Innehållsförteckning för French Cottage 2023 från Victoria

Dear Friends I have long been enchanted with the lifestyle of France. When my travels don’t spirit me away to that land and I find myself seeking inspiration, I refer to my collection of publications focusing on its people, décor, and food. Featuring properties previously highlighted inFrench Cottage, this special Victoria Classics edition revisits homes filled with the tasteful furnishings and accessories we associate with Gallic culture. History is ever present in the residences showcased in these pages. Coupled with abodes chosen from the French countryside are American interiors influenced by a love of the serene color palette most favored in France. Timeworn, comfortable chairs and sofas pair with architectural artifacts to create welcoming spaces, while linens passed from one generation to the next enhance bedrooms where luxury reigns. In…

When the owners of the elegant La Garanceen Provence invited Susannah Cameron of Chez Pluie to style their magnificent home, she leapt at the opportunity to decorate it with pieces from her beautifully curated collection ofantique, vintage, and artisan décor. The structure, situated in a village between historic Avignon and antiques treasure trove L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, was built in the seventeenth century as a postal relay station. The owners first restored the building using period materials and later added an en suite to each of the six bedrooms. The refurbished home is open as a chambre d’hôte, or bed-and-breakfast, during the summer months and serves as a private home throughout the winter. Awe-inspiring views of the surrounding fields and Château de Thouzon, an eleventh-century monastery, are complemented…

For expatriate Corey Amaro, her life story thus far has been an offbeat sort of fairy tale—American girl falls in love with French boy, moves to France, and lands on foreign soil with only two suitcases. French boy becomes French Husband, and the intercontinental couple and their two beautiful children continue to live happily ever after. Of course, as fairy tales are wont to be, that’s a bit of gloss over. French Husband (which Corey actually calls him) is Yann, and French Children are daughter Chelsea and son Sacha. French House is hidden off an alley in a one-thousand-year-old fishing village so anchored in history, it boasts roads built by ancient Roman engineers. It is filled with French antiques, pieces Corey carefully chose and arranged just so to create a…

More than fifty years ago, a rugged bluff on a Northern California beach drew Tanya Ponts and her husband into an enduring desire to build a home. Whenher parents moved to the Mendocino Coast five years later, this was the first property they looked at and purchased. Through trade, the site became available to the Ponts family. The building on the property was a meager 600-square-foot, concrete-block bunker with a shed roof—not at all the oasis Tanya imagined. She held on to her ideas for a few more years as their children grew up and left home, then her focus became transforming the vision into a reality called Seawoods. One of the first projects was to cut down eight trees where the house would sit—something Tanya was loath to do.…

“A GUEST NEVER FORGETS THE HOST WHO HAD TREATED HIM KINDLY.”—Homer…

CREDITS EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS COREY AMARO: pages 9–24 and 31–40 STACEY NORWOOD: pages 55–58 CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS COREY AMARO: Back cover and pages 9–24, 31–40, 95, and 97 SUSANNAH CAMERON: pages 65–70 KIMBERLY FINKEL DAVIS: pages 59–64, 87, and 90–94 LOUIS GAILLARD: pages 88–89 EDOUARD SICOT: pages 3–4 and 47–54 MARCY BLACK SIMPSON: pages 2, 5, 41–46, and 71–84 CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS COREY AMARO: Back cover and pages 9–24, 31–40, 95, and 97 SUSANNAH CAMERON: pages 65–70 MARIE-PAULE FAURE: pages 47–54 and 85–86 YUKIE MCLEAN: pages 55–56 and 81–86 WHERE TO SHOP & BUY Below is a list of properties and companies featured in this issue. Items not listed are privately owned and are not for sale. Pricing and availability may vary. Pages 9–24 and 31–40: For more on Corey Amaro’s life in…

Corinne and her husband dreamed of finding a grand, century-old abode in the French countryside, complete with a beloved garden and a stone wall surrounding the property. Further, they imagined filling the house with antiques gathered from nearby brocantes and then creating vignettes that inspired new dreams. After two years of searching for a home in the area where they both worked, a classic “bourgeois” house they had often admired came up for sale. It needed extensive renovation, which only sharpened Corinne’s creative spirit—she simply gave up her job and continued raising their three daughters while managing the entire two-year restoration. To preserve the original beauty of the home, repairs to the roof, electrical wiring, plumbing, and the heating system, along with the doorways of certain rooms and the exterior…

Captivating storytellers, toile patterns have been adored the world over for their romantic imagery featuring flowers, fauna, and idyllic scenes of genteel country life. The craze began quickly when the first printed cottons were imported to France from India in the sixteenth century. Lightweight and washable, these wildly colorful block-printed indiennes were met with an exuberant fervor that virtually paralyzed the French fabric industry. So imminent was this threat of competition that, in 1686, King Louis XIV commanded an embargo on the importation of all cottons and issued a decree to arrest anyone who violated the ban. Despite these deterrents, the quest continued to flourish in secret. When the ban was lifted in 1759, the printed cottons eventually rebounded from their scandalous beginnings, and French factories regrouped in hopes of…

When she spotted the feed sacks at an antiques market, Brenda DeWitt knew she had found the centerpiece for Chelsea Cottage. “I wanted the space to be beautiful and durable. I wanted guests with children and dogs to feel comfortable,” she says. “That is why I love feed sacks—they are sturdy yet inviting.” “FOR ME, A COTTAGE SHOULD BE A SANCTUARY. WHEN THE OUTSIDE WORLD IS CRAZY, WE NEED SOMEWHERE PEACEFUL TO GO.”—Brenda DeWitt Repurposed as curtains, pillow-cases, and lampshades and used in the dog bed that Brenda created, they are just one example of her eye for the possible. After she and her husband, Tim, purchased their 1940s bungalow, they tore down a dilapidated detached garage in the backyard to make room for a guest cottage and an oak-shaded…