Maison Before & After

I love a good house before and after, but don’t we all really? I love seeing how people polish and choose to dress their spaces, what they collect and the treasures and stories they gather along the way. What they find under layers of paint and wallpaper, buried in floors and hidden in attics. I find myself drawn to tranquil, calm spaces, but secretly know that I could never live in them for long - I need a little faded patina and clutter and a bit of a clash of pattern and styles. I like to tease my family that I want our home to feel like a crazy old aunt’s that traveled often and erred on the side of eccentricity - to which the teens roll their eyes and tell me their homes will be super modern and minimalist.

I have sat on my decision for curtains for an obscene amount of time and so it was this past week in frustration, that I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole looking at photos of when we first received the keys to our French Country idyll. Somehow I’ve lacked the courage to make a decision, lest it be wrong, so it was lovely to see the progress we have made to push me into moving forward. Our little patch of French Country had many beautiful features, original tiles, tomettes, high ceilings, paneling, divine staircase and adorable shutters front and back which we left untouched. The dusty attic had great potential as a bunk room for the children and the Salon downstairs would be perfect if we removed the more recently added partition wall that sectioned off a little library area at the rear, opening the room back up to its duel aspect with windows front and back. So those were our first tasks, along with making the downstairs powder room a wet room to provide an extra full bathroom for visitors.

We inherited the same fabulous Toile de Jouy wallpaper in all three bedrooms on the first floor and the entrance hallway, so we kept these as is, but painted all the trim and walls everywhere else with Strong White by Farrow and Ball to tie the spaces together. Blanc Blanc Blanc remarked our divine painter with a wry smile as we walked through the house confirming the colour choice in each room, it became something of a joke. But this beautiful white lightened the rooms immeasurably, especially in the depths of winter, but also allowed for the original features to be the highlighted without competition. The challenge now is to add layers of furnishings and works, to compliment and create the cosy French country feel we love and also to get those net and full curtains up dressing each of our lovely windows.

My biggest piece of advice for renovating in the French countryside is to find a local builder with a passion for the type of house or building that you are working on. Our incredible builder and I do not speak the same language but we have a similar appreciation for old homes and original features and his advice and guidance has been invaluable. And make friends with your estate agent, ours has been absolutely indispensable in project managing our works, but also with her knowledge of the area, buildings, estimated costs, renovations she has seen done in similar houses before, and relationships with local craftsmen. xxSara