A Day at Château de Fontainebleau

Earlier this month, Flammarion introduced the newest addition to its well-received series of French landmark-focused books, A Day at Château de Fontainebleau, which joins the previously published A Day at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, A Day at Versailles, and A Day with Marie Antoinette.

While the "A Day at..." series' slip-cased format and bijou-size make these books enticing to collect, it is their concise yet nonetheless engaging text, not to mention their gorgeous photos, that make this series a worthwhile read.  Akin to a private tour, A Day at Château de Fontainebleau, written by Guillaume Picon with photography by Eric Sander, gives readers an up-close view of this former royal residence, once home to the likes of François I, Louis XIV, and Napoléon.  With its many photos of the palace's sumptuous details and its sometimes intimate though often sweeping architecture, the book makes it crystal clear why this château has earned its reputation as one of France's architectural gems.

And if you do as I did and devote a cozy afternoon to reading the book in its entirety, you'll not only find yourself the wiser for having read it, but you'll feel as though you spent a few grand hours within the confines of a most magnificent palace.

Begun under François I, the loggia was converted into a ballroom by Henri II. The frescoes were painted between 1550 and 1558 by Niccolo dell'Abate and his team, after drawings by Primaticcio.

Bedchamber in the apartments of Madame de Maintenon. The bed was supplied for Madame Élisabeth, daughter of Louis XV.

The Emperor's Bedchamber, with his giltwood state bed covered in plum-covered velvet with a pattern of flowers and laurel leaves, rewoven in Lyon in the late twentieth century to match the original fabric.

In 2014, the Imperial Theater, inaugurated by Napoleon III and Eugénie and closed for the last 150 years, was opened to the public once more.

The Pond Pavilion, built by Louis XIV and restored under Napoléon Bonaparte.


All images ©Eric Sander, from A Day at Château de Fontainebleau (Flammarion, 2015).

Chez Patou

With Paris Fashion Week quickly approaching, it seemed fitting to take a step back in time- specifically, the late 1920s- to see how the late couturier, Jean Patou, lived. Although perhaps not as well-remembered today as his rival, Coco Chanel, Patou was one of the leading couturiers of the Twenties.  An early advocate of sportswear, Patou gained a following that included some of that decade's most stylish women, including tennis great Suzanne Lenglen and Lady Diana Cooper.  A savvy businessman with a nose for marketing, Patou cut quite a dashing figure throughout Paris, earning a reputation as a stylish man-about-town.  It was to be expected that the couturier would choose to live in surroundings that were just as chic as the image he projected.

It was during World War I, when serving as a captain in the French army, that Patou met two fellow officers who, according to design historian Stephen Calloway, had a profound influence on the young couturier's burgeoning style. One soldier was Bernard Boutet de Monvel, the artist and aesthete, while the other was architect and decorator Louis Süe, who, after the war, formed a design partnership with André Mare. In post-World-War-I France, Süe et Mare were two of France's most fashionable interior decorators, assembling a coterie of sophisticated clients seeking their sumptuous brand of chic. One of those prominent clients was Patou, who enlisted Süe et Mare to decorate his 16th arrondissement hôtel particulier, which can be seen in these late-1920s photos.

What strikes me about these interiors is the designers' meticulous attention to detail- specifically, the way in which the decorative details worked together to form a seamless, stylish whole.  Patou's house was not a random, careless assemblage of fashionable furnishings.  Rather, each carefully-considered finish, fabric, and piece of furniture played an important role in creating what was ultimately a smooth-as-silk backdrop for living.  And for all of the home's high-style, Art Deco-inspired décor, these interiors strike a cultured note, too.  These are civilized rooms, most especially the bar.  (Yes, bars can be civilized, something which, unfortunately, few of today's homeowners with at-home bars seem to understand.)

Scattered among these archival photos are images of some of Patou's fashions, further proof that Patou's house was just as modish as the House of Patou.

Image at top: Jean Patou in his study.

Patou's Süe et Mare-decorated living room.

One area of the living room was designated for music. Like most of the home's furnishings, the piano was designed by Süe et Mare.

The dining room, which had yellow walls topped by brown stucco molding.

The bar, which opened onto a garden.  The chairs were designed by Süe et Mare.

The mahogany-paneled study.  Mare was responsible for the alcove, which was lined in damask.

The staircase that led up to the second floor.  The intricate metal banister was designed by Richard Desvallières.

Patou's bath. The walls and tub were faced in marble, while the patterned floor was blue, gold, and white.

Jean-Charles de Ravenel at Lindroth Design

Lyford Cay-based collage artist Jean-Charles de Ravenel will be making his Palm Beach professional debut with an upcoming exhibit at Lindroth Design, designer Amanda Lindroth's charming Palm Beach design studio and shop. On display will be the artist's "Palm Beach Series" of collages, which celebrate the rich social history of this Florida resort town.  Look closely at the images seen here- just a few of the many collages that will be featured- and you'll see references to such Palm Beach luminaries as Mr. and Mrs. Winston Guest,  Mrs. Harrison Williams, Addison Mizner, John L. Volk, Laddie Sanford, Mrs. Woolworth Donahue, and more.

Featuring period photos, press clippings, and other mementos, these inspired collages present an intriguing chronicle of life in old Palm Beach.  The exhibition runs from Friday, February 12 through April.  For more information or sales inquiries, please contact Lindroth Design's Palm Beach location.

Image at top: On Polo Field (A)

On Polo Field (B)

Night Life

Worth Avenue

Architects

Mrs. Harrison Williams on board "Warrior"

Mrs. Harrison Williams at home "Blythedunes"



All images courtesy of Lindroth Design

The Suján Rajmahal Palace

In need of a mid-week pick-me-up?  Then feast your eyes on the Suján Rajmahal Palace, the luxury Jaipur hotel whose energizing interiors- refreshing blues, pulsating pinks, and pattern galore- are sure to give you a visual start.

A welcome respite from those ho hum and humdrum hotels, the Suján reminds me of Dorothy Draper and her work at The Carlyle, the Quitandinha, and The Greenbrier- minus the Suján's Indian flair, of course.  Draper understood the power of making a decorative statement, especially at hotels and restaurants.  After all, who wants to embark on a night on the town or a weekend getaway, only to be greeted by bland décor?  On these occasions, guests want a break from the everyday, something Draper afforded to many through her high-style and, at times, whimsically-inclined interiors.  Like Draper, Carleton Varney understands people's desire for an escape from the ordinary, as evidenced by his colorful work at The Greenbrier and the Colony Hotel.  And so, too, does Adhil Ahmad, the designer responsible for the Suján's interiors. 

I wouldn't necessarily want my dining room to have magenta wallpaper and a purple ceiling (see below,) but oh, how much fun it would be to spend an evening in just such a room!

All photos from the hotel's website

A Potager Inspired by Mount Vernon

"I dress the garden with a new look each season- just like a collection." 

So said Hubert de Givenchy, whose gardens at Le Jonchet, his 16th-century chateau near Paris, appear to be a slice of verdant heaven.  Back in the mid-1990s, one of those new looks entailed the building of a new potager, or kitchen garden. Givenchy's first potager, seen below in image number two, had been inspired by Venice.  But for his subsequent potager, the designer sought inspiration in a classic American setting: George Washington's garden at Mount Vernon.

Whenever Givenchy visited his great friend, Bunny Mellon, the two made a habit of visiting Mount Vernon.  Those trips made a great impact on the designer, who later fashioned his potager's two pavilions and fencing after those at Mount Vernon.  As Givenchy explained, "I adore America and the idea of having a little bit of American perfection at Le Jonchet.".

It might be the pair of pavilions that I find most charming; in fact, I feature one of the pavilions in my "In with the Old" slide presentation.  While one pavilion was intended for use by the head gardener, the other was built for the designer's personal use.  That one is filled with elegant-yet-rustic furniture, gardening tools, and books.  "Each little thing in my pavilion comes from a trip and is something I love," said Givenchy.
  

The Venetian-inspired potager.

In his then-new potager, Givenchy chose board fences like those at Mount Vernon.

Above, the head gardener's pavilion.

Givenchy's pavilion.

The unique curved bench is a replica of one at Cawdor Castle, Scotland.

The view of the lake from the pool house.

All images from House Beautiful, Christopher Simon Sykes photographer.

Why?

I'm too young to feel so out of touch with the times, but nevertheless, I do.  So many things leave me asking, "Why?"  Take, for example, the new Chelsea Handler show on Netflix.  Why do I want to see Chelsea Handler do drugs and promptly get sick in a bucket?  And why did Kate Hudson feel the need to Instagram a photo of herself, bare-bottomed and in a bubble bath, in an effort to make her boy toy, Nick Jonas, jealous?  Perhaps the question I ought to be asking myself is, "Why am I spending so much time reading about this trash on the Daily Mail?"

And after reading last week's New York Times article, "The Art of Home Staging", I felt even more out of touch than before.  If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend doing so, because the piece confirms what most of us already knew- that flair and individuality, those once-lauded virtues in the world of interiors, have become real deal-killers when it comes to the buying and selling of residential real estate.  The way to sell your home quickly and for more money?  Hire a home stager to banish the old and bring in the new- and banal.

Before I go on, I should mention that I'm all for doing what is necessary to sell one's home.  If staging means more traffic and more offers, then by all means, do it.  What I find troubling is not home staging itself, but rather the innocuous décor that buyers seem to prefer.  If what real estate agents and home stagers say is true, home buyers want to see white walls, plain-jane curtains, contemporary furniture, and a live-edge coffee table.  Do these buyers not realize that the furniture moves away after closing?  And is it really that difficult for people to see past a home's paint and wallpaper, furniture, fabrics, and- heaven forbid- antiques in order to assess a home's bones?

What really struck me is that one of the article's examples of a successfully staged apartment was that of designer Jean-Paul Beaujard.  His New York City home was featured in Architectural Digest about five years ago, and I was so taken with the interiors that I actually wrote about it on my blog in 2011.  But, sadly, such interiors don't sell homes these days, so the apartment's listing agents at Corcoran suggested bringing in a home stager.  All of Beaujard's beautiful furniture was sent away to storage, while contemporary furniture and  plain white fabrics were brought in.  (Oh, and the walls were painted white, of course.)  Beaujard was quoted as saying, "It's the complete opposite of what I like," but admitted that, "now, you see the proportions of the apartment better. Even I was surprised."  The staging worked, because the designer recently accepted an offer on his apartment.

While I find traditional decor's lack of broad appeal to be depressing, I did take heart in readers' comments.  It seems that many of them, like me, preferred the pre-staged version of Beaujard's apartment, while others bemoaned home buyers' lack of imagination.  So with that in mind, I'm once again showing the "before" of Beaujard's apartment.  If you'd like to see how it looked after being staged, please click here to visit the Corcoran listing.

All photos from Architectural Digest, Miguel Flores-Vianna photographer.