Inspiring Rooms: Juan Pablo Molyneux's 12th-Century Castle

Three words:

Castle
Moat
Bevilacqua

Where some people dream of a farm in Africa, I dream of a castle, with a moat and a sofa upholstered in Bevilacqua fabric in Pouy-sur-Vannes, France.

The castle with the moat and Bevilacqua upholstered sofa belongs to the decorator Juan Pablo Molyneux and was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal magazine.  When Molyneux first saw the castle, it was a conference center and a "disaster".  Working with a team, Molyneux set about restoring the chateau, well, I doubt it was quite this glorious formerly, into a glorious home.  What I find particularly admirable about Mr. Molynneux is that he is like the Chanel of the decorator trade.  He is intent upon saving ancient métiers of the interior arts - much like Chanel has done for the petities mains of the haute couture.

'There were stone masons, carpenters, gilders, masters of wrought iron and masters of scagliola, a 17th century Tuscan technique that uses paint and plaster to mimic marble.'  

"I don't want to just keep these skills alive," says Molyneux.  "I want to push them forward."  (Mr. Molyneux is establishing in a former stable on the grounds of Pouy a space for an artisan academy where there will be a stipend, a place to live and to train.)

'In Pouy's library, the walls are lined in deep-red leather embossed with sky blue and gold.  "The technique was first done by the Sephardic community in Córdoba around the 15th century."  How much does this go for?  "It is not cheap." The bookshelves are by Pierre Garnier, who practiced his craft at Versailles.  And then there's the remarkable reading table - a massive wooden reproduction of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence.  The designer Renzo Mongiardino had it made in the 1960s for a New York penthouse apartment and Molyneux scooped it up at auction when the apartment was sold.'  (Oddly, the WSJ did not publish a photo of the library : (

The scagliola room:

The vestibule with an imposing 17th century Venetian painting from the school of Tintoretto:

Mr. Molyneux was inspired by his first visit to the chateau when a hot air balloon landed on the front lawn to have the painter, Frédéric Monpoint paint one of round rooms with a whimsical balloon fresco in the manner of Josep Maria Sert.

The Bevilacqua tiger silk velvet from Venice on the sofa:

The 'Gaine' bed in a deep blood red silk velvet is a design by Molyneux.  Dreamy and beautiful.

Another beautiful bedroom this time in hydrangea blues and greens with a small portrait of Madame de Sévigné (a famous letter writer known for her wit during the time of Louis XIV - I am ordering the book of her letters on Amazon and you can too here.)

An indoor pool in the former orangerie:

Juan Pablo Molyneux's chateau in France.  All photos and excerpts in quotations from the WSJ magazine.

love, kisses and I dream of a castle with a moat and a Bevilacqua upholstered sofa, Juliana

Inspiring Rooms: Francois Hallard in Arles

I can hardly believe that it was 1996 when I tore out pages from Vogue of Francois Hallard's home, an 18th century hotel particulier in Arles.  

This was my favorite room and I have looked for a lit a la polonaise ever since but I am still looking...

a room to dream in...

love, kisses and sweet dreams, Juliana

RARE vintage is in Tuscany with Elsa Peretti

One of my favorite rooms is Elsa Peretti's cozy fireplace room in Tuscany designed by the great Renzo Mogiardino.  It is a room unlike any other, where time and place are lost... where a massive head breathes fire and the walls are a faded ruin... 

"A fantasy of Italian classicism."
Elsa Peretti on the work of Renzo Mongiardino

Photo from Elsa Peretti's Tumblr

love, kisses and room to dream, Juliana

RARE vintage is in: My Dream House by the Sea

It's Sunday and today RARE vintage and I have left the grey ice encrusted streets and sidewalks of Manhattan for a villa with a view...

I would literally pack my bags tonight, leave all behind or, really more like it, take all with me, because obviously closet space would not be an issue, to live in this house - well, not just a house, more of a villa with a view (that reminds me so much of the Villa Ephrussi-Rothschild in St Jean Cap-Ferrat).

The Villa Leon was built in 1926 by Leon Kauffman as a promise to his wife, Clemence, that if they ever hit the big time, he would build his wife a dream house by the sea.  And Leon did in fact strike it rich during the First World War with a wool processing plant in California.  Nearly all 35 rooms (you see, enough closet space for even a husband : ) have ocean views and, if not an ocean view, then a view of the mountains.  It was cozily grand with 35 foot ceilings, a sweeping staircase and terraced gardens.  Poor Clemence only lived in her dream home for a few years, dying in 1933 and Leon following her shortly afterwards.  Villa Leon sat empty for 20 years with only a caretaker and his dog roaming its vast emptiness.

It sold at auction in the 1950s for $71,000 and has been maintained, remarkably, since then with its original craftsmanship intact.  Sadly, the terraced gardens have slid down from that great villa in the sky to the Pacific Coast Highway, but with that view, I could just plant some bougainvillea in a pot and be quite content.

Honey, I'm home...

 Oh, just pull up to the the front door... the seven car garage is around back...

Don't let the kids slide down the staircase...

Does it even need a pot of bougainvillea?

Carson, we will have drinks in the ballroom I think tonight...

Perfect for a rainy day, with a roaring fire and a good book...

Wishing you sweet dreams...

Villa Leon on the bluffs of Castellammare in the Pacific Palisades.  Photos from Randy Freeman Real Estate.

And Villa Leon back in the day...

love, kisses and vintage, Juliana

RARE vintage is in the Dominican Republic with Diana Vreeland and Oscar de la Renta

I have pulled this story from Oscar PR girls blog because I felt it was just too fabulous not to share and very apropos as there is yet another book out on Mrs Vreeland.

There are no photos but I am sure you will be able to picture it to a DV!

From Oscar PR Girl:

MRS. VREELAND
told by Oscar de la Renta

"This is a very funny story.  Diana use to come and stay with us in the Dominican Republic at Casa del Campo all of the time.  There was literally nothing to do in La Romana in those days, except of course go to the beach in the morning and play cards or something at the house.  

Every single afternoon, Diana would go to the pharmacy.  And there is a wonderful story about this particular pharmacy.  In the Dominican Republic, if they know you at the pharmacy, you can literally buy anything you want without a prescription.  At this pharmacy, you could buy all of the American products plus all of the European products that you could not buy in United States.  At the time there was a Romanian lady who was doing some kind of cream Diana liked.  Anyway, every day she would go.  

So one day the owner of the pharmacy comes to me and says that every day there are more and more people in the store.  And further, he said he did not think they were coming to buy anything, that they were there because they had heard about this unbelievable, extraordinary apparition of a lady who visits the store.  And you know, at that time, especially in the Dominican Republic, Mrs. Vreeland was always dressed in turbans and caftans, with extraordinary makeup.  

So one day Diana comes to me and says that she has to leave the next morning.  I asked her why she could not stay a few more days.  We thought that she didn't know what was happening at the pharmacy, but she said, 'you know, these people every single day expect more and more and more and more!  And now, I have run out of outfits.  Unless you have a camel or an elephant for me to arrive at the pharmacy, I have to leave.'  And do you know what that pharmacy is called today?  It is called the Farmacia Diana."

Diana Vreeland by Richard Avedon

RARE vintage is in... Antigua with Bunny Mellon

Another in my Sunday (more occasional then I care like to admit) RARE vintage is in the house of... series.  This time we are in Antigua with the much admired and most discreet Mrs. Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon.   (Don't you wish Mrs. Mellon would open up the door to her house just a little bit more?  I was so happy for the 2010 Vanity Fair article, but would love to see and to know a  little more...)

In March 2012 the centenarian, Bunny Mellon, famed for designing the White House Rose Garden, her ne plus ultra in good taste and her vast wardrobe of Balenciaga.  In 2010 Mrs. Mellon listed her house in Antigua for sale.  

Here is a remembrance of the Antigua house as seen by Paul Mellon, who seemed in awe of his wife's knowledge of art, landscaping and way with making a comfortable home...

"The house itself is reminiscent of an old West Indian plantation house.  It has an open plan of rooms and courtyards, so that wherever you are standing you enjoy a view into a brick paved courtyard, filled with lime trees, breadfruit and olives.

There is an indescribable feeling of peace, with warm air softly cooled by trade winds.

Dinner is in the candlelit dining room.  A huge bowl of tropical fruit serves as a centerpiece on the table and the warm night air is filled with the sound of tree frogs and the surf breaking on the beach a hundred feet below.  (Sounds heavenly doesn't it?!)

Cora will have prepared a delicious meal.  Periodic shrieks of laughter emanate from the kitchen as the staff watches The Jeffersons on Antiguan television.

After a game of Scrabble, it is bedtime.  I blow out the candles and the guests leave to walk under the acacia and black willow tress to their rooms in the nearby guesthouse while I blow out the candles.

(The painted wood floor was favorite motif of Bunny Mellon's inspired by 18th century Swedish country houses.  I believe the floor was painted by Paul Leonard who also worked on the interiors of Mrs. Mellon's homes in Upperville, Virgina and in Oyster Harbors, Massachusetts.)

The house was built by the late Page Cross and he did an outstanding job but it was very much a collaborative effort with Bunny, whose hand can be seen everywhere." Paul Mellon

I am certain that this glimpse into a library at the Antigua estate is from 'the hand of Bunny'.  Libraries were enormously important to both of the Mellons and the famed library at the Virgina estate, counts more then 10,000 books in its collection - as well as a large yellow Rothko.  

It is striking to me how real this holiday home seems - not done by a decorator but by an involved and intelligent woman, who in the afternoons may have looked much like this as she planned the garden...

Text from Reflections in a Silver Spoon.  Paul Mellon.

RARE vintage is on Skorpios with Jackie and Lee

Athina Onassis recently sold Skorpios, the island where Jackie Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis - she is known to have only visited the island once for her mother's ten year memorial.  I 'discovered' Skorios years ago in a book and life on Skorios seemed like the epitome of summer style to me.  RARE vintage is on the beach with Jackie Kennedy on Skorpios...

Ron Galella, the original paparazzo, published the book Jacqueline in 1974 and he writes all about  the challenges of photographing one of the most famous and glamorous women in the world.  Jacqueline Kennedy may or may not have liked Ron Galella tracking her every move but some of the most iconic and wonderful photographs of her are by him and I think his photographs have partially made her the style icon that she is today...

I became really obsessed when I read in Galella's book that "at 11AM I saw two sailors appear and they hosed down the patio and everything.  Getting ready for the Queen, I thought."  Now I wish I had two sailors to hose down our patio but alas I do it myself and it has become a morning ritual at our house on Centre Island - there is something very refreshing about it - and I always think of Jackie on Skorpios.  

Galella continues, "And then a woman in a bikini came down to the shore and started doing exercises.  But it wasn't Queen Jackie.  It was the Princess Lee Radziwill.  Lee looked very good doing her yoga. Then Jackie came down wearing pink Levis."

Have you ever even seen pink Levis?!  But don't they sound fab!

Princess Lee Radziwill doing some morning exercises:

Jackie in cropped pink Levis and her ubiquitous head scarf:

I love the simplicity of the picnic table and the rustic furniture:

Ron Galella did not have an easy time photographing Jackie on Skorpios - she was elusive and there was the presence of the Secret Service, Onassis' staff and the Greek police.  Finally he had a sighting.  "And then I saw her!  She was in the water with her bathing cap on and her sunglasses.  I could hear Ari calling to her: "Don't come her-ahh.  The water is duurrrty."

Galella wanted more photos of Jackie and had a hunch that she would be leaving Skorpios and heading to Capri.  "Crossing the bay of Naples I got sight of the Christina headed towards Capri.  That afternoon after they docked I followed Jackie up to the shopping area of Capri.  Jackie went into a jewelry store but I didn't see her buy anything.  Then she bought four pairs of sandals and then some tomato seeds for the garden on Skorpios.  Then I saw her buy some magazines, including a copy of Gente that had a picture of Ari and Maria Callas kissing on the cover.  I think she was annoyed that I took a picture of that."

Sounds like an idyllic summer doesn't it?  Sun, a swim, a little shopping and gossip magazines...

All photos and quoted text from Jacqueline by Ron Galella

RARE vintage is in The Bathroom of the Duchess of Windsor

One day, a long time ago, I had the brilliant idea of devoting the RARE vintage blog on Sundays to home design.  Well, the best laid plans... but I have decided to rally and promise you a regularly irregular segment of RARE vintage is in the house of...

Today we are in the bathroom of the Duchess of Windsor.

I am a firm believer in separate bathrooms for husbands and wives.  Hello!  Creams!  There is nary a spot for my husband to place even a single razor amongst my plethora of potions, concoctions and who-knows-what-else.  

The Duchess of Windsor's bathroom is a whimsical and dreamy place for a long soak, a leisurely  face washing, in other words an ideal space to enjoy being a woman and all of the accoutrements that come with being a woman (creams, make up, perfumes, you know the drill...)

I love the blue and white "tented" ceiling painted by Dimitri Bouchene 

 The surrealistic 'view' was also painted by Dimitri Bouchene.

The mirrored bath alcove with a painting of the Duchess of Windsor by Cecil Beaton:

A blue Porthault bath mat monogrammed (of course!) with the royal ducal cornet hangs over the tub.

Gilded arum Lily tie-backs:

Candle sconces (I love candle sconces in a dining room and had never thought of them for a bathroom) in trailing ivory with more trompe l'oeil painting by Dimitri Bouchene:

All photos by Fritz von der Schulenburg from The Interior Archive