The Provence luxury villa known as La Bastide de Laurence appeared on my radar this week upon learning of the upcoming retreats hosted by Vivi et Margot. Has anyone signed up? While I have spotlighted timeless and tranquil properties for 14 years, it was always for a particular audience of admirers. Now a cozy opulence trend (along with Old World style, Old Money and Organic Luxe) appeals to the mainstream. Isn’t it interesting when “timeless” is suddenly “trendy?”
Photography: @markelstphoto
La Bastide de Laurence
Let’s learn more about this elegant and meticulously restored 12,000 sq ft. bastide in Provence. They host weddings, vacationers, and special events.
Let’s not merely admire this destination as a, fantasy vacation escape or a French country education. La Bastide de Laurence also models an alternative pace and an antidote to hustling, plugged in, modern life chaos. At a time when information overload is difficult to avoid, here is a fairytale-like sanctuary. Let’s face it. The French know their way around bringing us back to our senses.
This French country villa has such atmospheric, authentic, rustic elegance inside:
And the color story will warm you to the core with its warm, sun-washed walls, coppery terracotta, earthy stone, and muddy beige.
The bastide offers eight private bedrooms with ensuites, and the one below may be my favorite. It feels both palatial yet very personal.
Tour a Charming Old World Provence Villa
Isn’t that just the sort of combination one would aim for in the hospitality biz? You’ll also find two luxurious kitchens and more stunning rustic architecture than I can say…
There’s such a blur between outdoors and indoors, yes?
Natural materials, colors, finishes, and design elements feel authentic, organic, and comforting.
Surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens, a pool, an intimate courtyard, there are multiple alfresco dining areas suited for 16 people.
This property captured my imagination not just for its fantasy locale for Francophiles and their bucket lists.
But I believe the mood and aesthetic here, timeless and traditional though it may be, reflect a current appetite for warm European luxury and cozy opulence.
Authenticity, Old World Style & Cravings for Cozy
If you glance at social media, there has been a surge in the last year of inspiring interiors featuring warmth, European style, Old World aesthetic, cozy rustic elegance, and luxuriously wondrous architecture.
Not all of the inspiration for interiors is from architects and designer portfolios.
The rise of AI design means that the sky is the limit when it comes to the creation of dream-like rooms and facades.
Designers using the latest software, AI designers, architects, and everyday design freaks can now create images that include their favorite design elements.
How do you feel about such innovation rocking the design world? I have been sharing examples of AI designs more frequently.
French Country Interior Inspiration & European Luxury
The authentic, labor-intensive, craftsmanship, artistry, and costly renovation work which is required for a home as special as this one remains so honorable…
I wonder about a future where the skills required to execute such design greatness (the hands that trowel on plaster and throw pottery) may disappear.
I also wonder if this timeless European luxury and warm cozy opulence trend will fade.
It’s just so fascinating to think that the public’s appetite for MORE REAL, more authentic, more homey-ness, more cozy, more warmth, more organically beautiful raw beauty…
is growing at a time where technological revolution and evolution impacts our systems, industries, culture, and day to day life in dramatic fashion.
The changes, pace, and innovations are outpacing our ability to adapt to them.
Our health is suffering. There’s a lot of mental unwellness. So it makes sense we would long for more comfort and retreat, that our hearts would crave simplicity and authenticity.
So my hope is the technologies will somehow become as devoted to undoing the environmental damage to the earth as they are to profits.
That the new and the latest and the fresh ideas will begin with the question HOW EARTH FRIENDLY, SUSTAINABLE, AND HEALTHY FOR THE MAJORITY OF EARTHLINGS IS THIS INNOVATION?
And this is why we so desperately need the artists, the poets, the historians, the craftspeople, the dancers, the abstract thinkers, and the contemplatives.
Who will be policing all of the new on the horizon?
No idea. My hunch is that it’s a revolution of consciousness that will protect what is precious.
So we begin with just one small step…
we gaze into the mirror and begin by changing ourselves.
Tour Another Luxurious Bastide in Provence
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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Beautiful post! You mentioned the use of AI to present ideas and possibly replacing older, more traditional methods. I can’t help but compare how our ancestors must have felt about the Industrial revolution vs. our current misgivings. Hopefully, time honored methods will always be with us and we can pass on that appreciation to the next generation.
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Thanks for adding to the discussion! Yes – and I’m not one of those ‘the world is going to h in a handbasket’ types – but beyond AI for design, it’s disturbing when the inventors of the technologies are the ones voicing fear.