Before & After: Designing a Romantic Guest Suite in Provence

For this third post about the development of the interior design and decoration of Le Mas des Poiriers, I want to focus on Chambre Fontaine.  This bedroom seems to capture the heart of most people when they see it.  It has the grand, regal feeling of a Master Bedroom, with the coziness of a well-appointed guest room. It is most recently shown in the Aerin x Love Shack Fancy collaboration.

My Client’s desire was for this room to feel comfortable and beautiful, and slightly elevated from the other guest bedrooms in the house.  It was the original Master Bedroom, before the addition over the barn that created the new Master.  That said, this was the second most important bedroom on the property.

For a luxurious feeling, I had my eye on Braquenie Fabric’s Princesse Palatine fabric. The cool cream silk Jacquard, with accents of coral and blues seemed just the right feminine colors for this bedroom with views out to the formal gardens.  The fabric was also one of the finer Pierre Frey fabrics we used in the bedrooms – instantly setting it apart from the others.

We did a few key things in this bedroom to unify the space and give it that luxurious, dramatic, and authentic French feeling.

CONSISTENT COLORWAYS

The instantly soothing feeling in this space is achieved by making the Princesse Palatine fabric the focal point. In keeping the walls creamy, painting the wood beams white, and using white linens and cream upholstery fabrics, we created a soft, airy feeling that compliments this floral fabric.

To add interest and tie the room’s colors together, we pulled out a few key color tones from the Palatine fabric.  First, we trimmed this custom Tester Bed, which was inspired by those at Tuscany’s Villa Cetinale, with solid coral silk moiré on all the edges and interior drapery side panels.  We wanted the bed to be center stage, so the added contrast trim highlights its beautiful, custom romantic shape.

Second, we pulled out the dusty brown in the fabric’s tree bark and accented the walls with a thin line – around all doorways and along the baseboard. It’s a subtle, but interesting detail that continues the eye around the room, and blends well with the casual diamond patterned sea grass area rug.

Third, we shopped for distressed painted furniture with similar soft blue tones to the floral fabric. These pieces really pop off the pale terracotta floor.

EMPHASIZE DRAMATIC HEIGHT:

The room has naturally high ceilings accentuated by the fireplace column and the tall windows.  We intentionally added to this drama by creating the custom Tester bed that is supported at the ceiling.  By aligning the Palatine tree of life pattern on the headboard and flat fabric panel behind the bed, your eye is carried up the wall.   The complimentary window drapery panels finish off the tall windows and unify the space.

The original fireplace wall had 2 niches on each side around the center that seemed empty and awkward.  We designed matching built-in cabinets to fill these side areas that ran floor to ceiling.  The tall, narrow cupboards constructed by Lafourcade Architecture’s local craftsmen were appointed with hanging as well as folded clothing areas.  We painted them soft blue, creating symmetry around the fireplace wall to balance the grand canopy bed on the opposite wall.

TEXTURE MIX:

The soft, soothing feeling in this Bedroom is further achieved by a subtle mix of textures.  The silk sheen of the Palatine fabric plays off the rustic painted beams, rough woven Sea grass rug and accents of plush velvet.  The slubby linen upholstery and cotton sateen bedding contrasts the years of worn paint on the antique Provencal furniture pieces.  We use Alexandre Lafourcade’s go-to decorative painting specialist to paint and age the newly installed tall cabinets to a worn, soft blue. The end result is a comfortable, familiar and romantic feeling in this Guest Room.

If you liked this post, please check out our Blog post Dream Project: Le Mas des Poiriers – Avignon, France about the renovation of the Mas and our design collaboration with Alexandre Lafourcade, including dramatic before photos of the farmhouse.