Good Morning Lacquered Lifers. Today the Vexin, France country home of Elisa de Bartillat. de Bartillat is the owner of the tres chic Paris children’s boutique Serendipity, where she and her partner carry contemporarily styled reclaimed vintage furniture – for children. So it comes as no surprise that when de Bartillat purchased a nineteenth century three story home in the northern French countryside, she styled the historic interiors with a whimsical combination of modern and vintage contemporary furniture. The paneling in the dining room and office actually came from the Rouen Palais de Justice. Bombed in April of 1944, the prior owner of de Bartillat’s home managed to acquire some of the paneling when the Palais was being restored after the war. A great example of preservation, and reuse.
This home is just a continuation of my love affair with the combination of historic interiors and modern furnishings, and in this respect the Europeans, and the French in particular, always seem to get it just right. In a space with highly decorative mouldings, paneling, and details, modern furniture and simple paint schemes allow both the architecture and the furniture to shine.
Photos via Marie Claire Maison
And not to worry, Martha still has plenty of room for conventional ironing. While we can look at these photos and dream, I don’t have, and never will have fifteen bedrooms as Martha does at Skylands, so all I will really dream about is a small sink, a fold down ironing board, and a door that I can shut when the folding doesn’t get done.
