Flights Of Fancy

When an adventurous Californian fulfills her lifelong fantasy of owning a pied-à-terre on the Seine, she enlists expert friends to help create a spirited mix of Parisian élan, exuberant color, and audacious whimsy beyond her wildest dreams

- Celia Barbour

Some people always land on their feet. Others somehow land on magic slippers, emerging from adversity with a fierce creative power and a will to live gloriously. In that enchanted group is Pamela Mullin, a Los Angeles resident who these days prefers to park her slippers in an apartment on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris.

Mullin has nailed such landings more than once. Born in Scotland, she survived a demanding childhood. “We had a pub down by the docks,” she says. “It was tough.” When she was seven, her father died. At 15, she dropped out of school. At 17, she flew to America with $100 in her pocket and found a job in a typists’ pool in Los Angeles. “It was the Mad Men era,” she says.

Flash forward some three decades: Mullin’s marriage to a successful entrepreneur had run its course, and her four children were nearing adulthood. It was time for a new chapter. “I woke up one day,” she says, “and decided I wanted an adventure.”

Not just any adventure, however. “I had requirements,” says Mullin. She adored Paris, and she had nursed a dream of living on the Île Saint-Louis, an island in the river Seine in the center of the city that has long been a prestigious address. “Pas possible,” replied the real estate agents. Apartments on the tiny, historic island rarely come on the market.