Designing the French Interior traces France's central role in the development of the modern domestic interior, from the pre-revolutionary period to the 1970s, and addresses the importance of various media, including drawings, prints, pattern books, illustrated magazines, department store catalogs, photographs, guidebooks, and films, in representing and promoting French interior design to a wider audience. Contributors to this original volume identify and historicize the singularity of the modern French domestic interior as a generator of reproducible images, a site for display of both highly crafted and mass-produced objects, and the direct result of widely-circulated imagery in its own right. This important volume enables an invaluable new understanding of the relationship between architecture, interior spaces, material cultures, mass media and modernity.

The first book to focus on twentieth-century French interior design, a sleek and elegantly minimal style very much in vogue today.

This book explores the beginnings of the interior design profession in nineteenth-century France. Drawing on a wealth of visual sources, from collecting and advice manuals to pattern books and department store catalogues, it demonstrates how new forms of print media were used to ‘sell’ the idea of the unified interior as a total work of art, enabling the profession of interior designer to take shape. In observing the dependence of the trades on the artistic and public visual appeal of their work, the book establishes crucial links between the fields of art history, material and visual culture, and design history.

Room by room, French By Design reveals the secrets to creating a contemporary French-country look, including textiles, furniture, floor coverings, window treatments, accessories, color palettes, wall treatments, and lighting.

An intimate tour of quintessential Provencal style, featuring chic homes and interior details inspired by this picturesque region Thirty years after the publication of Peter Mayle's bestselling memoir A Year in Provence, the sun-drenched southern French region continues to excite home decorators with its combination of rustic charm, elegant details, and historical influences. Provence Style showcases the best of the region, with Shauna Varvel's quintessential 18th-century Rhône valley farmhouse--Le Mas des Poiriers--as its centerpiece. Named for the working pear orchard on the grounds, the property was reimagined by noted local architect Alexandre Lafourcade, who transformed a rough structure into a luxurious expression of the Provençal aesthetic, referencing historical influences, rural traditions, and Parisian taste. Set amid a garden of allées, arbors, and terraces designed by the architect's mother, renowned landscape designer Dominique Lafourcade, this exemplar of Provençal style is the starting point for exploring the region's characteristic interior details and exterior features. The book includes chapters on the public spaces of the home, from entrances to living rooms, the private realm of bedrooms and bathrooms, and outdoor areas including patios and kitchen gardens, transporting the reader on a captivating stylistic journey.

Combining bucolic charm and modern elegance, this new collection of French country interiors provides boundless inspiration for interior design enthusiasts and home decoration aficionados. This charming volume features a dozen interiors which bring together vintage and modern styles, for the ultimate in French country interiors. The homes represent a diverse range of possibilities for interior style, from the clean white lines and open floor plan of a barn converted into a modern loft to a traditional family home filled with antique pieces and Provençal prints. Each photograph features details that will inspire the home enthusiast. Make a bold design statement through curated collections of objects: pastel-hued bar spritzers, naïve paintings, or jewel-toned vases look best when grouped together. Display seashells in a bell-shaped glass cloche. Create a unique wall display of antique gardening tools. Use vintage striped kitchen towels to add nautical flair, especially when offset by weathered oars propped against the wall. Taking their cue from the surrounding nature, these country homes feature earthy tones and give pride of place to natural materials, from smooth stone or terra-cotta tile floors to striking wooden beams or wind-beaten shutters. Sébastien Siraudeau takes the reader on a voyage around France replete with bucolic charm, providing an indispensable source of inspiration for modern living and country style à la française.

Designing the French Interior traces France's central role in the development of the modern domestic interior, from the pre-revolutionary period to the 1970s, and addresses the importance of various media, including drawings, prints, pattern books, illustrated magazines, department store catalogs, photographs, guidebooks, and films, in representing and promoting French interior design to a wider audience. Contributors to this original volume identify and historicize the singularity of the modern French domestic interior as a generator of reproducible images, a site for display of both highly crafted and mass-produced objects, and the direct result of widely-circulated imagery in its own right. This important volume enables an invaluable new understanding of the relationship between architecture, interior spaces, material cultures, mass media and modernity.