An antique-filled Provençal house brimming with natural materials

The house is within walking distance of a picturesque village, with stunning views of Les Alpilles and a charming enclosed garden that, at the time, was being planted with mature olive trees, white roses and drought-tolerant plants by the French garden designer Jean Mus. The owner had commissioned Bosc Architects to extensively renovate the 1980 property, thus providing John with a blank canvas. He decided to keep to a muted colour scheme of mostly white, wanting to emphasise the light, airy quality of the house and its connection to the garden. White Schumacher linen was used for all the curtains, with a Lee Jofa voile to shield the interiors from the heat of the day. The new beams throughout were too orange, so John had a specialist painter gently age them, which created a more relaxed atmosphere.

The dining and sitting areas were in a spacious open-plan room with Crittall windows onto the garden. John covered the pale stone floor with handmade, traditional apple matting from Felicity Irons at Rush Matters and ordered Jamb’s wonderfully large ‘Upton’ sofa with a pretty box-pleat cover in white linen, echoing its design with a pair of ‘Brook’ armchairs from Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler.

Over a two-year period, antiques were sourced not just from France but from round the world. ‘It was particularly satisfying tracking down Provençal pieces that had found their way as far as the US and bringing them back home,’ John says. Other finds include Georgian floor-standing lighting devices, which were converted into reading lamps, and a French provincial Baroque-style console table, all from Robert Young Antiques. Two large bespoke wooden dining tables were designed by John and made in Belgium using entirely recycled materials. The kitchen was crafted by a third-generation local carpenter from the suitably named nearby town of Carpentras. Vast kitchen lights were replaced with smaller porcelain shades by DeVol, which John says, ‘has made the room feel bigger and friendlier’.

In a spare room, gilt-bronze candlestick lamps from Julia Boston Antiques pick up on an elegant 18th-century Provençal mirror that has a bird nestled within its gilding. On the bed is a rare museum-quality 19th-century boutis quilt, made in Marseille, supplied by textile dealer Jérôme Beillieu. The hall was sensibly left minimalist in order to allow the architecture to shine, and the house now has a quiet and decidedly stylish feel, with distinctive pieces carefully chosen and artfully arranged. John is currently at work on a second commission in Normandy, in addition to an ongoing project restoring a wing of Hulne Abbey in Northumberland. No doubt about it, he is well on his way.

John Tanner Interiors: johntanner.com | @johntanner
Bosc Architectes: bosc-architectes.com