Bridge For Design April 2015 Bridge For Design April 2015 | Page 94

When David assumed ownership, work could begin on the interior
as soon as stonemasons and artisans had been found. In the main
house, the kitchen that had been built in the corner of the great
hall was demolished. The brown ceramic floor tiles were lifted and
replaced by the original stone floor, which had been removed by the
previous owner and the stones stacked in one of the caves. In the
salon, a stepladder – the only means of access to the first floor – was
replaced by a beautiful 19th-century elm staircase.
For the decoration, David had the plastering completed à l’ancienne,
which meant that the new walls would look virtually indistinguishable
from the old. ‘At first, the plasterer didn’t understand what look I was
after,’ he says.‘Eventually he used a technique of chalk mixed with
pigment and it worked really well.’ Wanting the rooms to seem larger
and lighter, David had the beams painted in a pale grey or off white
and a distressed look was achieved by rubbing them with wire wool.
‘To furnish his new home, David scoured the local flea markets
and auctions. ‘I found some fantastic copies of Louis XV and XVI
furniture, which I painted and distressed,’ he says. But finding
furniture to fit the 20m-long barn was the biggest hurdle. ‘Everything
looked too small for the enormous space,’ he says. ‘In the end, I
decided to hang a 17th-century Brussels tapestry, which I had bought
at Christie’s several years ago. It now creates an important focal point
in a vast space.’

TOP: Built originally as a fortified castle, the main house dates back to the 16th
century while the adjacent buildings are even earlier
RIGHT: The living room or ‘salon’ has been furnished with French antiques found in
local flea markets and auctions

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Bridge for Design Spring 2015