The Most Charming Home In France
A restored farmhouse retains an earthy elegance.
By Susan Dowell and None
A restored farmhouse in France retains it's earthy centuries-old charm.
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Media Platforms Design Team
15th Century Farmhouse
Marston Luce ducks his head to clear the doorways of his 15th-century stone farmhouse in the Dordogne Region of Southwest France. He accommodates the six-inch crunch to his height in the same spirit with which he climbed a ladder to his bedroom for two years before salvaging a replacement staircase. Authenticity, he indicates, is worth any trouble, a truth he discovered during the 15 summers he spent preserving the place.
A medieval pigeonnier in the garden, which includes boxwood, European wild ginger, and impatiens.
A medieval pigeonnier in the garden, which includes boxwood, European wild ginger, and impatiens.
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Creamy Tones
"I was coming to france six times a year for antiques at the fairs and flea markets," he says about traveling to supply his eponymous shop in washington, d.c. "i didn't consider the alternative of living here half the year until i saw this small house and barn on their green terraces. that's when i knew i wanted to experience the life of the culture i was exporting."
Limestone walls inspired the creamy tones of the furnishings. Antique French fauteuil in Colefax and Fowler fabric. French 19th-century lantern and ladder-back chairs. Vintage coffee table.
Limestone walls inspired the creamy tones of the furnishings. Antique French fauteuil in Colefax and Fowler fabric. French 19th-century lantern and ladder-back chairs. Vintage coffee table.
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Sous Bois
Luce refers to his small farm, or fermette, as Sous Bois, a terroir designation for wines with an earthy nose as well as a genre of landscape painting depicting woodland scenes. "Literally, it means a shady, woodsy place," he says. His emblem for the house, added to stationery and as sculpture to the gardens he planted on the hillsides, is a snail. The world associates escargot with good eating, but for Luce snails signify the slow, deliberate pace of life the French embrace, which he discovered living here.
Set high on a walled terrace with its back to a forested ridge, Sous Bois has four-foot-thick, dry-stack limestone walls. Three rooms on the first floor date to the 15th century. The second story, which Luce turned into a master bedroom suite, was added 300 years later. He describes the original interior wall plaster as "brut, unrefined and honest." Over time, hearth fires in the house's single fireplace blackened the ceiling beams and darkened the living room.
The living area retains its original 15th-century stonework. French 19th-century cupboard, pottery, and commode. Sofa, Sofa Company. English 19th-century trunk (used as a coffee table).
Set high on a walled terrace with its back to a forested ridge, Sous Bois has four-foot-thick, dry-stack limestone walls. Three rooms on the first floor date to the 15th century. The second story, which Luce turned into a master bedroom suite, was added 300 years later. He describes the original interior wall plaster as "brut, unrefined and honest." Over time, hearth fires in the house's single fireplace blackened the ceiling beams and darkened the living room.
The living area retains its original 15th-century stonework. French 19th-century cupboard, pottery, and commode. Sofa, Sofa Company. English 19th-century trunk (used as a coffee table).
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Fearlessly Bright
He eschewed modern building amendments by substituting salvage and fearlessly brightened the rooms wherever possible. British decorator and neighbor Gloria Stewart suggested a range of Farrow & Ball whites for a look of lime wash inside. She sourced cheerful British fabrics for upholstery and old linen sheets from local markets to make curtains and pillows complementing the interiors' patina.
A Régence canapé is revitalized with red linen upholstery. Upholstered chair, Laura Ashley, with pillow in Chelsea Textiles gingham. French 19th-century chair. Walls in Joa's White, Farrow & Ball Estate Emulsion.
A Régence canapé is revitalized with red linen upholstery. Upholstered chair, Laura Ashley, with pillow in Chelsea Textiles gingham. French 19th-century chair. Walls in Joa's White, Farrow & Ball Estate Emulsion.
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Elegant Accumulation
Luce developed a French attitude toward finding the right mix of furnishings for the diminutive house. "I took my time," he says. "Elegance comes from a slow accumulation of things I love." He balanced the lightness of painted furniture with indigenous walnut tables and seating "that is right for houses here."
Bedspread in Chelsea Textiles gingham. French 18th-century trumeau. Swedish 18th-century bench. French 19th-century fauteuil in Chelsea Textiles fabric. Curtains of Nicole Fabre fabric.
Bedspread in Chelsea Textiles gingham. French 18th-century trumeau. Swedish 18th-century bench. French 19th-century fauteuil in Chelsea Textiles fabric. Curtains of Nicole Fabre fabric.
6Media Platforms Design Team
Rustic Architecture
Distressed wood surfaces, regional yellow pottery, and accessories such as a wild boar tavern sign reflect the architecture's rustic style. The contrast of a fancy trumeau against a wall only heightens the rough and humble feel of the place.
Antique painted furniture complements the master bedroom's rustic architecture. Bed linens and matelassé coverlet, the White Company. French 18th-century toile de Jouy quilt. Swedish 18th-century secretary. French 18th-century armoire.
Antique painted furniture complements the master bedroom's rustic architecture. Bed linens and matelassé coverlet, the White Company. French 18th-century toile de Jouy quilt. Swedish 18th-century secretary. French 18th-century armoire.
7Media Platforms Design Team
Garden Glory
A lure from the moment Luce laid eyes on the surrounding land was its potential for gardens. As soon as he moved into the house, he deployed his knowledge of French horticulture to build stone walls and plant more than 100 boxwoods. "You discover the garden as you wander through or linger with a glass of wine," he says. "It's another way of reflecting on life and experiencing what the French callsavoir vivre."
French 19th-century sphinxes overlook the garden.
French 19th-century sphinxes overlook the garden.
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