Maison de Maitre....................
‘La Commanderie’ was another one of our serendipitous finds when we were looking for a house to rent in the Jura mountains – close to the French Alps.
It’s a classic Maison de Maitre dating back to the 17th century, but like so many French country houses has been a ‘maison de famille’ for generations.
I liked the story we were told about the 19th century wing of the house where we were staying; it had been inhabited by an aunt of the family and when she died they simply took her clothes out of the armoires and offered the house for rent through the fantastic Gites de France organization. The lady’s straw hats were still hanging from hooks and kid gloves still in the drawer.
As with the all the interiors I like best, this one wasn’t ‘designed’ in any formal sense but simply reflects the personal taste of the occupant with reference to interior fashion of the time.
It personifies French bourgeois 19th century style and because the interior is so intact it’s intriguing to imagine the lives that were lived there.
Salon / dining room
All the classic ingredients of imposing French bourgeois style: polished wood, large mirrors, huge armoires, gold framed paintings, candlesticks and tapestries.
Green bedroom
This was my favourite room - a homage to Empire Style!
Apparently some of the rooms were redecorated in the 1960s but clearly a lot of care was taken to preserve the classical Empire style and atmosphere and to complement the original furniture and 'objets'.
This look has been copied in hundreds of up-market hotels around the world but how great to stay in a house where this style originated!
Beautiful mellow, polished wooden floors with Persian rugs in both bedrooms.
Black and white landscape and figurative prints are so cool - I think this was 60s repro, in itself pretty hard to find.
Pink bedroom
Toile de jouy where and as it should be!
The colour scheme is perfect - dark marble, old mahogany and worn gold contrast beautifully with the rather dead pink of the the paint and wallpaper
I rest my case when it comes to radiators ! I'm always telling my interior design clients that we must paint the radiators the same colour as the wall! But in this case it really was labour of love given the size of these old radiators and the number of fins.They took the same trouble in the Green bedroom.
Looking down on to the terrace - the 1960s metal garden chairs as elegant as the parterre.
And beyond the garden - the Jura mountains..............
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