5 decor Lessons from Gorgeous French Homes

27 Apr 2017

by: Charlotte

No comments

Found this fabulous article on Architectural Digest. The content is taken from a new book AD France that celebrates the designers behind the country’s famously nonchalent style.

We turn to the French for lessons on how to dress, how to parent, how to wash our faces—and, of course, how to design our homes. Back when Marie Kalt took over as editor in chief of Architectural Digest France, she and her editors tasked themselves with finding the decorators who represented the future of the country’s aesthetic (and therefore the look we would hope to achieve in our own houses). Twelve of those once up-and-coming, now fully established, design stars are featured in a recently released book, The New Chic: French Style from Today’s Leading Designers ($65, Rizzoli). “Despite their wide stylistic diversity, whether minimalist or quasi-Baroque, glamorous or architectural, the designers presented here share many points in common that combine to delineate a new French style,” writes Kalt. “With elegance, aesthetic freedom, and sometimes audacity, they all uphold a kind of classicism (no one can completely sever their cultural roots) without ever losing sight of that elusive attribute called ‘chic.'” Read on to discover the tips and tricks we gleaned from a few of the stunning projects found in the book.

Photo: Gonzalo Machado

Embrace multiple aesthetics at once

Fashion designer turned decorator Vincent Darré likes to bring together wide-ranging inspiration in a single space. “I adore a certain grand French decorative style à la Jansen, the English spirit of David Hicks…. I’m also very much inspired by Italian Baroque. Then I put it all together in my own mishmash!” he tells Cédric Saint André Perrin in the book. The dining room in Spanish model Inés Sastre’s Paris apartment boasts Darré-designed fire engine–red wallpaper.

Photo: Jérôme Galland

Use light to your advantage

Designer Chahan Minassian tells Axell Corty, “I use light to bring out [materials’] opulence, their sophistication, their depth.” Minassian updated this 19th-century Paris apartment with Venetian-style interiors. Sumptuous Cordoba leather lines a cozy living room.

Photo: Gonzalo Machado

Pair furnishings from different periods

Although the same Paris residence’s main living space features a harmonious mix of gray hues, the furnishings all hail from different eras. An armchair from the 1700s sits next to another from the 19th century, while opposite them is a 1940s-inspired méridienne.

Photo: Jérôme Galland

Invest in one-of-a-kind pieces

“Chahan Minassian is very attached to the concepts of commissions, bespoke work, and haute couture. Which is one of the reasons he lives and works in Paris,” writes Axell Corty. In the decorator’s own apartment, Peter Lane ceramics grace the fireplace, while a Richard Serra painting and a resin artwork by Aaron Young hang on the walls.

Photo: Gonzalo Machado

Strike a balance

“[Isabelle] Stanislas’s style is unmistakable: precision, a focus on the preparatory drawings, pure lines, simplicity tempered by a desire for warmth, and a rendering that she sees as arising from a ‘perfect balance of masculine and feminine,'” writes Françoise-Claire Prodhon. For this living room at the AD Intérieurs exhibition in 2015, the designer balanced soft velvet sofas and glitzy mirrored surfaces with raw concrete walls.

Source: Architectural Digest