Renovating our French Country Home

This will be my fifth year decorating our French country home, so you could say I’m rather slow. Or hopelessly distracted. I suspect both are true and I am unashamed about it really, as it has been an utter joy to hunt for treasures in France and I have done so with the enthusiasm of an eager little truffle dog..

A girls trip to Paris to choose beds and sofas seemed a friendly place to start and in my excitement waiting to return, I purchased my first few vintage pieces via instagram messages with darling Cécile of Chez Nous Campagne. I had visited her store a few times having seen her in Sharon Santoni’s book ‘My French Girlfriends’ and loved her aesthetic, Cécile is a master at stying and you’ll want to take the entire store home, so I felt like I knew what I was purchasing. Marie at Chez les Voisins in Belleme is similarly fabulous.

Le Perche is blessed with beautiful brocantes, artists, boutiques and a summer program bursting with Vide Greniers and village brocantes, so each trip I visit a few and return happily to potter about adding another layer of cosy and life to the beautiful bones of our home. And in between visits, I keep a keen eye on Fabienne’s Nomibis Instagram and Website, a virtual brocante where every piece sourced has the most amazing character, quality and patina, Fabienne has an eye for beauty and patina that I am ever so envious of.

If you are traveling to France and would like to visit a village vide grenier or brocante, have a look at the https://brocabrac.fr/ website to see if there is one in the area. If you are traveling to Le Perche, send me an email and I will happily pop you through a list of where I like to shop, eat, browse and wander.

xxSara

Sara Marner

A lover of interior design, architecture, travel, good food, wine and all things French. Currently renovating an 18th Century former auberge in Le Perche, Normandy, but dreams of one day living in the middle of a vineyard in France and visiting Paris often.

https://maisonivylyon.com
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French attic conversion