Barbara Vessels Interiors in Country French magazine

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fall/winter 2013

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normandy

nuances A new house in Dallas is outfitted with grand French details and period furnishings to fashion a home brimming with Continental charm.

writer: ann wilson photographer: peter vitale producer: jenny o’connor

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DIRECTIONAL: An pultur. Valarbe ndepor qua potiem, audam poentebus concum unculicio qua potiem, audam ra rectusp eridius, Pati ignatur nihiliis fue qua potiem, audam n qua potiem, audam o.

A salvaged French marble mantel displays delftware vessels and frames a firebox crafted from bricks laid in a herringbone pattern. Queen Anne chairs pull up to an ornate Frenchinspired table.


THIS PHOTO: The living room swings toward formal thanks to a silverleaf chandelier and silkupholstered furnishings and draperies. OPPOSITE: A timber roof and limestone facade set the stage for this home’s easy marriage of rustic and refined elements.

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From the front facade to the walled gardens out back, this recently built estate in an established Dallas neighborhood exudes authentic French character. Thanks to architect Larry Boerder and interior designer Barbara Vessels, the half-timbered abode (inspired by homes in the Normandy region, an area influenced by invaders and English rulers before being claimed by France) perfectly suits its setting and its owners’ eclectic collections of European antiques.

“We brought the architecture of Normandy to Dallas

using Texas limestone and local materials,” Boerder says. “The idea was to make the home seem like it had been here forever. Typically, Normandy homes started with a central element that was added on to over time, and that’s the look we wanted to create.”

Boerder created an assembled-through-the-ages

aesthetic by varying wall and ceiling treatments and interior doorway styles, and by incorporating sophisticated and rustic elements in ways that distinguish formal and informal spaces. Asselin doors and windows outfitted with restoration glass were imported from France, as were clay pavers that dress the keeping room floor and fireplace. Ceilings sport stained or painted boards and distressed or boxed beams, while plaster walls wear everything from glazed finishes to fabric in the detail-rich quest to exude period panache. “Even the moldings have a French profile, which is curvilinear and creates a delicate shadow line,” Boerder says. “We opted for French moldings that were country in feel for some areas. Then we created a more formal

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OPPOSITE: Bricks on the home’s exterior inspired the kitchen’s hearthlike range wall, while the backsplash fashioned from reproduction French tiles is a nod to the homeowners’ porcelain collections. LEFT: Cheerful ginghampaneled doors on a built-in cabinet in the family room open to expose thoroughly modern media. BELOW: In the breakfast room, antique French clay tiles framed by oak boards anchor English-style Windsor chairs pulled up to a reproduction French table with an iron base.

French provincial look in the dining room using wood panels and raised and recessed trims.”

This yin and yang of relaxed and refined suits the

homeowners’ lifestyle. “Varying styles reflect the way they like to live and entertain,” Vessels says. “They spend time in the casual keeping room and kitchen every day, while they entertain in the more formal spaces.”

Though architectural details differ, rooms house

furnishings of similar provenance. “The homeowners love country French and English country styles and antiques from the late-18th to mid-19th centuries,” Vessels says. “They’ve been collecting French antiques for a long time and have a large collection of blue porcelain pieces.” Blue hues—in sweeps or smatterings—appear in every room. “It doesn’t come off as a blue house,” Vessels says. “We combined blues with warm neutrals, pale caramels, and creams to create serene spaces that feel warm and comfortable.”

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RIGHT: Cultures fuse in the gallery, where an 1800s Swedish settee sits in front of a reproduction English coromandel screen flanked by 1870s French tables. OPPOSITE: The master bedroom makes the most of old- and new-world fittings to create calming quarters. Old linen grain sacks adorn Louis XVI chairs set in the bay window, and William and Mary antique chests frame a bedstead that shimmers with silvery embellishments.

elegant

“The master bedroom combines the with the informal and a mostly cream scheme to make it feel serene.” —interior designer BARBARA VESSELS

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The living room’s blue silk damask wing chairs

Patinas and forms take a turn toward sublime in the

pick up on porcelain pieces displayed inside an 1860s

master bedroom, where luxuriant upholstered walls

painted armoire lined with cream linen. The armoire

showcase a stately bedstead awash in creams, blues,

doors, which remain open to reveal the collection inside,

and silvery tones. A painted-panel ceiling keeps the

were removed and reversed so their best sides face

mood appropriately relaxed. “This house is all about

forward. In the dining room, blue shimmers in a strie

detail, detail, and more detail,” Vessels says. “It’s

wall treatment embellished with crisp white molding

an inviting home that’s warm, casually elegant, and

as well as country-plaid silk draperies and a chandelier

sophisticated. It’s a house that you feel comfortable in

built around an antique delftware vase.

whether you’re wearing jeans or a tuxedo!”

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