More French Style Houses

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Many of you have asked what the exterior of my new house is going to look like. It will be French inspired, but with the symmetry that I love. I often think that it has elements of the classic Georgian houses that I have admired for years, but with the softness of color and form that I admire in French style architecture.

I have been gathering pictures for many years now, and one of my favorite ‘inspiration files’ is my collection of pictures of French houses. In recent months, I have added some real beauties to the collection; these all reflect the elegant form of French style to which I gravitate. Some of these are quite formal; others are more relaxed. Somewhere in between is what I am hoping to achieve.

The ‘real’ French (and European) houses

This beautiful home was featured on Cote de Texas recently, as as soon as I saw it, I was smitten. I think it is the simplicity of form, the size, the roof, and the color palette that appeals to me. I love the look of a light colored house with a brown roof. I wonder what this roof material is made of? In Atlanta, this look is often achieved by using a cedar roof, whose shingles weather and fade into a gray-brown tone with time and exposure to the elements. The simple and elegant landscape also add to the appeal of this house.

Kemp Hall Studio (an Atlanta architectural firm) created a facebook post with examples of houses that are real French country – as in, actual houses in the French countryside – as opposed to the Americanized (and sometimes exaggerated) version of French country that is often seen in America. This house was one of my favorites – again, with the clean design and lovely color palette of cream and browns for subtle contrast.

This house, found in the Belgian countryside, is definitely more formal and considerably larger than what I would want, but I love some of the details – the color of the house and the roof, the grayed greens of the shutters, the charming round window, and the iron railing above the door.

La Lanterne, the country home of the president of France (on the grounds of Versailles) is another example of a more formal style French house that has great appeal to me.

I appreciate the relationship between the house and the yard, seen in this picture. The roof appears to be clay tile, and this house strikes me as a newer house than some of the others in this post.

A house in the French countryside, which I believe is also a hotel. The houses in my pictures are often clad in stucco, but this one is brick – with a soft limewash that softens the appearance of the brick.

A bit of greenery on the exterior of a house always catches my eye. Again, the soft mellow palette of this house is my ideal, particularly in combination with the greens in the landscape.

I love the aged tones in the house and the cobblestones contrasted with the green of the trees and grass. I would like to see a picture of this house close up – the dormers on the roof look interesting.

This beautiful home is from a blog I have recently discovered, My French Country Home. This is actually the home of the author of the blog – a charming place in the French countryside. Of all these pictures, this is one of my favorites; it is elegant but also relaxed, beautifully proportioned, and simply – right.

The American French Houses

Although American interpretations of French houses can often become caricatures, there are some beautiful examples of French inspired houses in my files that pay great attention to scale and form, and do justice to the authentic houses that inspired them.

I saw this beautiful house last year, in Newport, Rhode Island. It was inspired by La Lanterne, seen in the French house collection. I wrote a blog post on it, that can be seen here.

This grand David Adler designed house was also inspired by the Pavillion de la Lanterne. This house appears to be brick, with a mellow integrated color.

A charming French style house as seen by the author of Trouvais on a morning walk. I love the oeil-de-boeuf windows on the roof. To see more beautiful windows of this type, see Willow Decor’s great post from earlier this year.

One of my all time favorite inspiration houses, by A. Hays Town.

Another one that has been on my blog at least 6 times, built in the early 20th century in Washington DC by French-American architect Paul Cret.

A stunning James Means (1904-1979) designed house in Atlanta. This house was featured in Veranda a few years ago, and sits so perfectly on its lot. Landscape design by Howard Design Studio.

Another James Means house; he had a love for French architecture, and a talent for translating it to the Atlanta architectural landscape. This beautiful house was modeled after a 19th century house in France that was photographed by a clay tile roof company in the early 1930s.

Atlanta has its fair share of French inspired houses, and this one was designed and built recently (architecture by Pak-Heydt). The entry for the house is actually situated between two levels of the house. A post was devoted to this house too…seen here. Landscape design by Howard Design Studio.

This charming house was built in the 1920s in Dallas, a time when many soldiers were returning from WWI with exposure to and inspiration from more modest French architecture (as opposed to the grand Beaux Arts examples). Also, photographic studies of French architecture were becoming more accessible to American architects in the early 20th century.

This is a recently remodeled house in Atlanta, where the architects (Pak-Heydt) emphasizes the French style. This is an exquisite example of the trend in Atlanta to take a 1950s ranch and transform it into something more elegant and timeless.

So this is a glimpse into the style of house that served as inspiration for the house that we are building; I showed most of these images to my architect as we started the design of the house last year. Do you have a favorite?

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