French Style in California

Continuing my quest for French style homes I spotted a grand statement both inside and out...

An Exclusive Tour of Auckland Interior Designer Irene Crean's French Provencal Home - Final; Part Four

If you have been following my blog you will know that I recently photographed a beautiful French Provencal style home in Auckland. I had so many lovely photos I've had to share these over a series of posts and sadly today is the last in this series.

An Error on the Blog and Update on Interior Designer, Irene Crean's French Style Home

Firstly I need to apologise for two already published posts from the past turning up on the blog last night and in your email boxes if you're a subscriber. I was editing some old material and for some strange reason it posted again. I have deleted both these posts so that the previous post to show is the second part of interior designer, Irene Crean's home.  My apologies for any confusion. 

French Country Cottage Appeal, With a Modern Twist

A simple image, however it immediately captured me. The relaxed sofa with its deep squashy seats and natural creased linen juxtaposed against the rough sisal flooring. Not to mention, the blue and white (my favourite combination), and those crisp, green apples you feel you could pluck from the painting above. This space conjures up an afternoon of lounging on the sofa with a good book or a pile of House and Home magazines... relaxation without the massage.

Tillinghast Estate - French Style Farmhouse or French Chateau?

This design project has been described by Yawn Design Studio as; "Couture meets French farmhouse." In a South Florida landscape this stunning home is more akin to French Chateau than French farm house. However, you may be surprised when you look inside. The home owner's brief was to use "materials with muted and neutral tones" and this has been achieved with great success.

Creating A French Style Study/Home Office

Last week I shared an update on my French style home office and my latest purchase, today I was to post the reveal, however with an extremely overcast day and a few more shots to take, unfortunately I am going to have to postpone it a few more days. I know it has been a long time coming and a couple of readers have emailed me to see if they missed it. As a self confessed perfectionist, I have to have all my furniture in place, the right accessories, and the light to be just right. However, not wanting to disappoint readers, I am sharing some French style home offices today, to show how you can determine this style.

A South African Home With French Flair - See inside this lovely home, decorated in French country style

At first glance, you could easily mistake this pretty cottage for a home in France, however, this French inspired home is actually located in South Africa. I did try to trace it back to its original source to find out more information, unfortunately the link was broken, so all I know is its location. It is clear to see however, by its French influence that the owners love this style.

A Gracious Auckland Villa In St Marys Bay - Part Two

If you missed my previous post featuring Mary Gordon's St Mary's Bay home, you might want to pop over and read all about her beautiful home, the story behind it and see more images before you continue this post. There were so many lovely images of Mary's home, I decided to write the post in two parts, this being part two.

Upstairs, in her St Mary's Bay Villa, Mary has created a luxurious master bedroom and en-suite. Porters 'French Grey' paint on the walls sets a relaxing mood. Mary had the large, beautifully carved, 20th Century French bed, sent back from France. This beautiful bed is definitely a statement piece, I love the luxurious, French Grey, silk eiderdown across the foot of the bed. It is the way Mary has introduced sumptuous fabrics in this bedroom that make it look so wonderful. 

I love how Mary has used large lamps either side the bed and I think the pewter works wonderfully with surrounding colours. The natural wood of the bedside tables is in contrast, however compliments the sisal flooring. The fur rug adds a touch of opulence. Of course every bedroom should have a corner chair and the winged back chair in Mary's room has been upholstered in Ralph Lauren's Zebra print. To complete the room, Mary hung a lovely French chandelier.  I would have to admit overall this room is my favourite and I could easily see myself lazing in bed on a Sunday morning, looking towards the glistening harbour in the distance.

Note:  Unfortunately the bed is a little distorted in this image due to the camera.

Master ensuite

Night time views across the harbour

More Images of Mary's stunning home...

A beautiful guest bedroom

The guest bedroom has French doors leading to it's small private portico and onto the garden

Views across the harbour

Another living area, neutral tones brought to life by a mix of textures and pattern.

Mary's previous background has been high end interior design and it is clearly evident in the stunning renovation of her home. Today Mary is happy to spend time renovating and decorating for herself. Her style is clearly recognisable, an eclectic mix of antique, French, Italian and SE Asian pieces that have me in awe! As I soak up the images she has shared, I would describe Mary's home as classic with beautiful moments of opulence. Overall her home is rich, warm and inviting  and I can imagine it would be hard for anyone to ever want to leave.

I hope you've enjoyed the tours of Mary's home, thank you very much Mary for allowing me to share your beautiful home with my readers. 

At the time I am publishing this post I should hopefully be relaxing in Sunny Brisbane. I planned to take a holiday to stay with good friends after my mother passed away last year and now is the time to do it. I will be away until the 13th of October so probably there will be no more posts until this time, although I have to admit I will have my laptop with me to check my mail from time to time.

I will be back on the 14th October, if you don't want to miss out on future posts, you can sign up for email on my side bar.

If you love Mary's style you may also like the tour I featured recently of  interior designer Andrew Melville's home. If you didn't read my earlier post on Mary's house, there is a link above.

If Your A Minimalist, 'Look Away' - Tour a French Style Home

As my heading says, look away if your a minimalist or your style is contemporary, as this Georgian home is the perfect background for the owner's collection of French antiques. I love symmetry, it just seems to work effortlessly and there is a lot to be seen in this beautiful home. I also like the way the owners have mixed artifacts of differing materials such as brass, silver and ceramics. The two over-sized ceramic pots on the mantel below, are real 'statement pieces', their bold shape draws the eye away from the smaller more ornate pieces. With 5 bedrooms and so many beautiful images, I have picked out my favourites.

All images copyright of jjlocations.

I hope you enjoyed the tour, I have been inspired by the bedrooms as I am hoping to create a similar atmosphere, maybe a little less grand, in my own bedroom which is due for a makeover. This beautiful home is available for photo and magazine shoots. For enquiries or if you want to see more images, please visit, jjlocations. 

If you really love French style, check out my Pinterest board, 'French Style', where you will find lots more images to inspire you.

Sharing this post with the following blogs;

I should be Mopping the Floor

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No Minimalist Here

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A fabulous French style Auckland home

A few weeks ago I saw a fabulous French style home in a local realty paper, immediately I shrieked out to my husband "come and look at this! I was so excited as the interior style was exactly the way I had foreseen my dream home. I have a file on my book shelf, titled "Home Ideas", it's full of ideas I've collected from interior magazines, nearly every image is inspired by all things French or country style and we are now at a stage in our lives of possibly realising this dream. Initially thoughts were a hectare of land where I could have some chickens a lovely large veggie garden and a small paddock. However, living so near the city, but still close to the beach we are not sure we are ready for a complete lifestyle change. We love living a short walk from the Mission Bay beach but it was hard to imagine how I could realise my dream on a small city section, that was until, I saw this amazing home. This house without a doubt has wow factor plus and I am excited that the proud owners Helen and Jason have allowed me to share their home with you today.

The property was designed by Aaron at Paradise Building Developments, who co-incidentally is Helen's brother. Aaron worked with Helen and Jason to design the house to suit their site. The interior of the home was designed by Helen and Jason who worked closely with their builder. The beautiful kitchen, laundry and some of the other detailing such as the window seat upstairs were designed by Aaron's wife's business, The gourmet Kitchen Company, yes it was all in the family and a very talented family they are. This lovely home is  226 square metres with 4 bedrooms, three bathrooms and a double garage, yet surprisingly it sits on only 449 square metres of land.  

I am always saying, "a picture paints a thousand words but in this case you really do have to see it to appreciate this amazing house, the feeling evoked when you walk from the entrance to the living area cannot be felt through an image. Tomorrow afternoon the house will be auctioned and I am very envious of its prospective owners. Details of the property and auction can be found "here". Why am I not bidding you may ask? a stubborn husband that is adamant he wants to remain by the sea. However, I now know I can build my French style dream without the necessity of a large piece of land and I may be stealing more than a few ideas from Helen.

Image above: A lovely stone table sets the tone on the deck off the family room

Above: stunning dark Oak floors bring warmth and character to the vast open plan living area. I love the light suspensions above the island, they reminded me a little of the ones in the post I wrote on the Manhattan apartment.

Above: a fabulous traditional kitchen with an amazing built in dresser, I like the clever way the dark wood island has been designed to have the appearance of a farmhouse table.

Above: The dining area extends towards the family room where there is a cathedral ceiling and beams.

Above: off to the left of the kitchen down a few steps it leads to the laundry, beautifully appointed in the same detail as the kitchen. The door leads to the garage and at the other end out of our view is a complete bathroom and double bedroom.

Above: The family room extends from the dining area and opens out to the front patio. Cathedral ceilings add to the sense of space.

Above: The formal lounge area to the rear of the open plan living is more secluded. With a flame gas fire and board and batten ceilings, this lounge area is comfortable and cosy without being too formal. The doors lead to a lovely tiled rear patio and garden area. I even spotted a raised veggie patch.

Above: The master bedroom is simple but stylish. I noticed it had a fabulous textured paper behind the bed, unfortunately it is difficult to determine in this image.

Above: en suite to the master bedroom, continuing the lovely aged wood theme with his and her basins and beautiful bevelled glass mirrors.

Above: A feminine double bedroom 

Above: upstairs bathroom with lovely little mosaic tiles and again the beautiful bevelled glass mirror

Above: I love the industrial chair at the desk, a mix of styles creates a functional boys room.

I hope you enjoyed a peek into this wonderful home and if by any chance you want to race to the auction tomorrow you will find more details in my link above.  I know my readers must get fed up with me reminding them about my French style bedroom makeover, however, if you are new to my blog you may want to see the post on how I turned a previously bland room with a pair of old shutters, into something special.

If you love French style, you may also like to view two slideshows I've created on various images of architecture, interiors and gardens and tour another beautiful 'new' French style house 'Villanova' PA.....Read more here.

I will be sharing this post with the following blog parties:

I should Be Mopping The Floor

Coastal Charm

Rain On A Tin Roof

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Time Travel Thursday at the Brambleberry Cottage

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Stroll Thru Life