French “Style” Country Estate

Steven Favreau, president of Favreau Design, longed to move to the French countryside. But with family in his hometown of Boston, and offices in both Boston and San Francisco, that kind of move presented a logistic challenge. In 2011, he found his solution in a 5,000-square-foot home that was built in 1832 and set on twenty-five acres in the beautiful countryside of Chelsea, a small farming town in Vermont. “I love American history,” says Favreau, “and decided to redo the home with a contemporary attitude, but with a nod to the period.”

Renovating a historic home is a great undertaking that often includes making unexpected structural and whole-house updates. “The electrical situation was so bad, I was concerned that a fire was very possible. We had to repair that immediately,” he explains. “And we found that a wall between the kitchen and dining room was putting pressure on the floor and causing the house to slowly sink into the basement.” He knocked the wall down and put in an enormous beam in the kitchen for support. The floor stopped sagging and slowly settled into its proper height.

The floors were the original pumpkin pine. Because the floorboards were textured and hand hewn, Favreau had them sanded down by hand to retain the aged details. They were then stained a dark espresso color, given a satin finish, and topped with a wax coat. On the walls, six layers of wallpaper were removed and the plaster was reskinned. Favreau maintained everything he could from the original architectural details. Moldings, five wood fireplace surrounds, the banister, and even the old hardware were carefully refurbished. The trim was painted a creamy white. Once these basic foundations were laid, the color—amazing, intense, intoxicating color—was introduced.

Favreau found photos dating from the 1800s that showed the foyer with stripes on the walls. He wanted the foyer to be dramatic and jolt the senses, but he also wanted it to be part of the whole. So he took bits and pieces of the foyer decor and incorporated them into the rooms surrounding the foyer. “The home is one [book] and each of the rooms is a chapter,” he explains.

He found mother-and-daughter artistic painters in town who accomplished the phenomenal striping on the foyer walls. “I had seen wonderful wallpaper with stripes, but it was no longer available. So I designed a similar stripe pattern using brown, fuchsia, and white paint,” says Favreau. “The painters astoundingly painted the stripes by hand!” A faux-leopard stair runner and white, faux-animal mounts lend a touch of whimsy.

The dining room off the foyer was papered in fuchsia with a pattern that is reminiscent of stacked plates. Favreau purchased the traditional chairs at an auction, then added bright-teal paint and the candy-striped upholstery. “I like a contemporary feel, but love antiques,” he admits. The cushions are in a purple crocodile-patterned material. In contrast, the table has a serene industrial feel. And the ceiling and rug offer a calming touch in subtle cream tones with patterns that mirror each other.

ABOVE: Favreau’s love of pattern and color bring the master bedroom to life. The wallpaper is Autograph by Andrew Martin (andrewmartin.co.uk), a soft ecru base color covered with subtle autographs of people who have been famous through the ages.