The baby-blue shutters are the first thing that strike you about this historic stone dwelling in the village of La Bruguière in southern France. They look like cerulean eyes, inviting you in. “I love this colour, it is the typical shade of the windows of houses in this part of the Cévennes,” explains Sophie Zieleskiewicz, an interior decorator originally from Lyon.
When she and her husband, Ian, first saw the property – an 18th-century farm, where silkworms were once raised – they immediately knew they had found what they were looking for. The beautiful town of Uzès is just a few kilometres away and Provence is on the other side of the Rhone. It’s a much-loved tourist destination, yet untainted by mass tourism.
For the renovation, Sophie designed and selected everything herself, and attempted to stay faithful to the original feel of the property as much as possible. In the end, the work took three years. The volume of the spaces has been maintained, while the walls are painted in white and baby blue, echoing the colour of the shutters. “The surrounding countryside reminds me of Tuscany with its rows of cypresses and umbrella pines. And it’s this landscape that inspired the choice of Pierre Frey wallpaper for the dining room. It’s called L’esterel.
“I imagined this house as a journey,” Sophie continues. It is a journey that has seen her put her long years of experience and expertise to good use, and these ancient walls have been the ideal vehicle. At the same time as renovating the personal spaces, she began designing and creating a small bed-and-breakfast business, which she set up in the south-facing wing of the villa – hence its name, Maison Plein Sud.
In tackling the renovation, she aimed to keep many of the existing features, so the main entrance to the house retains the original floor, made of Montpellier stone. There are two trompe l’oeil paintings on each wall depicting rural scenes, while the lampshade in the shape of a bull’s head above the doorway was bought in Uzès.
The kitchen has a large central table that can easily seat up to 12 people, and the top is painted in “Uzès green”; the kitchen itself is by Lacanche.
The panoramic wallpaper in the living room is by Ananbô and the black and white one chosen for the bedroom is by Ninon. Most of the furniture is part of the collection of vintage pieces and antiques that Sophie has been picking up over the past 30 years in flea markets all over France.
She also redesigned the garden, but retained much of what was already there. “The centuries-old trees tell us the history of the house: fig, mulberry, white laurel and acanthus,” she explains. She added mainly Mediterranean, drought-resistant and aromatic species. In the private courtyard, next to the pool, she has set up a vegetable garden where she grows tomatoes, green beans, strawberries, basil, peppers and olives, as well as a multitude of wild flowers and lavender. Outside the bed and breakfast, a series of boxwood plants border the facade to create a degree of symmetry. In summer, this is where guests have breakfast, surrounded by the garden scents and colours.
All things considered, every detail of this home is a treat for the senses.
