Open Plan Summer Living 1850s Country House

france style room decorating

It takes Imagination and courage to turn a run-down group of Provencal buildings into a dream home, let alone find them in the first place, given the popularity of Provence as an international holiday destination where ownership is prize above renting.

From the start the owner could visualize renovating this mid-1850s house, which is at the edge of a village, to fulfill her desire for open-plan summer and winter living. The kitchen and expansive ground-floor reception rooms were created by removing part of the existing stone dividing walls and inserting broad arches instead.

Right across the front, French doors can be opened to blur the boundary between the inside and the full-width limestone terrace. The house contained some welcome secrets, revealed only after generations of plasterboards had been stripped out wonderfully distressed beams, a grand fireplace and distinctive stonework indicated that the original builder was a man of some means.

A major element of the works included building the interior of the barn, which new houses the master bedroom. The garden, formerly just a car park, has been transformed, and now its centre is an enormous black swimming-pool, edged in stone and surrounded by fruit trees, roses, clematis and a wall of bamboo.

france style natural material country house living room design