Ian Wallace | John Hersey
If you happen to’re a fan of Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau, or have seen pictures of one of many 45 rooms in Château de la Motte-Husson, you may recognise Dick and Angel Strawbridge as essentially the most fearless of decorators. With a style for daring and kooky design, the couple have reworked a as soon as uncared for shell right into a vibrant household residence.
Angel and her husband Dick bought their stunning nineteenth century chateau within the French commune of Martigné-sur-Mayenne in 2015, bringing the five-storey constructing again to life after years of neglect.
Right here, we take a peek contained in the chateau, and delve into the design particulars, styling methods and ending touches that we’ve got lengthy loved on our screens.
John Hersey
This fabulous nook demonstrates a few of the key traits of the Strawbridge inside design fashion. Curiosities abound – we love the butterflies mounted in swirling shapes up the wall – the wooden is darkish, however pure mild floods in to counter its heaviness, the furnishings is vintage, and the styling relaxed with a contact of the surprising.
Distinctive trinkets and classic finds fill the house, and carry sentimental worth. “My work room is full of so many particular reminiscences that I’ve collected over time. There’s previous telephones and royal memorabilia that I’ve picked up. And I’ve bought packing containers of these things!” Angel tells Nation Residing in our current interview.
Ian Wallace
The grand residing areas are a deal with to take a look at, embracing true maximalism within the mixture of color, sample, eras and design types.
This use of color is a intelligent one in a interval residence. So typically, doorways, flooring and wall panelling use a mahogany or darkish walnut, and a few daring color is required to offset its richness. Metallic finishes do an analogous job, plus they’ll bounce the sunshine across the room – that fabulous XL wall artwork mixes the 2 successfully.
The Strawbridges have a quintessential French nation kitchen, marrying the performance required of a working room with the charming and informal styling so frequent in grand French houses.
The star of the present is the black vary cooker, framed with an array of copper pots and pans – hanging your extra engaging kitchen utensils from the ceiling or on a wall-mounted rail is typical of nation houses.
Ian Wallace
The usage of patterned tiles on the central island is a stunning one, and one thing that may be so simply replicated in your individual residence. If you do not have a kitchen island, you’ll be able to create a splash again in an analogous fashion or a wall mural depicting candy farmyard scenes.
The chateau’s whimsical bedrooms use elaborate vintage beds, wearing Angel’s personal cover covers and cushions, in the stores at a number of UK shops like Wayfair and Subsequent.
Ian Wallace
Mixing new and previous is one thing that Angel mastered early on. “In my early days it was all very thrift-led, however the fashions have modified over time. I all the time used to pop into Woolworths when it was nonetheless round,” she says. “There are a few retailers in France that I really like, equivalent to Maisons du Monde and Anthropologie. I additionally love these curiosity retailers you could marvel previous. It may well really feel a bit an excessive amount of in case you solely have second-hand gadgets at residence, so it is good to have that mixture. We have that actual combination of all the things.”
By way of a design philosophy, Angel embraces fearlessness. “What’s the worst that may occur? Dick says that rather a lot to me. We are able to typically be scared about doing issues as a result of we’re apprehensive concerning the final result. Even when it’s a must to repaint one thing or sand it again, what’s the worst that would occur? There aren’t many circumstances the place issues cannot be fastened. It is all about giving it a go.”
