Vintage Remix by Kishani Perera Interview

CS: I was reading Molly Sims's description of going shopping in Paris for her New York apartment; was it really as challenging and was the weather really as dreary as she described it?

KP: It was one big blur. It was a whirlwind . . . it was torturous. At the end, we were like, Wow, we can't believe we pulled this off! Basically, Molly got her New York apartment and wanted to go to this Paris flea market, so I was like, OK, let's do it, but I really need to see your space. Obviously we can't just go there and buy random things, you have to know what your space looks like and what the limitations are; you have to plan for the space. She said, OK, we'll plan a trip and stop off in New York for a little while and then go to Paris.

I thought a little while would be a couple of days, but it ended up being a few hours. I've never been more panicked in my life, because all these expensive decisions were based on me making the right measurements and figuring out the space really quickly. It was a challenge, but it was actually fun.

Amazingly, not one thing didn't fit. We talk about that in the book a lot; if you know what your space constraints are, you can go nuts at a flea market because you know well, this is too big, it won't fit on this wall, but maybe this will, you know what I mean? Having that prep work done before you go definitely makes a huge difference. We went, and like I said, it was mildly terrifying because we were only there for a couple of days. You're exhausted, jet-lagged, it's pouring rain, it's about 40 degrees and freezing, and we're just going from stall to stall going "I love that, I think it will work." Everything worked out really well.

Molly Sims's bedroom in her New York apartment, with furnishings from Parisian flea markets.