm-hearted feeling. ❤🎉 Best wishes in your and Jeff's new retirement adventures. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL!😊❤
😊 Merci!
Cool! 😎
You did it!!! Great find at Ikea for those counter/storage units too that create a larger area for food prep etc. May you be very happy in this new nest of yours.
They are actually sideboards made for dining rooms, with drawers and shelves. A great find
Absolutely lovely!
Your apartment looks lovely.
Does not look like the same place❤
Will be there! (and I understand why we have to wait another week - Jeff is still unpacking the 60 boxes😂😂😂😂)
No, we unpacked the boxes together, weeks ago. Only took us 2 days! I had other videos I completed prior, that have been premiering, while we were doing some traveling.
Wow amazing ❤ apartment!❤❤❤❤
Looks great.
An and Jeff your apartment is beautiful.You really accomplished a lot in a short period of time.Love what additional furniture you have added to it to make it your home. Looks like Bella is right at home on her cushion, she's so cute 🥺. Maybe to personal of a question, but was all the furniture that you purchased expensive?I wasn't sure if France's prices would be for furniture and home goods. You had mentioned that sheets and towels were.How do the Air conditioners get vented? I really like the size of them. Thank you for showing the apartment to us. Adrian's Group did a nice job.
Expensive is sort of a relative term. Compared to what we have spent in the past, the couch was expensive. But we wanted a couch that we could use, if we're lucky, for the rest of our lives. Most of the other furniture except the tables in the living room, came from IKEA, which we didn't consider expensive. Everything, except the bed was easy to put together. The drawers under the bed were harder. The tables in the living room came from Galleries Lafayette, all bought on sale, from their "La Redoute" dept, and the coffee table came from a little shop that appeared to be a place decorators go to source pieces. Not expensive. All the furniture we purchased is new. The portable AC's vent using panels Jeff created, for each room where they are used. The panel slides in-between the sliding glass doo and the door frame. The hose slides through a hole in the panel and drains onto the terraces. I've asked Jeff to get a longer hose for the one in the living room so the water will drain totally "off" the terrace. At the moment, there's a drain built into the terrace floor for rain and that's where the AC water drains. But, hodepth, from that AC hose, blows out at our plants, from the hose. So we had to move the plants. That's why I've asked him to get a longer hose. Thanks for watching! 😊
Lovely An... I will have to admit when I saw all your boxes I thought how are they going to make it work and you did a fantastic job. Jeff may be able to start an assembly business. Just kidding :-) You have a decorating forte. You ought to talk to Kathy to get one of her photographs to hang above your bed. She is a photog.
Lol. Didn't know that! We did, actually, find a painting at the Market at Cours Saleya this morning that we hope will brightten the wall over our bed. I hope she sees the video of the redo of the apartment since she was the one who found it for us. Thanks for your note! 😊
@@postcardsfromourgoldenyears Maybe next time you need to spruce a wall!
It looks so great!!! Can you fit all of your clothes and shoes? I have been looking at property and anytime I see a dressing room I save that property.
All of our stuff was unpacked prior to the video. And yes, everything fit except a few boxes of our winter clothes that we moved to a storage unit with some furniture that came with our apartment that we're not using. All is well.
Très bien ❤
Congratulations🎉 Nothing feels better than where you live becomes home 🏡 It's a wonderful apartment. Can I ask how much your monthly rent is for that size apartment? You've done an amazing job and you're such an inspiration. 💓 Thank you for always sharing your journey with us. ❇️ Can I ask you about the price of the portable air conditioner? Does it run with water, and does it need a hose, or do you just plug it in and go? Thank you❣️
We were looking for a 2 bedroon apartment in the range of between 1250 and around 1900 euros per month. By contract with Adrian Leeds group, who assisted us in finding our apartment, we are not at liberty to share our exact rent. I can say it is around the middle of our range. The AC'S are various prices depending on the BTU'S, sales, time you purchase them etc. I think one of ours was around 399 euros at the local Bricorama hardware store and we found the 2nd that is almost identical, on Amazon, on a Father's Day sale for around 229 euros. It's all about timing. You also have to grab them before AC season when we did. It needs to be vented to the outside using the hose it comes with. It also comes with a drain that drains outside on our terrace. We will be doing a video soon showing how Jeff set it up.
Thank you I really appreciate your sharing your information. All these tips and tricks, and the reality of living in France, is certainly helpful. Much appreciated 🙏🏼
Love how you’ve made the apartment your own with ipdates and existing items. Your videos have been so informative in our research journey about moving to Nice from the US. Did you have to use an agent to find the apartment? Also, is it true you are required to sign a 1 year rental agreement if you rent a furnished apartment?
Yes, there is a huge shortage of rentals in most cities in France, in particular, Nice. We used Adrian Leeds Group. Adrian is best known from the US tv show, "House Hunters International". Her and her colleagues are all expats themselves and they specialize in assisting people who want to move to France from America, with finding apartments to buy or rent. They have lots of contacts with landlords and management companies. Most people who try to find a place on their own are not successful in this tough market. There is no MLS here. Realtors only know about their own listings. So, you would have to contact hundreds of agencies if you did it on your own, and be able to read a French contract to make sure everything in there is legal. Yes, France's rental laws require that a furnished apartment has a 1yr lease, unfurnished has a 3yr lease. And because there is such a shortage of long term rentals, you pretty much have to grab whatever they find you if you want to live here. So you may want an unfurnished apt in any of 2 or 3 specific areas, but all that's available is a furnished one in a different area. If you don't grab it, someone else will. For every apt that becomes available there could be a dozen people considering it.
Thank you for the great info. We’ve just started watching Adrian Leeds You Tube videos. We’ve watched a lot of your videos, so much great info, thank you.
Fantastic job with your furniture selection and decor. I'm sure you looked at a few two bedroom apartments. Can you give a ballpark range on apartment costs?
We actually only looked at 2 apartments, this one that we rented and another, that didn't have any balcony or terraces. They had us with the terraces and the fact that there's a shortage of rentals, here in Nice. If we didn't take one of these 2 that we saw, we were going to have to rent an Airbnb for an indeterminate number of months and wait till something else close to what we were looking for came along. At the time, equivalent or nicer Airbnb's, were renting for around 3000 Euros a month, as "vacation rentals", even with a discount for renting for more than a month at a time . We didn't want to do that. So we jumped on this one. We were looking for an apartment in the range of between around 1250 Euros mo. and 1900 Euros mo. This one is about middle of that range. You can find rentals for more or less, depending on their size and location. We're in Nice Centre , which is central to everything, 5 min from both tram lines and a 10-12 walk from most everything and everywhere we need to go.
Thank you.
Superb! Thank you! How are you doing getting accustomed to French culture and language? Also, new routines and lack of old friends?
We are doing fine regarding culture. In Nice, there's not much to adjust to. We have been to France many many times. We follow all the strict rules of courtesy and are very respectful of the expectations French people have in doing business out in the world. We feel very comfortable. As far as language, I speak French fairly well andcmy vocabulary continues to grow everyday. Jeff is a beginner. He is using Babbel, is learning new words just being out and about, and will be doing free in-person beginner classes, here in Nice, starting in September. And yes, of course, we miss our friends, but we stay in touch. Some have already come to visit.
Very interesting video. Now that you have rented, would you prefer furnished or unfurnished if you did it again?
We always preferred unfurnished, however with a shortage of available rentals in many cities in France, one has to be flexible and willing to compromise, as we did, in taking the furnished apartment because there were very few other options at that time.
Nice job of incorporating the previous included pieces into your design aesthetic. Question: is it your intent to leave the kitchen cabinets and oven when/if you leave the apartment?
The cabinets in the kitchen are freestanding pieces of furniture that will move with us. The oven will come with us as well. We saved the landlord's stuff and will return the apartment to exactly as it was delivered to us.
I’ve read to never bring anything electrical and think it will sustain.
We brought very few things that are electrical from the US. Mostly phone chargers, things that can be charged using an USB and we brought our electric wine cork remover. All except one work great using the same converters we have used when we vacationed here in past years. My coffee maker was the only casualty Everything else works great. We opted to purchase new electrical charging cables for our laptops from Amazon France so they have the correct power cables.
Looks great! Actually, a pretty decent size!
How did you manage throwing away the boxes and plastic wrapping from the mattress?
Jeff broke down the boxes and put them outside on the street, on recycle night, for the truck to pick up. Everything else just went to the trash room downstairs.
Okay, I'm relatively new to your channel and I'm curious as my partner and I are also looking at making the move next July to France as Canadians living in the US. That being said, how hard was it for you to get an apartment because I've heard of guarantors and all that sort of thing, and also I'm not sure if you did or you just don't want to or maybe whatever. Did you ever share how much the apartment is or give us an idea of what we'd be looking at. Nice is such a beautiful spot. Wishing you all the best and share whatever information you feel comfortable sharing now back to the video
I’ve been in Nice for a few years, I’d be happy to chat about our experience getting settled here (we did not use a relocation agent and had a lease in less than a month). Not that with rentals, furnished properties have a one- year renewable lease, unfurnished a three- year renewable lease. There are substantial protections for renters in France so landlords are careful about who they rent to, especially if your income is not sourced in France.
We used Adrian Leeds Group to assist us in finding an apartment. They were fantastic! It only took them 2 wks from beginning of search to the day we signed the lease. Because of our contract with them I cannot provide our exact fees or rent. I will say that we had a budget of between 1250 and 1900 Euros per month and this is around the middle of the range. I will tell you that there is a big shortage of rentals in Nice. You have to be flexible and willing to compromise if you see something close enough to what you're looking for. If you say "show me more", in a heartbeat whatever you didn't take in the moment will be gone. So you have to be ready to sign a lease. There are multiple people chasing every available rental. This apartment was 1 of 2 we saw. We hated the furniture but grabbed it anyway and signed the lease before we moved so no one else would take it. You WILL need a guarantor or to be pre-qualified by Garantme and have a completed great dossier and nice letter for the potential landlord telling them why you love the apartment. Adrian's staff will do the search, negotiate and review your lease and can assist with every facet of your settling in France. Adrian is best known as the Expat from the US who people go to in France to buy or rent homes or apartments, on the US TV show, House Hunters International.
Evidence of it being an architect’s home is everywhere. Great attention to details. Enjoyed your tour. My personal favorites and the use of side-by-side credenzas in the kitchen. Also the under cabinet lighting in the kitchen. Like the versatility of the sofa. When your guests come from the States you have more than just the one guest bed with the addition of the sofa. Wondering how well the portable A/C works. I could use one here in Florida instead of running the central system day and night. Something about red wine and especially Bordeaux always tastes better in France than at home. Cheers !
The portable AC'S work great. I just wish we had longer hoses so we could put the 2nd one in the hallway to cool both of the bedrooms. Now, because they have to vent onto the terrace, we can only have one in one bedroom and none in the other unless we bring the one from the living room to the 2nd bedroom. But, for just the 2 of us, it's perfect.
Are you able to watch TV in English… American news, etc.
We catch American news on the Meidas Touch on CZcams. All of the people on the channel are former or presently attorneys or former prosecutors or district attorneys. They actually provide an unbiased report, several times a day, and keep us updated on the news. They often have information from court dockets, that none of the major news channels in the US have or are reporting. We can also subscribe to news channels on our Cable tv if we want to but we really don't need to. It's all on CZcams. We do watch Amazon Prime and Netflix using our accounts, in English and with our Amazon Firesticks, and a VPN we're also able to watch tv shows from the US. Also, on our cable, occasionally, there are France television shows or movies with an option to select subtitles in English.