A handsome Provençal house strikingly rejuvenated by Lucy Hammond Giles
‘We were young and rather impetuous. When this property came up for sale, we thought, ‘‘Why not?’’,’ says the now former owner of this large and handsome house in Provence. ‘I had spent two summers renting the neighbouring property with my husband and two daughters, and I loved the fact that it was in a residential – not a tourist – village, with a market and shops that were open all year round.’
There are many ways that the relationship between interior designer and client can start, but probably few can have begun as tentatively as that between Lucy Hammond Giles, associate director at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, and her American client. ‘At first, she just wanted some white linen curtains for her London house. I gave her yellow woollen ones,’ Lucy recalls. ‘They were perfect in that room.’ Of her client, she says, ‘She is an academic. She is thoughtful and extremely clever, she writes beautifully, is very environmentally aware and is the founder of a wonderful charity that turns unused spaces around city churches into instructional vegetable gardens for children. She has a pared-back aesthetic and her style is very tailored and chic. When I met her, she had bought a lot of furniture and rugs for her London house from Rose Uniacke’s shop, advised by the antique dealer Guy Tobin, who was working there at the time.’
‘It started slowly,’ says the client, who began working on the transformation of the Provençal property 10 years ago. ‘I needed curtains, which turned into wall colour, which then turned into, ‘‘I’m thinking of doing something crazy. Am I allowed to do that?’’ That turned into more curtains and furniture and friendship. Lucy is one of my very best friends now – she is godmother to my youngest child. And she has helped me with the decorating and design of every house I have lived in since, as well as my husband’s office in London.’
At first, the client wanted to keep the Provençal house just white and cream, but the white began to feel chilly and a bit dull, especially in winter. Over a period of five years Lucy warmed up all the rooms, painting them in appealing pinkish creams. She rearranged the furniture and travelled between London and France with a suitcase full of paint samples and fabric swatches, her sketches, postcards of fine art, photographs of previous projects and pictures of historic interiors – all suggestions for subtle change. Gradually, the house shifted from holiday house to home, and the family decided to leave London and spend a year living there, home-schooling the children.
However, the biggest change of all was to the entrance hall and staircase, transformed by an arresting mural of folding stripes by the decorative painter Lin Connor. ‘I brought some images of Bedouin tents to show my client, which are what inspired the design,’ explains Lucy. By this time, the owner trusted her completely and loved the concept. ‘I was taken by the idea of softening the central hard spine of the building with this representation of fabric,’ says Lucy. ‘Lin abstracted the concept and turned our ideas into something magical – she, her husband Jake and his sister Zaza worked up ladders and scaffolding one hot summer, meticulously pencilling in the shapes. They then painted them in apricot and cream tones reminiscent of the local stone.’
The design continues up the staircase to the top floor and can be seen from all the main rooms via an enfilade that runs through the front of the house on all floors. ‘It’s brilliant you see the halls and staircase from so many different rooms and, like the effect created by the dazzle ships of the First World War, the stripes provide camouflage – rather than just a functional staircase with white walls, you see something gorgeous.’
More decoration was introduced by an Art Deco-influenced mural in the petit salon, also by Lin, which was inspired by an image of an early-20th-century Hungarian café Lucy had seen in a magazine. ‘The plaster and timber-striped ceiling felt very heavy in contrast with the white walls,’ Lucy remembers. ‘I wanted to bring some of the outside in. The stylised rocks and trees with floating block-like leaves worked so well with the ceiling and made sense of it. I adore those mad clouds.’ This previously unused room, which had the best fireplace in the house, became a cosy refuge where the owners’ daughters spent hours sitting beside the fire on inviting piles of ticking cushions sourced by Lucy, playing games in the winter months.
Over the years and throughout the house, Lucy and the owner rehung pictures, added an alpaca fleece rug to the main bedroom and installed warmer curtains, lamps and cushions. The changes might not seem major, but they transformed the holiday house completely. ‘Lucy was good about giving me just three or four options – she homed in quickly on what I liked,’ explains the owner. ‘She has a perfect sense of scale and knows where to get everything, too. We sourced thoughtfully – choosing pieces that were sustainable, organic and artisan-made. I was quite tentative at first, but working with her has given me so much confidence to make choices.
‘We loved London for work, school and culture but, once Lucy and I had worked on it, Provence became home and our year there was the best of our lives. And then we sold the house. The temperatures were getting hotter, the forest fires were nearer, we didn’t want to carry on home-schooling indefinitely – there were lots of reasons. My children are longing to move back. Hopefully, one day, Lucy and I will do it all over again.’
Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler: sibylcolefax.com
Simon Upton1/5Vintage Tolix chairs are paired with simple wooden desks in this airy space, where Measure and Shears prints by Stephen Inggs from HackelBury Fine Art hang above vintage French school sinks with taps and soap mounted on iron splashbacks.
Simon Upton2/5A chandelier from Holloways of Ludlow hangs over a locally made oak table and Hans J Wegner ‘Wishbone’ chairs in oak, on a blue plastic Missoni rug.
Simon Upton3/5A ‘Clear’ lantern, also by Rose Uniacke, hangs above the area leading to the bibliothèque, where a vintage lamp stands beside an armchair.
Simon Upton4/5Photographic prints of grasses by Calmen & Bech are flanked by iron and marble bedside tables from Rose Uniacke, bearing wooden lamp bases that were early prototypes for Rose’s ‘Marble Cone’ lights. An ‘Alpaca’ rug from The Rug Company softens the wooden floor.
Simon Upton5/5Glass apothecary bottles are displayed above a roll-top bath original to the house.
