La Maison Picassiette

Last weekend I had the pleasure of having a co-worker/friend come spend part of the weekend with me. She had been to Chartres on two other occasions but didn't really get to explore all it has to offer. She had referenced a copy of Rick Steve's Paris guidebook and it had a few suggestions of what is considered "a must see" in Chartres.

One suggestion I had never heard of before. It was to go see "La Maison Picassiette." So we ventured out to find this "house of stolen plates."   With a little investigating I learned that "Picassiette" means Pique (steal) assiette (plate) and some people also define it as "Picasso Assiette."


On our walk from the city center in search for this house, we quickly noticed that our path was guided by these little mosaics in the sidewalk, directing the way.

The story behind the house is that Raymond Isidore owned this home with his wife and spent almost 30 years making it into the work of art that it is today. Literally EVERYTHING in the home and garden is covered in mosaic.

Words don't do it justice so I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

 

 The house as you enter the front garden area

 The kitchen table and chairs

 The hutch in the kitchen

 The sewing machine in the bedroom (there was an actually picture of his wife using this sewing machine too)

 The bedroom

It was such a fun afternoon spent with a friend and an added bonus to find a new little gem in the city! I look forward to helping others discover it on their visits to see us here!!! It is so unique and I would venture to guess that there is nothing like it's kind out there, so come on over to France my friends!