Color, Patterns and Antiques in a House in Eastern France

This old house in Burgundy, built in the 18th century, was purchased by the couple Max and Suzanne nearly fifteen years ago when the family decided to dramatically change their lives and move from London. Suzanne left the legal profession and opened her own business selling antiques and textiles, but now in another country. Together with her husband, she also took on a second project — their new home.

It was inherited in a decent condition: only the roof needed capital repair, so the main renovation work focused on restoring the original interior of the house: the owners wanted to create something new but with a vintage feel.

They quickly settled on the style. At some point, the couple stayed at the hotel La Mirande in Avignon, France, and were so captivated by the color palette and play of light in their hotel rooms that they instantly “caught” the color scheme and decided to recreate something similar in their new home.

Vibrant touches taken from the hotel’s decorator solution were duplicated in their own setting, filling the interior with colorful patterns, paintings in heavy gilded frames, and a combination of yellow, mint, and wine shades from the signature color palette of La Mirande.

They approached the choice of furniture with great care: if you pay close attention to the interior, it might seem there are almost no modern items. Indeed — the furniture was specifically purchased at auctions and flea markets, then restored to perfect condition. By the way, Max did it himself, being a restorer by profession.

The favorite spot in the house of Suzanne, Max, and their two sons is a small, seemingly unimpressive kitchen entirely painted in orange.

"It didn’t quite work out to add more beloved sunny tones to the main color palette of the interior," Suzanne sighs, "but with the orange kitchen, everything fell into place as it should!"