French Blue

04 Tuesday May 2010

Posted by Trish in Antique Fabric, France, French Interiors, Lillian Williams

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Antique Fabric, Flea Market Style, French curiosities, French design, Lillian Williams

Maison de Lèves…near Chartres

Madeleine Castaing’s home

French Interiors The Art Of Elegance

Flammarion

Decorator Jean-Loup Daraux’s home

in the Camarque countryside in the South of France

Veranda Febuary ’08

Jacques Dirand Photography

Bright blue anointing the sun washed stone facade….

Lillian Williams home in Provence…

She used to have the most incredible French antique store

in San Francisco decades ago…

Provence Interiors

Lisa Lovatt-Smith

Custom blue bath tile in a Provencal alcove bath…

Home of Nadège and Franck Dolais of Quattrocento Antiques

Folding screen with range of subtle blues…

French Country Style at Home

Flammarion

Ever since seeing this antique Ciel de Lit bed canopy that

Wendy Lewis of The Textile Trunk sold earlier (earlier post here)

I have been obsessing slightly over French blues…

indigo fabrics, shutters, doors, tile…

My 18th century French indigo Ikat quilt from Wendy

on top of tasseled pillow and Belgian linen…

Couldn’t resist this two toned antique bobble trim…

Still waiting for it to arrive from France…

want to use it to trim some nubby Belgian linen pillows to

throw along side the Ikat quilt…

Is that a faint touch of blue at the top of the stairs?

Incredible staircase….more of the 16th to 18th century old Dolais

home in Baugé, a small town in Anjou…

French Country Style at Home

More blue posts….

Wheat and Indigo here

Artist ‘s Blue here

Dreamy Blues here

Coronelli Blue here

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From Paris

28 Sunday Mar 2010

Posted by Trish in France

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

7th arrondissement, Du Bout du Monde, French antique porcelain, French porcelain, Jacques Grange, Paris shopping, roses

Slow Sunday mornings….

the perfect time to notice details…

smell the roses…

even if you have to imagine them from the rim

of your teacups….

The birds are busy getting their nests ready

snippets and twigs…no pearls….

The Herend Rothschild Bird cup comes with a story…

… a 19th century tale about Baroness Rothschild,

who lost her pearl necklace in the garden of her Vienna residence.

Several days later it was found by her gardener,

who saw birds playing with it in a tree.

Pearly white, bead trimmed Vaisselle covered jam pot…

All the way from Paris from my wonderful blog friend

Jermaine of French Kissed ….

What can I say…she is just the most thoughtful,

fun, smart, inspiring, and generous person…

It’s been fun figuring out this blog thing together!

…

I’m a bit like Eeyore with his honey pot and balloon…

I keep taking the lid off and playing with the spoon and

wondering what I should put in it. Cerise confiture or

orange marmalade or big crystals of turbinado sugar…

What would you put in this sweet little pot?

Vaisselle ceramics carried by the gorgeous Paris store Du Bout du Monde here

Jermaine took some great shots of the store and will be doing a post soon…

(hurry UP Jermaine!!!). Watch for it and check out her posts from Paris

to Monte Carlo, Cannes…and back to Paris. She’s left her daughter

Bardot in Blue behind, blogging for us from Paris…

Leafy 18th century courtyard in the 7th arrondissement

Isabelle Adjani and Jacques Grange…more here

Paris Interiors

Shall we imagine a Spring Sunday breakfast in Paris?

A glimpse of Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adèle….

Texture and Textiles

19 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by Trish in France, Interiors

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

18th century lifestyle, Antique beds, Antique Fabric, French Antiques, French design, Lit a la Polonaise

Been busy with projects…

but thought you’d like a glimpse of

a lovely French chateau with touches

of spring color and gorgeous textiles…

Since I’m definitely into neutrals

I like to see what just a touch of

a fresh accent color will do

to tone on tone interiors….

Are frames out?

Perhaps it’s the insouciance of “barefooted” dark oil paintings

floating on an expanse of bare wall that makes this so appealing…

Love the simple homespun linen on the Louis XVI Chair…

Colefax and Fowler “arbre de vie” at top of bed…

Believe it or not…that’s an Ikea bed…with a bit of faux

paneling and aging….

I have been more textile obsessive than usual lately after dipping

into Wendy Lewis’s pool of over 1000 listings of antique and vintage

European textiles on Ebay here. If you look closely at this shot there

is a red toile piece above the bed…and striped floral fabric pinned to

the wall. Ironically, the chairs are “déshabillé” (undressed)…except for

their jute underlay. The bed is dressed with a boutis (French quilt) in

motifs inspired by les Indiennes de Nimes and flags de procession

chines rest on the headboard above each pillow…

Gorgeous from the tip of the ciel to the lit to the pale gray floor…

Thanks to Wendy I’ve also become pelmet obsessed…

Usually used as decorative valances poised atop windows…

Love scalloped pelmets in a half circle at the ceiling to create

a bed crown, a ciel de lit. Now how difficult would that be?

Hmmmm……

From my Red Burnished Neutrals post here

Again…mostly neutral

with that stand-out color accent….

I’m not really a red person….

but when I look at this I want to be!!!

Gorgeous antique toile pelmets available here.

Toile fabric “papering” niche…

looks like the demi-lune table is

set into an open armoire…

Blogs just can’t do horizontal as well as an in your lap,

two page magazine spread. This view is just stunning….

Whimsical dog portraits on either side of the

rough-hewn door frame…fantastic symmetry

Campagne Decoration

Jan/Feb ’10

Interior decorator Catherine-Hélène Frei

Photos Marie-José Jarry

Nimes

16 Tuesday Feb 2010

Posted by Trish in France

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

aged metals, Antiquities, aqua tones, Provence, Provence in winter

More of my daughter’s photos from Provence….

A visit to the Archaeological Museum in Nimes…

A treasure trove of weathered patinas on

metal and stone, mixed up with lovely

aqua tones…

Black and white checkered floor visible

through the aqua glazed backdrop

Greige and moss tinged stone…

Ancient glass “beakers”…

in an aqua group

Just love these shades of green…

The glass case throws reflection artfully back into the photo….

The French mansard roof line beyond the window cutting a wide

swath through the Etruscan urn and the checkered floor

emblazoning the antiquities with its pattern…

A classics major, Austin just got back from a

snowy first trip to Provence. Earlier

Provence photos here and here

Antiquity in Provence

18 Monday Jan 2010

Posted by Trish in France

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Arles, Arles Amphitheatre, Provence in winter, Roman ruins in Arles

Whilst my days are spent in the doldrums of excavating a 1939

bathroom (with a dash of 1960′s Formica thrown in),

my daughter has danced about more illustrious

antiquities. In previous trips to Italy she picked up

my fascination with doorways….

and captured some incredible portals last week in Provence

From the relatively “contemporary” historical architecture…

Another doorway…

a bit of snow drifted gothic froth

To the truly ancient…

The immense stone portals that ring

the Amphitheatre in Arles…

How incredible to see the extent of Roman ruins so deep into France…

She spent a summer in Rome before starting college

excavating at Villa delle Vignacci…

The Villa delle Vignacce complex, built in the second century AD, was the property of Quintus Servilius Pudens, a friend of the Roman emperor Hadrian. The villa is located in a park famed for the well-preserved aqueduct channels that stretch for miles along the Via Appia Antica and was first explored by archaeologists in 1780.

American Institute for Roman Culture