Based in Paris with her husband and two children, Carole’s 1920s four-bed pavilion-style home, cast in a millstone exterior, is a haven of worldly influences. It has a delightful air, softly hued with light in all the right places. There’s an added warmth brought by shades of almond and tobacco, punctuated in earthy accents on the ceilings, floors and walls.
“I wanted an old house with all the charm that it entails,” Carole says of her decision to move here, where her family have lived for over a year, and charming it indeed is. There are bell-shaped rattan lampshades, woven spherical rugs and pale straw hats hung like art on milk white walls and the result is a humble kind of exuberance.
“The house has been completely renovated since we moved in,” she says of their refurbishments which took six months. “We have broken down all the walls to enlarge the space and bring in the light, turning the ground floor into an open plan space.”
One of Carole’s most exciting renovations includes beautifully turning her side garden and outdoor shed into a pergola fit for transporting visitors to the sunnier vistas of a rooftop terrace in Mykonos.
In part, Carole’s resonance with a visual scheme of part-Scandinavian, part-Mediterranean is a live-in reminder of her time abroad, which includes Bali, the Maldives, Thailand, Cuba and Morocco, among others. “I started to look into decorating as soon as I started to travel,” she says. “Travel really inspired me.”
Carole’s fondest memories make for an enigmatic treasure trove of the things that have visually impacted her and her inclination towards particular palettes reflects the tastemakers who have wowed her during past sojourns. “I took advantage of the talents of each architect and decorators of the hotels I stayed in as a reserve to draw my inspiration from,” she explains.
As a hobbyist jewellery creator, Carole finds creative space in her in-house studio to bring small creations of her own into the world. Surrounded by much-loved wares, including flea market china, an Eames armchair and a Pipistrello lamp, her home acts as a continual source of inspiration.
It’s a blank canvas – neutral and balanced – upon which Carole can project her own ideas. It’s a feeling of ‘cocooning’ as she coins it. “I need to find calm and serenity at home,” she says. “I brought back a lot of wooden decorative objects from my trip to Bali and I’m drawn to their beauty, their uncluttered side.”
“My travelling taught me that we could mix styles and materials,” she says. “It gave me a taste for textures such as wood, linen and ceramics, while respecting a common thread or a colour code and a sense of harmony.”
Follow Carole @greenpatchouly
