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Text by Susan Fadem •
Styling by Kathy Curotto
It’s not that there was anything wrong with the modern
subdivision house that Stacy Dean bought five years ago. It just, well, wasn’t
Stacy.
Of its high-gloss marble floors, she thought, “I don’t want to
see my reflection at my feet.” Of its architecturally distinguishing single
turret, whose interior was laboriously crowned by a hand-painted mural adorned
with angels and clouds, she thought, “It’s very beautiful, but way too fancy for
me. Too ostentatious.”
So Stacy and her parents, retired art teachers Pat and
Terry Stratmann,
set about transforming the Chesterfield, Missouri, house in the
French
casual style that Stacy loves best. Her three sons, budding artists
themselves, got into the act, too, overjoyed when their mom encouraged
them to
ride and roll their Big Wheels toys over the shiny floors.
“Dulling the surface
of those floors was the first step in giving the
place a more lived-in look,”
she explains. Throughout the house, her
down-to-earth style has resulted in a
charm that elicits sky-high
praise. (a)
During one of their buying trips
to France, Stacy Dean and her parents
went gaga over the timeworn
French carpenter’s table that now sits in the foyer,
accessorized with
a chunk of terra cotta, old tools, and pictures. Stacy and her
parents
own the French Wench design shop in suburban St.
Louis. (b) Stacy’s
dining-room table, which
seats 14, is
only 27 inches wide, just big enough for two rows of
plates and a small
centerpiece or bowl in between. “I got it in
southern France, where it was
probably used in a library.” The napkins
and down-filled cushions, no two alike,
were made from a half-dozen,
contemporary French tablecloths, which Stacy
individually cut to the
desired size. The chandelier, though new and
electrified, gets an
antique look from beeswax bulb holders shaped like candles.
French Bliss page
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