ABOVE: The former hayloft was transformed into a generous drawing room. The natural height difference of the attached buildings was filled with panoramic glass panels with a
view onto the distant glacier
different areas have different needs, they all need to have various
percentages of the three key ingredients: comfort, practicality and
style. While the drawing room needs to have a greater percentage of
style, the bedrooms need to be more comfortable and the kitchen
more practical, for example.
Being a skiing chalet it had to be cosy, yet we wanted a more
contemporary feel, not minimalist, but light and relaxing.
We approached each room from a different starting point. The
drawing room’s focus was the fireplace; we chose three solid local
grey granite boulders to give it presence and a link to the surrounding
landscape. The seating in the 85sqm room needed to be smart, yet
comfortable for a skiing chalet and also be cosy for four or 20 people.
Hence we created three different seating areas, each with a slightly
different feel. All the sofas were made to measure in Windsor in the
UK. The colour scheme was developed around pastel heathers and fig
tones. All the fabrics used were chosen from the UK, sofas in neutrals
from Linwood and Ian Mankin, cushions from Osborne & Little.
90
Bridge for Design December 2015
The floor was another important feature in this big room. We tried
to use as much of the old wood rescued from the old building, but
we knew we would not have enough. Then one day our carpenter
delivered by mistake a load of old ceiling and floor beams, which had
been removed from the old barn. Luckily for us we tried to brush them
and they cleaned up beautifully, giving just the right patina and look
that the rooms demanded.
The entrance hall was another critical transformation. The
previous house was separated from the barn by a one metre wide
empty space. We were able to push back the barn walls to create
a generous volume, with double height and allowing a lot of light
coming from the panoramic windows above. A ‘floating bridge’
connects the landing with the drawing room and the master suite on
the other side.
We decided to use natural stone floors in the entrance as well as
in the bathrooms. On a trip to Provence we found a warm honey
coloured Burgundy stone, which had been given a hand finished aged