A Stunning French Home Takes Its Gorgeous Color Palette from Nature

Residents: A couple and two kids
Designers: Manu Bauzá, Caroline Jaussaud and Caroline Savin, interior designers and founders of Bloomint Design
Location: The French Alps — Savoie, France
Years Lived In: 1 year, owned

This recently remodeled home in France was submitted through our professional project form, and while it’s a lot larger (and perhaps a higher budget) than some of the homes we feature, it offers a lot in the way of color inspo. It’s not unusual to read that a home’s decor is inspired by nature… but here it was the way the designers interpreted that idea I found worthy of a call out. The material and decor colors aren’t just from the stunning natural surroundings you can see out of the home’s large windows… but from the landscape as it changes through the seasons and when the sun rises and sets.

“The first time we visited the house, we fell in love with its symmetry, its elegance, and its surroundings. On the top of the hill, at the foot of the mountain, the house stands between forest and a grand open view of the Lac du Bourget. The surrounding is so inspiring, the contrast between the white snow and the black earth in the winter, or the unbelievable sunset turning the lac and sky orange, yellow, and red… depending on the season, looking out from the large windows, one can contemplate a beautiful show where nature is the main character. Our interior designers, Bloomint Design, were inspired by nature’s beauty to create an interior based on the same color changes the seasons offer,” wrote the homeowners.

From the designers: “The main entrance, is in black and white, mirroring the alps in the winter. Strong contrasts and lack of color give this space its meaning: a transitional space offering, through large iron warehouse glass doors, a view of the colorful living areas on the ground floor.

The mudroom is a practical secondary entrance, where one can come in with dirty shoes and hands full of groceries, hang coats up, and change into house slippers, put away canned food, even wash up before coming in to the open kitchen. This transitional area was the homeowner’s idea, brought from her American culture. A very practical space, with colorful cement tiles and wooden built-in storage space.

The kitchen, dining, and living area become one open space, facing the garden and lake views, and is a joyful, colorful, and very lively part of the house, inspired by summer time’s bliss. We worked in a close collaboration with our clients to combine new furniture with pieces they already had and loved from their past; a perfect balance was established between old and new.

Back in the main entrance, a graceful black wooden stair case brings us to the first floor, with a more intimate and romantic atmosphere. Here the soft colors reflect this region in the fall, the perfect setting to rest and relax. This floor holds four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

The second floor is where the architecture of the house rules: the wooden floors are dark on the ground floor, medium tone on the first floor, and now a light wooden color to continue the conceptual color nuance. The walls are a nuclear white and the open multi-functional space topped by a very high ceiling offers a superb view on the lake and the roof’s old wooden beams, here one feels like you’re on the top of a mountain, ruling the world! This space offers an extra guest room and bathroom and relaxing areas.”

My Style: Atemporal French countryside

Favorite Element: The mudroom. It’s such a practical space, inspired by American architecture, the mud room is a space where one can take off muddy cloths after working in the garden or coming home from a run, can bring in the groceries with out having bags all over the house, can store dry food, coats, bags… it is a great transition space between the exterior and the home.

Biggest Challenge: Opening up the space and creating a free circulation, especially in the ground floor. Bloomint design did an amazing job by opening up the kitchen, the living room, the dining room and the entrance, all connected visually. And they still kept the beautiful symmetry and original architecture of the space; the tall, bespoke folding iron bay windows truly helped out!