Renovation of Château du Grand-Lucé
I was scrolling through Architectural Digest's magazine on line and came across this amazing renovation story of Timothy Corrigan's restoration of his 18th-century estate in France’s Loire Valley. When Timothy came across the chateau for sale by the French government he immediately was ready to buy. The building is considered a national landmark which meant that a committee had to review everything he was wanting to do to the property. The committee was so strict that every tree on the property is tagged and numbered. Any new tress Timothy would want to plant would have to have been available and around at the time the chateau was built.
In his renovation design he wanted everything to be comfortable and every room to be approachable and not just one of those rooms that no one ever went in. I loved his quote about the materials he used, “We used materials, fabrics, and finishes that allow you to live comfortably in the space,” Corrigan says. “If you can’t, it’s not successful.” He wanted every room to be lighter and brighter so he chose to repaint all of the rooms. To remove centuries worth of paint he had to use a heat gun but in the end it was all worth it. Throughout the renovation process he wanted to color his small dining room sunny yellow and finally after much debate he was allowed to by the committee. Timothy worked along side with Paris's Museum Carnavalet through the renovation in helping present his case to the French authorities.
When it came to renovations of the bathrooms there were only three in the entire chateau and they were all installed before WWII. On the second story of the chateau there were 20 bedrooms and later 10 of them were converted into bathrooms. Timothy wanted to make sure every room was different so that the building didn't give off a feeling of a hotel. “Each room has its own personality and theme and sense of color,” says Corrigan.
I absolutely adore France in general and was so thrilled that Timothy had the money and design background to restore the beautiful chateau. Some day I hope to travel to Europe to explore historical chateaus like this one.
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In his renovation design he wanted everything to be comfortable and every room to be approachable and not just one of those rooms that no one ever went in. I loved his quote about the materials he used, “We used materials, fabrics, and finishes that allow you to live comfortably in the space,” Corrigan says. “If you can’t, it’s not successful.” He wanted every room to be lighter and brighter so he chose to repaint all of the rooms. To remove centuries worth of paint he had to use a heat gun but in the end it was all worth it. Throughout the renovation process he wanted to color his small dining room sunny yellow and finally after much debate he was allowed to by the committee. Timothy worked along side with Paris's Museum Carnavalet through the renovation in helping present his case to the French authorities.
When it came to renovations of the bathrooms there were only three in the entire chateau and they were all installed before WWII. On the second story of the chateau there were 20 bedrooms and later 10 of them were converted into bathrooms. Timothy wanted to make sure every room was different so that the building didn't give off a feeling of a hotel. “Each room has its own personality and theme and sense of color,” says Corrigan.
I absolutely adore France in general and was so thrilled that Timothy had the money and design background to restore the beautiful chateau. Some day I hope to travel to Europe to explore historical chateaus like this one.
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exterior
refinished exterior
salon before
salon renovated
dining room before
dining room after renovation
restroom before
restroom after renovation
bedroom before
bedroom after renovation
Before + After: Timothy Corrigan's Château du Grand-Lucé. Text by Jacqueline Terrebonne. Eric Piasecki. Oct 2013 Architectural Digest. http://www.architecturaldigest.com/decor/2013-08/timothy-corrigan-chateau-du-grand-luce-before-after-loire-valley-france http://www.architecturaldigest.com/decor/2013-10/timothy-corrigan-loire-valley-france-chateau-du-grand-luce-renovation-article Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. Copyright 2013. New York, NY
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