Country French

It takes time and care to fine-tune your personal style and to find the pieces that say “home” to you. For Christina McGarvey, creating a sense of home was paramount to the design of her family’s new build in Salt Lake City. She debated various styles before landing on a classic European-inspired framework of authentic materials, tailored furnishings, and lush fabrics, artfully ushered in by the design team of Kimberly Rasmussen and Elizabeth Wixom Johnsen. The result is a new family home that feels as though it’s always been there (“Of Heritage and Home,” page 52). In Covington, Louisiana, Kim and Billy Simpson’s enviable collection of inherited antiques—and an assortment of new treasures—are the stars of their newly renovated home. In the experienced hands of interior designer Cindy St. Romain, each precious…

Long before Rebecca and Weston Hickey broke ground on their home in Tomball, Texas, they gathered—and planned. “For years, we frequented antique shops and fairs in nearby Houston and Round Top,” Rebecca says. “We love the thrill of the hunt, so we took our time and bought pieces that spoke to us. Each special find helped inform our style and shape our vision for our forever home.” Builder David Sanders and interior designer Laurin White took full advantage of the Hickeys’ well-stocked inventory of relics and ideas as they began drafting plans for the estate, which is set on 3 wooded acres. They let the couple’s cherished collection of 18thand 19th-century oil paintings—and their timeworn wood and crusty gilded frames—drive the design of the home’s old-world architectural style. In a nod to…

European getaways often leave a lasting impression, but for Kristy and Eric Kufel, a specific transformation happened after their first trip to Provence. Whether you chalk it up to the area’s 300 days of annual sunshine; the charming markets stocked with fresh produce, breads, and cheeses; the centuries-old churches; the farmhouses surrounded with fields of lavender; or the endless glasses of rosé; the couple fell in love. They found themselves returning to the region year after year. “I’ve always been a bit of a Francophile,” Kristy says. “But we’re especially drawn to the countryside. Our daughter even studied there.” When the couple espied a for-sale sign in front of a 7,000-square-foot French Colonial in their Phoenix neighborhood, it felt natural to try to capture a little Provence at home in Arizona.…

Claire Molina likes a good patina. She gravitates to weathered and worn objects and furnishings, and she applies a deft hand when pulling her decor together. She sets the wood pieces that she favors against creamy white textural walls (and sometimes floors), resulting in a mix that feels fresh and modern while also warm and welcoming. In the house she shares with Laurent Debert in France’s Bordeaux region, it’s hard to imagine that most of the furniture and decorations were found at the local waste dump. “There is a shed where people put things that can be used again,” Claire says. “It’s a barter system. I come along with a few of my things and leave with other people’s.” Her secondhand items feel right at home in the 19th-century building she…

Some of Tori Rubinson’s favorite treasures popped up in the most unlikely places. Case in point: the ornate floral chandelier that hangs above the breakfast table in her Fort Worth, Texas, home. The designer and her husband, Adam, came across it while on a 15th-anniversary trip to France. “We did some antiquing in the villages we drove through, and I found it hanging in a dirt-floor barn way out in a field,” she says. At the time, Tori and Adam were in the planning stages for their new home—a Southern Colonial-style house designed by architect Skip Blake and built by Douglas Brooks to blend in with the couple’s gracious neighborhood, which was established in the 1930s. As parents to three children ranging in age from 6 to 14, Tori and Adam…

Seven centuries and thousands of miles separate the hill town architecture of southern France from this Houston-area home, but the sense of stepping back in time is palpable as you walk through the front gate into a walled courtyard. Antique fountains burble, blooming jasmine floats on the air, and sparkling lake views beckon. “It’s almost as though your blood pressure drops when you approach the house,” architect Ryan Street says. “It transports you.” This sense of ease comes from a mix of materials used both inside and outside in a masterful way by Street and interior designer Kara Childress. The same species of reclaimed wood appears on exterior gates and on bedroom ceilings, and Lueders limestone defines courtyards as well as kitchen walls. Carefully crafted sight lines and entrances make it…