NEW HORIZONS
MOVING TO THE COUNTRY WAS A DREAM COME TRUE FOR FRENCH STYLIST ADELINE MAILLET AND HER FAMILY, WHO BUILT A HOME INSPIRED BY LOCAL BARNS.
LIVING IN LYON, France’s third largest city, Adeline Maillet and her husband, Florent, yearned for green pastures – literally and figuratively. For 10 years, he had turned the concept of commuting on its head – while stylist Adeline, now 38, remained in the city, each weekday, farmer Florent, 42, travelled to rural Trèves half an hour away, where he worked on his parents’ property.
In 2016, they fulfilled their long-held dream. They and their two children, Melville, 11, and Ninon, eight, moved into a serene, light-filled home beside the farm, which Florent now runs, ensuring the family tradition continues.
The house’s ingenious design has helped the couple make the most of their lifestyle change by melding the home and the rolling countryside into one seamless whole. “We wanted a house that respects the landscape, that blends in with nature – something simple, going back to basics,” explains Adeline.
Keen for their home to have minimal impact on the environment, she and Florent envisaged it being built with the same materials as local barns, simply corrugated-metal sheets on a timber framework. But, as the new build was in the protected Pilat Regional Nature Park with its tight building codes, they had to compromise. So they replaced most of the metal sheets – those overlooking a covered deck have been retained – with black-stained hardwood cladding on both the roof and the exterior walls. Straw bales, meanwhile, provide insulation against the region’s cold winters and warm summers, saving on energy bills.
While the couple and their locally based architects, Stephanie and Damien Gallet of Gallet Architectes, had >
With its internal walls casually and cosily clad in plywood, the home’s “just like a hut”.
“We wanted a house that respects the landscape, that blends in with nature – something simple, going back to basics.”
to swap out the materials, structurally the two-storey, four-bedroom home owes a strong debt to those rustic barns, with its long, A-frame profile, steeply pitched roof and its airy, open-plan downstairs.
The ground floor is 100 square metres, while the children’s bedrooms and a mezzanine, totalling 50 square metres, are tucked in under the pointed roof line. Perhaps the most striking feature of all is the massive picture window in the living room running along one side of the house. It offers panoramic views of a lush valley, while also bathing the interiors with natural light all day long. The many windows let the family fully appreciate the countryside as it changes according to the time of day and the seasons.
“When you look at the long row of windows in the living room, it is like a gallery of artworks that are constantly changing,” says Adeline.
Again reflecting their back-to-basics approach, the couple have kept the interior as minimalist as possible, with light waxed-concrete floors and blond poplar plywood on the walls, “just like a hut”, she says.
Upcycled, recycled and repurposed describes much of the furnishings. The furniture is a mix of antique finds; the clever upcycling of building materials such as the terrace table made from left-over construction timbers; flea-market finds including the coffee table; and family heirlooms such as the wonderful Art Deco dining table. All the joinery, custom made by a local carpenter, perfectly blends with the rest of the interior. >
“The windows are like a gallery of artworks that are constantly changing.”
At one end of the house is a covered, all-weather timber deck, which blends into the garden and lets the family enjoy the outdoors most of the year. In keeping with the couple’s green philosophies, their garden is functional and largely given over to produce. Making the most of the region’s fertile soils, the family grow their own vegetables, ensuring fresh tomatoes, eggplants, leafy greens and herbs reach their heirloom dining table most of the year. They also keep chickens, which Melville and Ninon enjoy taking care of, their efforts rewarded by fresh eggs every day.
The house fulfils everything that Adeline and her family wanted when they left the city – it blends with the surroundings, with nature framed by the house’s many double-glazed windows, while offering them a haven of peace and beauty. “The living room is my favourite space. It is so calm and quiet,” says Adeline, surveying the room.
“Living here has also helped us to consume in a better way, to consume less and to enjoy nature in a new way,” she adds. And now she and Florent are keenly spreading the word about the rural life, including self-sufficiency and being kind to the environment – and not just to their two children. Their home has become an educational farm for schools from nearby Lyon to visit and experience life on the land – letting them escape the city, even if it’s just for one memorable day.