Winter in Mazamet: Visiting the Molinié Villa
It’s been cold! The lawn has been regularly covered in a white dust of ice. There have been storms and flooding in various parts of France. Luckily, we’re not in … Continue reading
The Redemptive Power of Beautiful Things
A more light-hearted post since whenever one turns on the television all we hear are terrible things – so I give you some beautiful things: I found this great little … Continue reading
Masterpiece Art: Stephen Finer, Portraits that Capture
I highly recommend this virtual exhibition, which you can see from the comfort of your home. Not a bad option these days. The paintings are sublime. STEPHEN FINER: PORTRAITS THAT … Continue reading
Beautiful Things: Roland Oudot and Mercier Freres
Roland Oudot and Mercier Frères. Two names that aren’t terribly well known although they should be. A few weeks ago I saw a painting by Oudot at auction and thought … Continue reading
Call this number and tell the woman I must see her chest without delay.
That’s the sort of unusual note Mike finds on his desk in the morning. And let me tell you, what a chest it turned out to be! Central or Northern … Continue reading
Chairs, China & Art – and detours
Remember how the dining room was nearly done? Oops. There’s been a detour. I wasn’t happy with the balance of the lighting as we sat at the table. The right … Continue reading
The End is in Sight!
The fabric above is a 100% linen fabric called Water Iris, by Zoffany. Only £78 p/ metre. It’s what we’ve settled on for the dining room chairs. I’ve been working on … Continue reading
More dining-room-inations and some pergolating
The blue-grey is going up as I type. The blank space in it is for the Palmeraie (wall)paper after Carl Blechen. I’m in the last stages of the ebonising of … Continue reading
June at number 42
Firstly, the garden. Above is what I’ve added to the garden in the past week. Today I’ve added 6 more astilbes (purpurkerze), 2 hostas (big daddy) and three lathyrus pink … Continue reading
Number 42: Upstairs Landing Update
The bedrooms side of the landing is now painted. Scaffolding will be needed for the stairs side. The Baudson Wisteria mirror (from the charity shop) has a new glass and … Continue reading
Dining room-inations
So we were talking the other day about what to (finally) do about the dining room and Mike said it would be wonderful if we could make it feel like … Continue reading
A student pod – experimenting with space
This was a challenge. So much so that I’d been putting it off for months. I was so uninspired I was leaning towards just leaving the two studios in building … Continue reading
Older Than Springtime
The weather was lovely over the weekend and again today. I’ve taken advantage of that to start pruning the wisteria. Nightmare job. Terribly frightening to be that high up a … Continue reading
Demystifying Maison Jansen by James Archer Abbott
“Befitting its rich heritage, the name “Jansen” has multiple connotations. First, it identifies a century-long, global offering of decorating services that focused on both historical revivals and contemporary trends, largely … Continue reading
Beautiful Things: Indian Palampore or Genovese Mezzaro “Tapestries”
“A palampore is a type of hand-painted and mordant-dyed bed cover that was made in India for the export market during the eighteenth century and very early nineteenth century. Only … Continue reading
The African Textiles Are in Place
I’ve missed these terribly. They’re either Ajar veils or Bakhnug shawls, which are part of the attire of Berber women. We had them in the hall in Sotogrande (the … Continue reading
Bidding on the Ritz: Paris hotel auctions furniture
Artcurial Sale “The Ritz hotel in Paris is auctioning off 10,000 pieces of furniture and decorative objects. The hotel, founded in 1898, reopened two years ago after four years … Continue reading
A Carpet for the Study
A very attractive silk and wool Bidjar from the first half of the 20th century in just exceptional condition. It fits the room beautifully leaving about the same distance on … Continue reading
20ème siècle | Paris | October 2017 | Christie’s
“This October, Christie’s presents Giacometti’s colossal Grande femme II alongside Basquiat’s masterpiece, Jim Crow. Drawn from two exceptional French collections, the two works lead our series of auctions dedicated to … Continue reading
This week in that other part of my life
I’m overseeing the restoration of this rather wonderful Dolorosa (Madonna of the Seven Sorrows, to be specific). She’s circa 1750, carved wood, applied gesso and polychrome painted with glass eyes. … Continue reading
The WC. at the top of the stairs, before & after
This was a fiddly affair, but we’re nearly there. All that’s missing now are the windows which are being restored. The floors unfortunately had to be replaced because when the … Continue reading
Armand Albert Rateau: Lanvin’s Art Deco designer | Christie’s
Lanvin and the man she chose to design her apartment. “Armand Albert Rateau was one of France’s greatest Art Deco designers, creating everything from furniture to theatre interiors. Meredith Etherington-Smith … Continue reading
April at nº 42
It’s been a busy month. And dusty. Work has begun to move the west bathroom into a larger room. And what was the bathroom is going to become a dressing … Continue reading
Changes
Dealing with the limited counter space in the kitchen has not been easy, but finally we have a solution. A cross between an island and a table. It’s the height … Continue reading
From Venice to Florence to Mazamet
… Finally settled on a mirror for the entrance hall. Not as nice as the blue glass Venetian version from the other day, but attractive nonetheless. This one is Florentine. … Continue reading
A North Italian, Clear & Cobalt Blue Glass Mirror| VENICE, 1st half of the 18th century | Christie’s
A NORTH ITALIAN ENGRAVED, CLEAR AND COBALT BLUE GLASS MIRROR VENICE, FIRST HALF 18TH CENTURY The rectangular plate within a stepped foliate-decorated surround interspersed with oval medallions depicting flowering urns … Continue reading
The Grey Agendist
Well, the hair is grey, anyway. Very, very grey. Also, very, very short. My mood is up. We’ve had over a week of excellent weather now. One day at 18º … Continue reading
Matisse, Tiziano, Veronese & Diana Vreeland
Bacchus & Ariadne have just left. They’re on their way to Madrid where they’ll be restored by the exceptionally able hand who presided over much of the work at the … Continue reading
Light-hearted things
In the first half of the 20th century there were squads called Einsatzgruppen- HA! Just kidding. No depressing history or politics today. I promised a picture of the Louis Philippe … Continue reading
Slowly but surely. Apartment 3 (2 bed/2 bath)
It’s taken longer than we hoped… but we’re there. The rooms were a bit fiddly in this one- very few right angles. In all I’m happy. Mike deserves a ton … Continue reading
This week at № 42
The tiles for the scullery have arrived. They’re by an Italian company called Marca Corona- from their new Terra collection. I’ve been sanding the cupboards which are going to be … Continue reading
Doodling Floor Plans
Okay- I’ve been doodling and doodling to see what I could actually come up with for the currently unused atelier area. If you don’t recall, it looks like this: The … Continue reading
Apt. #3, the floorplan
There it is, although not exactly to scale. Apartment 3 is on the same level as apt. 4 (what we call in France & Britain the 1st floor, or in … Continue reading
Work on apartment #3; Two bed, two bath
Work has begun. This is one of the apartments I prefer, which means it’s more fun. It’s got an interesting L shaped layout with a bedroom at each extremity (each with … Continue reading
They just scream number 42!!!
Just got a pair of amazing candle sconces. HUGE! 85cm x 75cm (that’s 33 by 29 inches.) They’re going to be absolutely perfect for number 42. I’ve been having a … Continue reading
One dining room, many kitchens. Design changes.
Slight change of design plan for two of the two bedroom flats… the kitchens are going to be white lacquer. Instead of black Friday in France the soldes (sales) start … Continue reading
To gild or not to gild
This week’s conundrum: to gild details of the wrought iron balustrade (as they were in the hall’s original decor) or to leave them black as they are now (and have been … Continue reading
What makes a home?
Work on the flats is well on its way. We’ve started with floor plan changes. That meant knocking down a couple of walls because the room distribution in two … Continue reading
Landscaping at Number 42
The sprinkler system is in: Olivier has now finished removing all of the old lawn and he’s levelled the land. The border for the driveway is now in place, and the … Continue reading
Bedroom progress
The bedside chests are mirrored, art-deco style. The bedding is Christian Lacroix. Lamps arrived- still waiting on the Tibetan rug. Haven’t decided which paintings go where. We also got a … Continue reading
The Garden, Part I
Work on the garden has begun. Yesterday Mike mowed the lawn as low as possible which wasn’t easy because of the irregularities of the land. Later today Olivier is coming … Continue reading
Homes of the Great Wool Industrialists of Mazamet
I’ve been trying to map them out and count them. There are two books that have been written about these houses, but I haven’t yet been able to get my … Continue reading
The Dining Room: Upping my game
We had our first dinner party a few days ago. Small but exceedingly lively. It lasted eight hours, which I suppose means it went well. It was all very casual … Continue reading
The Works. August in Mazamet
The bathroom in the master bedroom is finally nearing completion! I wasn’t sure about a new bathroom in a century old house, but I’ve been converted. Everything Mike chose is … Continue reading
If sculptures could speak
I hadn’t noticed how funny that composition was until I uploaded the photo to the computer. One can just hear her saying, “there he goes again taking pictures of himself.” … Continue reading
Pattern, Colour and Progress
Working with such an intense pattern is not easy. It takes tremendous skill. To be honest I think it’s only brilliantly done in England and in India. Henrietta Spencer Churchill comes to … Continue reading
And now back to work
The fabric for the formal (grey) salon arrived, I’m thrilled. I’ve been looking at fabric samples for months. I wanted something special and different because the house deserves it; that … Continue reading
Flowers Everywhere
When I first arrived I thought the garden was a mess, I’m used to more order- but I took a deep breath and decided to wait and see how … Continue reading
In which deeds are signed
At last! Transaction complete, the house was paid for in full Thursday. No more mortgages, hurrah! Thursday was Mike’s birthday, so it was a great day for it to happen. Married on March 2nd, his birthday … Continue reading
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