A new look with French antiques

Travel

When Tom and Martha Wilson downsized to a 4,000-square-foot house in Duluth, they switched their look to French country but retained their passionate display of antiques.

Beyond this antique French grandfather clock is a small walkway linking the sunroom to the kitchen. Distressed wooden shelves lined with family photos and mementos like a silver bowl full of colored marbles that belonged to Martha's father make the pass-through cozy.

These distressed ivory-colored cabinets are "easy to live with," Martha says, and don't compete with her collection of antique European pottery.

"Buy what you like, what you enjoy, and use it," says Martha Wilson, who poses in the kitchen of her riverside home with her husband, Tom. When they downsized into this 4,000-square-foot house in Duluth from a 6,000-square-foot one in Alpharetta, they switched their look but retained their passionate display of antiques. They sold the English antiques that adorned their last home to acquire a casual, country look with French antiques.

The couple's favorite room, the sunroom was inspired by a 2001 cover of a Southern Accents magazine. Martha was drawn to the angles of the octagon-shaped enclave. Built by Greg Dean under the direction of Reeves, the room features granite walls, limestone floors and a view of the Chattahoochee River. "I feel like I'm outside when I'm inside," Martha says. Situated across from the foyer, the sunroom seems to direct one's eyes and feet to it.

A path, made from Tennessee flagstone, leads from the sunroom to this clearing by the Chattahoochee River. Faux bois furniture (French for "fake wood") offers an elegant spot for rest and introspection.

The couple decorated their powder room with a surprising mix of toile wallpaper and French bamboo. A collection of perfume bottles and old family photos, including one of Martha as a child with her brother and mother on the beach in Destin, Fla., add to its sophisticated charm.

The finial used to decorate the foyer is one of the architectural fragments Martha collects. Her love of antiques has to do with curiosity -- the story, even the legacy, behind the object. Who owned it, where was it, and what was it all like? she wonders. "It's a fragment from something," she says. "The past is gone, but yet that's still with us."

The master bedroom holds Martha's most treasured piece -- a French cabinet from the early 1800s and the accompanying mirror. She enjoys its good condition, functionality and color. It was found in Provence on a decorating excursion. "The thrill is in the hunt," Martha says. The antique French starburst over the bed is one of many she collects, and a cluster hangs elsewhere on this wall. The lamps on the cabinet use bases that were the claw feet of an antique copper bathtub from a hotel.

The slanted coffee table centering the living room comes with a punch line. "If you were 350 years old, you'd lean a little too," Tom says, paraphrasing a comment Lite made about the Spanish antique. Neutral fabrics were chosen "because there's so much color in the Oriental rugs," Martha says.

Situated at the entrance to the sunroom, this lamp, which Martha says "just wreaks French," sets the tone for the home. The rendition of a farm girl was found at Scott Antique Market. "The polish of the metal has worn, but that has a lot of appeal to me," Martha says. "Someone else had it and enjoyed it many, many years ago."

The couple decided to use this antique French cabinet to house their wine collection.

Built by Lewis Reeves, who also constructed the Wilsons' previous dwelling, the home conveys a refined, rustic feel. The living room grounds the look with its vaulted, beamed ceilings, a wrought-iron chandelier, plush seating and oil painting of sheep above the limestone fireplace. The paint accent, which Martha calls a "grayish moss green," replicates a color that she and her interior designer, Cindy Lites of Elizabeth Anne Star Interiors, had seen on a decorating trip to France.

Perhaps the most inventive bedroom accessory, but one that fits the outdoor bent of the home, is this table. Hint: look at what's on it. Yup, it's an old birdbath.

From the outside, the Wilson home looks rather conventional and close to neighboring homes. But the outdoor shrubbery, garden and river -- and the sunroom from which to take it all in -- provide the couple with a private and unusual nest.

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Beyond this antique French grandfather clock is a small walkway linking the sunroom to the kitchen. Distressed wooden shelves lined with family photos and mementos like a silver bowl full of colored marbles that belonged to Martha's father make the pass-through cozy.

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