This thatched roof is rated California fire proof. The details

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1 The French Home

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3 The French home is romantic, with all the elements that make for the best kind of living. In this particular home, Don Brady did the architectural design, elevations and specified all the details in the exterior finishes as well as the interior finishes. Details such as finding the roofing tiles from a 1920s home, shows the wear and creates a feeling of having been on the house forever. To match these tiles, Don found old and new French roofing tiles in the countryside near Gordes, France. Three different roofing tiles were used on different parts of the home plus a thatched area of roofing, all to create that built-on look which gives the French homes their character. Architecture is the most important of the basic needs to create your dream home, no matter what style you are leaning toward. The architect is the most important element in the design of the home. It is imperative that the relationship between the architect and the designer is compatible on points of style and design. Don has worked with well known architects such as Alex Schiel, Fred Babcock, Doug Ewing and Don Edson. This thatched roof is rated California fire proof. The details of the stone work and stucco are made to look old and real. For example, we copied the exterior from a building in France. The inner courtyard was created using French terra cotta street pavers. Five lemon trees with white painted trunks flank the tower. The large clock was found and purchased in the French countryside. The texture of this smaller tower is created with stacked stone, clean cut to give a different texture. The French terra cotta tiles atop this tower are also different from the rest of the house. The front doors (to the left) were designed by Don Brady and carved from our detailed drawings. The hand wrought bronze hinges were made by Shane Larsen, one of Don s good friends.

4 These pictures show a view from the inner courtyard. This wall shelf seems small in this picture, but it is 47 wide. There are two of them and they were found outside Paris. This shows the scale of the stones in the wall. The small, narrow French bricks that are used in the chimney and around the windows are French terra cotta sidewalk pavers found in Provence and cut down to the small scale. The fired roofing tiles shown here are from a 1900 Boston home and show the tremendous color variation and age (even some original moss). The tiles on the tower to the right are old terra cotta tiles from Provence. Lower right picture is of solid limestone side stairs. They were carved to look as though they were worn by years of walking. After the carving, the limestone steps were antiqued to look aged. Also shown are laundry baskets from Provence.

5 The view in the living room toward the fireplace (a replica of a fireplace in Remy), shows the antiquated murals from a 16th century home in Menerbes. The muted murals gives the room a soft, easy feeling of comfort. When you enter the room, you do not even know the murals exist. The gesso and gilded dining table and chairs are from northern France. In this view of the living room entry, you will notice a large 56 round crystal chandelier from the 18th century. We had it wired for electric candles. The two chandeliers over the table are from Austria. The beam system of the home is all post and beam and is created from old timbers. We duplicated the timbers from a home in Milly-La-Foret. The small marble top table and mirror were found in L Ilse-Sur la Sorgue.

6 This beautiful bronze railing was styled after one in an 18th century English Manor home (copying French style railings, even then). The draperies in this home are one of a kind and flow from ceiling to floor with a relaxed elegance, which is a result of using the finest French silks and trimmings. They are double inner lined, and all trimming and linings are handsewn to the drapery. The bottom of the drapery puddles onto the floor about six inches.

7 The inside of the front doors show the intricate carving, designed by Don Brady and created by our master carvers. (note the original drawing inset) The tile in all the bathrooms in this home goes from floor to ceiling. All of our tile elevations are hand drawn in tremendous detail. (note the original blue print drawings inset)

8 The kitchen hood is made of French limestone. It continues to the ceiling to give emphasis to the volume in the room. The pot rack light is custom designed by Don Brady and is nine feet long. In such large spaces, you need to have all fixtures to scale with the room or they will disappear.

9 In this kitchen you find a completely new approach to a countertop edge. With a limestone top and bottom, blue and white French harvest scenes were cut from dessert plates and inset in the stone. To the left is one of the original plates. The boat chandelier (below) is antique. The backsplash was created using small terra cotta mosaic with inlaid colored glass and marble French harvest workers. This was all designed and created by Don Brady and his craftsmen. To the right is a set of plates found in a small village outside Gordes.

10 Viewing the kitchen from the family room, you can see the height of the roof and all of the post and beam work that holds it up. The top fireplace is carved after a French fireplace found in a home north of Chantilly. We added several other elements to make it a more dynamic presence in such a large room. The inset to the left shows the fireplace after it has been newly carved and installed to perfection by our craftsmen. Don Brady personally takes a heavy chisel and file to make it look like the old fireplaces in the original French homes showing years wear and tear. He then took his antiquing solution and washed it very carefully, putting the smoke and aging into it. These fireplaces look like old fireplaces bought in France and shipped here and installed (we install antique fireplaces too, but at much greater cost). Above is the family room sofa, comfortable with today s American needs, yet covered in the cheery red, yellow and blue French fabrics of Provence.

11 The master bedroom continues to create the countryside feel of this home. The hand-carved fireplace has moving rings carved in the garland. The Venetian mirrored table lamp (to the right) is Italian. The grand double doors form an impressive entry into the master bedroom. The bed is circa 1810 from Portugal. The nightstands are Louis XV and hand-painted in blue and beige after the one that Wallis Simpson had painted for the Duke.

12 The master bathroom is limestone top to bottom. It has a copper porcelain tub and antique credenzas finished in the same limestone color. The countertops are the original marble with custom carved sinks added. The floor and wall above the tub are inlaid antique marble and the stone above the tub is a painting on stone.

13 The sinks on these pages are all original French antiques, except for the one to the right which is a fine French buffet. The tiles in each of these rooms go floor to ceiling and give the feeling that they have been there forever. The light fixtures are all antique French sconces and the plumbing fixtures are from Waterworks, which give the old European feel to the baths.

14 In these guest bedrooms, the client requested to keep them warm and homey in appearance. The French daybed was found in L Isle-Sur la Sorgue in disrepair and was completely restored in the states. We used French antique beds in both guest bedrooms and put a glazed-painted finish on them to soften the feeling of the rooms. Many of the framed pieces are pictures of family ancestors with memorabilia, to give an intimate, lived in calmness to the rooms.

15 The children s rooms are some of my favorite in this house. We used a more casual approach with French blue as an accent in each room. The girl s room (above) is all white at the request of the client. The antique iron beds are from the Paris flea market. All furniture pieces in these rooms are antique except for the upholstery. The woven deck chairs are from a store outside of Avignon. The boat is European, but was acquired here. The ceiling in the stair tower is painted wood with a soft French Alpine design painted on top of the blue.

16 The boy s room has a definite seaside look with the sailor beds and rope springs. The beds are made extra high to accommodate large, French laundry baskets, lined in French blue linen to slide under the beds for weekend dressers. The bath continues the French blue tones. The shower is in a 14 high custom tile tub to bathe future grandkids in shallow water. The shower hardware is from Waterworks. The sink cabinet is from Germany and is sealed with boating finish for protection. The blue and white chairs are from Sweden, in the original finish and serve as nightstands. The blue striped fabric is Ralph Lauren. The boat lamp was originally a picture that we had made into a lamp and personalized.

17 A library can be so many things, but when it is done right it will be a room that draws the family in and time will spent there. Every square inch of the room is covered in slightly distressed cherry. The finish on the walls and bookshelves is marvelous and was supervised by Mark Adams, a finisher of furniture for the Smithsonian and Metropolitan Museum. The fireplace is hand carved with the French designed lions flanking either side. The 1930s andirons are craftsman style from Norway and were wrought by a world renowned iron smith. An 18th century, tulip wood secretary stands outside the library with 1890 French etchings above it, which were found in L Isle -Sur la Sorgue.

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19 This French home is totally one of a kind unique in it s design and execution. Don Brady did the architectural design and all elements in the home are from France. The four different types of antique tile that was used on the roofs etc. Mitch Burton was the builder and tremendous attention to detail was paid to every last thing. There is nothing to repaint on the outside of this home, all the wood is naturally weathered and is over 100 years old.

20 The carving over the front of the door is custom designed and hand carved. All of the sections of this home appear to be added at different times in the life of the home, as in France.

21 This French antique fountain was purchased in France for this back yard fish pond. French antique roof tiles adorn the back porch roof. As you can see by the garage doors, no paint or staining needed.

22 Old wood was used for the exterior doors. Antique lanterns on the sides of the back entrance. This French guest house was designed after the ones that Marie Antoinette designed at Verssilles.

23 The ceiling in the tower stair rotunda is covered in antiques tiles and brick from southern Provence.

24 The beams are old and all taken from various structures and reused to create a dazzling ceiling structure adding tremendous atmosphere to the family room below. These beams were also designed by Don Brady and created from old lumber, most retaining the original finishes. The wire gallery lighting was chosen because it is so insignificant and give great gallery lighting. We saw this same lighting used in all the room at Versailles.

25 The kitchen was designed for maximum entertaining. On either side of the center island, one side is Carrara marble for candy making and the other side is a walnut chopping block. The pizza oven is designed exactly like the Italian ovens and adds atmosphere to the kitchen, especially on cold winter evenings. The pizza oven hood and French limestone hood over the La Cornue stove were custom designed by Don Brady and the crests are all hand carved limestone.

26 The kitchen ceiling is also made of old lumber with the original finish still remaining as part of the kitchen atmosphere. The butlers kitchen is a separate kitchen used mainly for entertaining.

27 The master bedroom shower is a shower to the max. Four shower heads each with its own temperature setting. Stem is also part of the shower enjoyment. The groin vaulted spa area has hot tub, cold tub, candle nooks, and TV rising out of the limestone etc.

28 This fountain was found in France and was used as a cloths wash basin in the town square and is now used as the powder room sink. This French fountain is used in the service bath off of the laundry room. All doors as the one to the left were made from old wood and deigned and manufactured by Don Brady Design.

29 A daughters bath is all done in her favorite colors, beige limestone and black marble, adding a dramatic feel to the whole room.

30 This particular home, done in a French mountain chateau style, fits against the hill and blends with the natural surrounding colors. Don Brady did the architecture on this grouping of buildings made to resemble a village of vestiges. Still under construction, the stone is from Texas and resembles the stone found in the mountains in Gordes, France. As you travel up the hill to this little town perched in the edge of a mountain, the streets are lined with beautiful stone walls. Don duplicated this feeling around the property. The larger stones are imbedded into the walls to resemble heavy foundation stones. The plaster on the outside of these structures is four inches thick, which adds to the feeling that the structure has always been on this hill. The beautiful antique French door is still in the original painted/ stained wood patina and is mounted with the original hardware and door handles.

31 The kitchen hood is made of old French terra cotta pavers and houses a large antique terra cotta plaque (all one piece) found in Provence. The countertop is also a very unique variation of carved limestone and is washed in muted oil colors. The inset in the upper right corner is a limestone plaque carved from one of Don Brady s drawings and will be imbedded in the plaster above a doorway.

32 In these views of the home, you can see the valley beyond the home and how it is perched on the edge of the hill as are the homes in Gordes, France. At right Don Brady is overseeing the details of the construction of the home. From this angle, the unfinished barn comes into view, which is really a music room, exercise room and general project area. The base is a herringbone river rock design taken from homes in the Lyon valley of France. Original French barn doors, with an American clock in the French style overhead, adorn the entry to this building. The architecture for the barn was taken from a Swiss/French border mountain chateau. The china faitages on the pinnacle is a large rooster from Normandy.