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mtnrdredux_gw

Must. Have. This. House.

mtnrdredux_gw
9 years ago

The people in it sound cool too.

Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times piece

Comments (31)

  • junco East Georgia zone 8a
    9 years ago

    Beautiful!

  • Errant_gw
    9 years ago

    Very cool. And yes, they seem like an equally cool family!

  • DLM2000-GW
    9 years ago

    Beautiful house - all their properties sound amazing. Love their philosophy of 'conjuring and mulling'.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    9 years ago

    So interesting to see what they chose to restore and what they didn't. How wonderful to see the eclectic mix they put together with such a wonderful result. I'm ready to hit that daybed any time...so long as I don't miss a meal under that magnolia. Sigh.

  • sochi
    9 years ago

    This is my dream! Wonderful house. One day, perhaps in northern Spain rather than southern France (only because it is difficult to get permission to live in France as a foreigner), but one day.

  • rgps
    9 years ago

    I want the blue couch. Can you buy those new?

  • kswl2
    9 years ago

    Intriguing, but ultimately not at all appealing to me. In its own way it is as stylized as Versailles. Despite the spare interiors, there is still some form over function decor. That daybed is sitting on a gravel bed ....does anyone have any idea how painful that large gauge gravel is on bare feet? (We have a half mile driveway of it, you don't dare go out in bare feet to get something out of a car parked in front.) The plaster artfully worn off around the doors and windows, are we meant to think it wore off that way? And the bookcase...really? Would they be showcasing this brick and plank bookcase if it were in a Section 8 apartment in Harlem?

    I do appreciate the lovely setting and all the work that went into the gardens, but the interior, not so much.

    (Edited for spelling )

    This post was edited by kswl on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 2:18

  • selcier
    9 years ago

    The comment in the article that got me was the strangeness of Americans liking to renovate as quickly as possible. Duh guys: its probably because these Americans will probably have to live in their house! The rooms need to function. Like the bathroom and the kitchen. Most people do not have two houses to stay in while the other most vital sections of the second are being renovated.

    And yes. It was a beautiful but horribly unpractical house.

  • gyr_falcon
    9 years ago

    I feel so much better about entering only year five of DIY projects for our home.

  • Gooster
    9 years ago

    Ah, moi aussi.

    @kswl: I believe the home is not complete, hence some elements are still makeshift. But you are right, the plaster around the windows and doors look intentional. But other elements are left in an original state, like that wonderful floor, so it is consistent.

    I had to smile at the club chairs from the marches aux puces de Clignancourt -- I wonder how many chairs have routed through that section of the market, and then to inspire hundreds of thousands of reproductions world-wide. Here are some of the originals.

    Ironically, we are headed to just south of there next week, with an intent to scout out property and to daydream of such a life.

  • patty_cakes
    9 years ago

    Oh yeah, me too!! Love the house itself, and although I understand the use of rustic furnishings, I wouldn't necessarily follow their train of thought. Actually, I'll take the house first, then decide on how it will be furnished after a year or so. I'll need to hit those French flea markets first!

  • kswl2
    9 years ago

    Gooster, I was speaking of the loose gravel rock that forms the floor of the outdoor pavilion at one end of the pool, not the interior floors.

    Adding, sorry , rereading without the veil of insomnia I see you were referring to the interior floors, not the outside. ....je suis desole ;-)

    This post was edited by kswl on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 9:50

  • mitchdesj
    9 years ago

    thanks for posting this, very cool indeed, love it all !!

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    9 years ago

    It is not a place I'd want to live, but for sure to visit. kswl, I'll be happy to wear my slippers out to the bed and slip them off before I get into bed.

    BTW, what is that big black thing in the kitchen ceiling? Is it a heater?

    The bookcases did remind me of ones I built in my dorm room way back when...we "salvaged" a bunch of bricks off of a construction site they were tearing down and made shelves with boards...came out pretty neat.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I think I have bi*ched here before about how often you see Marche Aux Puces and Clignancourt bandied about in decor magazines. It could be a new drinking game; take a shot for every time some designer claims they got something at a French flea market.

    I lusted after that phrase since my teen years, and finally, in my late 20s, arrived at one with a fistful of cash. The first thing I liked was a pair vases, the equivalent of $7,000 for the pair. In a little shack of a place! Next I had to wade through blocks of stalls selling cheap jeans and old vinyl records. I never did find a single thing that I thought was both attractive and good value! Irks me still.

    Now being French, and living there, I do imagine they could do well at the Parisian flea markets. Maybe I needed a guide! Someone to hide my 7th grade accent and big American sneakers!

    But those distressed leather club chairs are such a cliche (though I like them). If every such chair claiming to be from a French flea market were genuine, the French themselves would all be sitting on crates by now. The flea market vendors probably import them, antiques made to order, from Bali.

    As for the house, I'm a sucker for spare decor and deshabille. KSWL, you are too funny; section 8! But of course setting does matter. Oh and could it be the roundness of the pebble as well as the gauge? Our pebble driveway is barefoot-grade.

  • outsideplaying_gw
    9 years ago

    What a gorgeous property. I'd find myself louging in the daybed or sitting at the piano. By now I suppose we are to be used to our vibram 5-fingers or go totally barefoot on those stones. Just kidding!

    There were some charming pieces of furniture and beautiful rugs. But not sure it could be 'lived in' year-round, which is probably not the intent anyway.

  • Fun2BHere
    9 years ago

    If you are willing to live in Sicily rather than France, there's a village selling their derelict houses very cheaply.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sicily

  • kswl2
    9 years ago

    "The flea market vendors probably import them, antiques made to order, from Bali. "

    Lol, I'll bet you're right!

    Re the gravel, you probably use pea gravel or larger rounded river stones.... we use MUCH less expensive irregular granite aggregate and that's just what looks to be under the daybed. We've had many tons of it delivered over the years, it has a pretty distinctive look. Maybe they just refreshed the base with whatever they had on hand for the photos, as I can't believe they'd walk over that stuff to get to a bed, regardless of how comfortable!

  • Gooster
    9 years ago

    @mtnredux: My feeling exactly on Clignancourt and those chairs! The sheer volume of chair that claim that provenance must mean that every old chair from throughout France must funnel through that corner of the market. I do have a feeling those may actually be the real deal, but to find them is pretty rare. There are some nice things in that area of the market, but they are pricey.

    @Fun2BHere: There are some fantastic (ruined) properties for so little money throughout Italy -- but Sicily is great (although I prefer the eastern coast)

    @kswl: pas de probleme. I agree about the gravel -- I'd swap it out for some rounded pebbles or some flagstone.

    @AnnieD: the black thing looks like an old fish poacher.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    I think it is lovely-the house, the gardens, the surroundings. I would move in tomorrow (today, actually, but I can't get there so quickly).

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    LOL, Cyn

  • peony4
    9 years ago

    Mtn, I spent part of my 20s working and traveling in Europe, and my mother's only request was a leather handbag from Italy. I had even come to disguise my American attributes, but still couldn't find anything remotely close to a deal.

    Regarding the house, I love the remodeling process, but this statement in a photo caption kinda sums it up: "But the daybed, Mr. Singer deadpanned, is 'mostly for guests,' since he and Dr. Richard spend most of their time working on the house."
    At least they're honest.

  • dedtired
    9 years ago

    "They have slow-roasted an Art Nouveau apartment in Paris". So that's what I've been doing to my house for the past 40 years -- slow roasting. Here I thought I was procrastinating, dragging my feet and being indecisive as well as broke.

    I'd be satisfied with a print of the photo of the window and hydrangeas. Sigh. I'm so glad someone is out there creating such beauty, including the kid. At least I did that twice!

    This post was edited by dedtired on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 18:16

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Ded, that hydrangea entralled me, too. Why can I not find one with that perfect shade of pink? Sigh. Everything is just more wonderful in France, I think.

  • gsciencechick
    9 years ago

    Not sure I could really live there, but when I envision a house in the French countryside, this pretty much nails it.

    Little boy is too cute.

  • kswl2
    9 years ago

    It's the soil composition that gives hydrangeas a particular hue and color....that French soil is obviously LOADS better than the Georgia clay we have to work with.

    And, paraphrasing, At the end of the day the plants need a drink, and so do we .... amen to that!

    Whoa, Anele......let's hear it, girlfriend :-)

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    9 years ago

    Kswl, haha-I know that about hydrangeas! I am a gardener. :)

    However, I credit the light for that delicate shade! It isn't simply the alkaline/acid thing. Same goes for interiors with those wonderful windows. Disclaimer: i have had a love affair going with Paris and France since 1964! It is my happy, centering place.

    Edited to fix typo

    This post was edited by cyn427 on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:49

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago

    I think a limited supply of the leather chairs probably gets sold and resold. Someone has them for a while, they decide too many other people have them, they sell them, and the cycle continues. Kind of like Dianetics staying on the best seller list for so long: it included resold copies, I think.

    I think you could find the blue sofa less expensively as an antique than you could as a new reproduction. Beidermeier or Restauration period is not that uncommon and isn't commanding high prices in some markets right now.

    As for the home made bookcase: I think the time has come again for that sort of thing: I don't think I've actually seen something like this in about 30 years. Billy bookcases are much too cheap for someone to exert themselves by using bricks and blocks and boards. Even the section8ers.

    It's a whole 'nother topic, but we were just bemoaning the fact that the most modest little store or restaurant has to have a fully thematically evolved design. No body ever leaves most of what the predecessors had left, repaints and adds their own bits and pieces and opens up shop. Every new owner does a gut reno.

    As "Potemkin Village" as some of the details of this house must be, some of it must be real. In America it seems to be a sin to a lot of people to not have identical millwork details and paint colors throughout the entire house. This, at least, looks like they are doing things as they go along.

  • sochi
    9 years ago

    Went through the pictures again, just delightful.

    Main issue for me with these places would be heating them sufficiently in winter and spring, getting rid of the damp.

    Sicily would be great too. My current favourite is Sardinia. If you like hiking, climbing, walking, kayaking, swimming, eating well, drinking wine, this is the place for you. Quite affordable compared to mainland Italy.

  • lazy_gardens
    9 years ago

    The plaster artfully worn off around the doors and windows, are we meant to think it wore off that way?

    It looks like the doors and windows have exposed quoins - very common in old houses. It probably didn't wear off that way, it was never plastered that way.

  • kswl2
    9 years ago

    If those areas were quoins they would be more symmetrical and regular. The plaster is worn ( or not worn) in a sort of free form shape that I believe is supposed to look as though it happened over a long time. If they re plastered the walls, that's improbable.