Pretending I Live on the French Riviera

I joked on Instagram that I’m squinting and pretending I live on the French Riviera. But no really, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Am I actually going to the Côte d’Azur this summer? No. But I’ve decided to take what I can get and learn to live as if I am.

I first visited the French Riviera when I was around ten years old. I was completely taken with it as we traveled the coast through Èze, Nice, Saint-Tropez, and the tiny hilltop villages where lunch seemed to stretch on forever. I still remember eating at La Colombe d’Or and feeling as though I’d stumbled into a world that lived by an entirely different set of rules (there were Picassos in the bathroom??!)

I returned years later to the French Riviera on our honeymoon after getting married in Provence, and the feeling was exactly the same.

What I love isn’t just the scenery—though the light is every bit as magical as people say. I really love the rhythm of life and the sense that pleasure is not something reserved for special occasions but woven into the fabric of an ordinary Tuesday.

Travel, for me, has always been an investigation into how other people live. I like to observe, collect habits, study routines, notice what people value and what they ignore. Then I bring home the pieces that resonate and leave the rest behind, sculpting my life with happy things one trip at a time.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the French Riviera, it’s that life is meant to be enjoyed a little more deliberately. Meals are slower, a nap during the afternoon is planned for and time outside is non-negotiable. Beauty is treated less as a luxury and more as a daily practice.

So while I may be spending this summer nowhere near Cap Ferrat, I’ve decided that doesn’t mean I can’t borrow the mindset.

Here are a few things to get you in the mood.

Why don’t you:

• Open the windows every morning, even for ten minutes

• Have Bossa Nova or this French Riviera collection playing though the house (songs #2 and #6 are a little White Lotus intro song which I love but don’t want playing in my house so I hide them in the playlist!)

• Use only candlelight from dusk through dinner

• Use vintage french monogrammed white linen napkins at the table

• Buy one really good loaf of bread each week

• Keep a pitcher of cold water with lemon or mint

• Festoon yourself in a fancy broderie anglaise dress

• Eat a simple breakfast on a beautiful plate at a draped table, take your coffee in a cup and saucer

• Eat berries or ice cream from silver cups

• Serve a summer pasta from a bowl or pretty platter

• Have a room that feels like it’s 10 min away from being able to have company

• Read books at a park or overlooking the water

• Drop everything to watch the sunset

• Never underestimate the moral boost of having clean sheets on a Wednesday

• Invest in a projector and have old French films playing in the background. The 1969 Italian French film La Piscine is a favorite (Jane Birkin, Romy Schneider, Alain Delon)

• Wear cotton or linen and don’t worry about the wrinkles

• Throw crisp white slipcovers over your heavy furniture to make it feel like summer

• Stop saving the “good soap” and use it

Borrowing the french riviera feeling is less about true extravagance and more about attention and love for the day at hand. May we all have a riviera summer!

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Much love from the sofa,

Liz