PERIOD RENOVATION
The owner of this romantic château used his expert design skills to blend neo-classical and modern furnishings, creating a home with timeless appeal
Neo-classical and contemporary pieces combine in a romantic château.
Designer Jean-louis Deniot counts his country home near Chantilly as his first love. A picture-postcard château in a region famed for the beauty of its countryside, it was not so much the setting that first tempted Jean-louis to Chantilly, but its proximity to Paris, where his office is based. Even as his portfolio of homes has grown over the years to include residences in Paris, Spain, Tangier and California, the château still holds a special place in his affections, particularly as it is a retreat he uses regularly. “It’s a very important place and means the most to me out of all my houses,” says Jean-louis. “It represents stability and is where I feel the most grounded. It’s more like home because it is one of my very first houses. The first is always the most important.”
The property dates back to the 1820s and sits in substantial gardens, with open lawns bordered by mature trees. The original farmhouse was extended around 1900, when wings were added to either side. Jean-louis stumbled upon the property by accident while visiting friends nearby; it was down on its luck, but affordable. “When I bought the house, there was only one bathroom and it looked as though it hadn’t had a coat of paint since 1820,” he says. “The owners were living where the kitchen is today, which was their sitting room, and they had one bedroom. The rest of the house was completely abandoned and the top floor was just a big open attic. Everything needed to be redone.”
The house represents an emblematic combination of neo-classical and modern decorative styles for which Jean-louis has become renowned. The interiors hold true to traditional principles of proportion, scale and symmetry, but here Jean-louis combines period elements with bespoke designs, mid-century pieces and more contemporary touches, creating something that manages to be both fresh and timeless. “I like juxtapositions,” he says. “They help give the impression that these spaces have been here forever. I still respect classical principles and there are always notes of history that help create an atmosphere. When
you create something that is one hundred per cent contemporary, it can feel quite soulless. When you create something timeless, it’s because you don’t want it to feel out of fashion.”
The seven-bedroom château is arranged over three floors, built with creamy coloured limestone and blessed with a picturesque roofline of turrets, pinnacles and mansard windows. The entrance hall sets the tone, with a fresh, light and inviting quality that combines period elements and striking diversions. The hall leads into the central reception room, where a mid-century sputnik-form chandelier is a dramatic focal point. The main sitting room, alongside, was designed with a palette of soft, organic greens that echo the colours of the garden and trees framed by the bay window.
The dining room is an evening space in darker tones, with bark-pattern fabric walls that reflect the colours of the large marble fireplace. The library, also on the ground floor, is a particular favourite of Jean-louis. “I do love the library, with its big fireplace,” he says. “The whole house could be just that room and it would be enough for me. It’s where I work and relax. Sometimes it’s where I sleep.”
On the first floor, Jean-louis has reorganised the original layout to create a suite of private rooms, comprising a main bedroom, bathroom, sitting room and roof terrace. These, and each of the other bedrooms on the first and second floors, have been given a distinct personality that combines a degree of escapist romance with a masculine twist. Fabric walls are used extensively to soften the spaces. “Generally, I see my own homes as a way of experimenting,” Jean-louis says. “My sister, who I work with, thinks that my personal projects are the least of our priorities in the office, but I remind her that they are some of our most exciting projects, because I am the client and can do what I want. I may not have the budget, but I do have the freedom.”
Making a House: Designers at Home by Dominic Bradbury and Richard Powers, £40, published by Rizzoli, is available from September 2017.