This Saturday, MDD, MH and I are headed to one of my favorite auctions! I always preview the on-line auction catalogue and have zeroed in on some wonderful, old, chippy French doors, windows and shutters that will be on the auction block!
I love the look of reclaimed architectural details in interiors, especially when they are incorporated into a newly built home. Antique doors and shutters can immediately add warmth and texture to a home that has little or no architectural detail.
Take a look at these beautiful rooms that embrace architecture from the past in unexpected ways and places!
There's so much to love in this room! For this post though I'm sharing this photo so you can see the old French shutters on either side of the door opening (on the left) into this room. These wonderful French paneled shutters add visual interest and texture even though they appear to be too small to be functional.
If you're looking for ways to reclaim, reuse and repurpose architectural elements in your home design, no one does it better than Brooke Giannetti, as evidenced in her design book "Patina Style." This book was on my Christmas list last year! In the photo below, Ms. Giannetti has redesigned antique Swedish doors to create a closet in her new (8 years old at the time of publication) Santa Monica beach home. Imperfectly beautiful!
In this photo, Ms. Giannetti uses antique French pine doors as a backdrop for art work. In "Patina Style" she shares her preference for antique doors in place of standard interior and exterior doors. She also likes to simply hang them on a blank wall to "celebrate the beauty of the doors."
One look that has me longing to imitate is actress Sela Ward's use of reclaimed doors to hide a "sleek" bar in her Southern California home! I absolutely love the raised French detailing and distressed look of these folding doors. I'd love to rip out the new folding doors in my pantry and add these! Oh to dream.................
(Photo courtesy of "Traditional Home" September, 2012)
In Sela Ward's dining room, gold accents add elegance to the room while reclaimed, whitewashed doors add "rustic charm." These doors fit the space perfectly and didn't even have to be trimmed!
(Photo courtesy of "Traditional Home" September, 2012)
Of all the the rooms I've shared today, this one is my favorite. I love everything about this room, especially the green shutters used instead of fabric window treatments on the interior windows!
Au revoir, Mitty
Hi Mitty, I am in love with the blue doors in Sela Ward's home. These are gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteBonjour, Mademoiselle Mitty! Thank you for sharing those door-recycling ideas. They all look magnifique! Even when the French door is being used as an adornment, it does not fail to add beauty to the space. I definitely love Mademoiselle Giannetti’s idea of using the old French door as a backdrop. It looks simple and gives the space some elegant rustic charm.
ReplyDeleteIm doing 4 panel doors as pocket doors in my home.. Im having them done faux to look old... any ideas on adding appliques or onlays to help achieve this faux french look?
ReplyDelete8ft interior pocket doors
thanks
French doors and shutters are great, but ANTIQUES are really something else! They have this thing about them that makes them priceless. Anyway, I really admire the photographs. Each picture has its own style, and it must feel very remarkable living in a house adorned like in the pictures.
ReplyDeleteThis is what my dream house looks like. I love its classic and sophisticated appeal. Those window shades are perfect! I want one now for my house!
ReplyDelete