Provence Paradise by Michel Biehn

Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by a magazine cover?  This is exactly what happened to me in the airport a few weeks ago, when I caught sight of the August issue of Veranda.  I splurged and picked up a copy for my flight and I've been repeatedly engrossed ever since. 

The images of this stunning Provencal villa restoration are captivating!  The result of a ten-year collaboration between designer/antique dealer/author Michel Biehn and the American owner of the villa, the renovation became as much a restoration as anything.  Uncovering windows that had been covered for centuries and stone walls dating back as early as the eleventh century (the house began as a defensive tower back in the Middle Ages), opening up ceilings and doorways, rebuilding collapsed structures that connected different additions to the house were only a few of the challenges this dynamic team faced.  "The main family came in the thirteenth or fourteenth century...Each generation seemed to open windows but close others, create a staircase or build a tower.  Parts were destroyed in the Middle Ages.  There was a fire in the nineteenth century, and the other tower was destroyed.  The property is like an encyclopedia of French architecture," explains Biehn.  Not only is the finished product structurally magnificent, but the interiors are an inspired combination of antiques, modern touches in rugs, artwork, and fabric, and vintage finds that are the hallmark of Biehn's work.

Take a look at these magnificent photos that capture this labor of love and tell me you aren't longing to spend a weekend in Provence.

This is the image that "got" me. :)

Quite possibly my favorite space.

Can't you picture yourself enjoying your morning coffee here?

Interior Design by Michel Biehn

Landscape Design by Michel Biehn, Jean-Claude Appy, and Marco Nucera

Photography by Peter Vitale

Article by Jean Bond Rafferty for Veranda, August 2010