After 15 years living in Hydra, where she ran a gallery and interior design boutique, Véronique Bloch-Powell felt it was time to return to her roots in the Charente-Maritime in southwest France. Even though the area was close to her heart for its comfortable climate and unspoilt countryside, as well as her family ties, it was hard not to feel a little nostalgic for the island life she’d left behind in Greece.
But when she came across the old millhouse that is now her home, she quickly fell under its spell.
Nestled in a grove of trees and surrounded by water, ‘just like an island,’ she says, ‘I took it as a sign.’ The property also presented her with the perfect renovation challenge. An interior decorator, antiques dealer and artist, Véronique is also passionate about old buildings and a seasoned renovator.
‘This is my twelfth personal renovation, in addition to lots of decorating projects,’ she says. ‘I love hunting down properties, still in their original state, and giving them a second life.’
During her time in Greece, she restored a number of houses with her son, Tom Powell, who is also an artist (@tom.powell) as well as a qualified carpenter. ‘We complement each other and work well together, without even having to talk to each other!’ she says.
The house had already been partly renovated by the previous owner, who only used it in the summer months. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the top floor, and a living room, study and kitchen on the ground floor.
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‘It wasn’t a ruin,’ she says, ‘but I remodelled everything, because the work that had been done was too modern for my taste!’ She began by removing a partition wall in the living room in order to enlarge the space and reveal the mill’s mechanism. All the bathrooms, although recently done up, were unmodernised; and in the kitchen, contemporary units were dismantled and replaced with simple open shelves, freestanding antique furniture and heavy, Mediterranean-style masonry worktops.
‘It’s less functional than a fully integrated kitchen,’ Véronique admits, ‘but I always favour aesthetics over comfort.’ The older the style, the more at home she feels, she says, adding that she prefers old windows to new double-glazed ones, and happily adds thick velvet curtains for warmth in the winter months.
The walls throughout the house were plastered with lime in the traditional manner, but the plasterboard that divides the bedrooms was left in place. ‘It’s a shame. The original walls must have been beautiful, but I’m leaving it all as it is for now!’
Having shaped the house to suit both her aesthetic and her needs, Véronique has filled it with furniture, textiles and paintings brought back from Greece. ‘They follow me from house to house,’ she says, adding that she sees moving to an island as ‘folkloric’, and describes packing boxes being carried down to the port on donkeys.
‘I had 30 donkeys working for me for one of my moves,’ she recalls. Apart from some shelves in the sitting room that were created by Véronique herself, everything else is second-hand, amassed over the years; a harmonious blend of Greek and French craftsmanship.
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In the kitchen, a French chandelier hangs above a refectory-style table that Véronique picked up in Hydra. The seating is a relaxed mix of chairs and benches, and includes a turquoise tavern chair, a wicker armchair and a couple of simple 18th- and 19th-century Greek wooden banquettes. Véronique is particularly fond of these benches – essential to any Hellenic home – and she uses them to provide convivial seating in different rooms around the house.
The paintings on the walls transport visitors to Greece, and include works by her son Tom, who still lives in Hydra, as well as Karagiozis – a fictional character from Greek shadow theatre – by Véronique. ‘He is a bit like the French Guignol,’ she explains. Other paintings, of donkeys, houses and Greek heroes, are by a former glass-cutter from Hydra whose naive style Véronique admires.
The colours Véronique has chosen for walls, floors and woodwork act as a foil to the paintings: many shades of blue, from grey to turquoise, as well as bright cobalt, which is typically Greek. Sometimes it’s just a touch of colour on a door or a chair that is used to illuminate the exposed beams and natural stone. The floorboards throughout the house are painted a soft blue-grey, which Véronique loves for its compatibility with other colours, and the way it ‘changes throughout the day with the natural light.’
These cool shades are warmed by the rich reds of the rugs, Turkish kilims and Greek hangings on walls and floors, as well as the antique cushions on beds and benches. Together, these pieces combine to create a unique and exotic atmosphere. ‘I’ve owned a lot of houses,’ says Véronique, ‘but this is the first time I’ve been really attached to a place.’
Find Véronique @veroblochpowell. She lets her house via airbnb.co.uk and also organises online sales of her finds @vero.oneofakind
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