Charles Faudree - Charles Faudrees country French living

Ive always admired people who have style, but I absolutely adore people who share their sense of style with others. Charles Faudree is the dean of this latter group of beloved individuals. By allowing editors like me to publish his design work in our magazines, Charles provides access to his unique and considerable talents for millions of Americans. I know from my fourteen years as editor in chief of Traditional Home the positive impact of this generosity is both instant and lasting.

And it often came in the form of reader mail! As soon as we released an issue that carried Charles Faudreedesigned interiors, the letters would start to pile up in our mailbox. People who were new to the work of the prolific designer were wooed by the luxurious beauty he creates. They kept us busy for weeks answering intent questions about every fabric, finish, paint color, and item shown in our photographs. Readers who were already initiated to Charles magic applauded our latest installment and often in their letters referred to their favorite rooms from past stories. Over the years, we became a clearinghouse for the Faudree fan club, and we loved every minute of it.

The effect of Charles work is lasting; it delights the tenth time you see it almost as much as the first time. While I know many of his rooms by heart, I still stop to devour every detail when I meet them again on an occasional trip through past issues. Just as you know a Chopin sonata by the first few bars, you also know a Faudree room by the first few glances.

His perennial trademarks include classic upholstery chairs that beckon with beauty, fabrics that entice the eye and the touch, and antiques well loved and perfectly placedall flavored with his signature French accent. The familiarity is endearing.

Charles is generous with his talents and also with his interiors. His favorite design principle, too much is never enough, means every surface, detail and corner is considered. Nothing is overdone, but everything plays a role in each masterfully orchestrated scheme. There is abundance in his work. A dining table is accompanied not just with chairs but also a bench and maybe a settee. Miniature upholstered chairs are placed at the foot of the bed or snuggled up to a coffee table. Pillows come in triplets and are always stylishly turned out. Wooden chair frames are gracefully carved or embellished with color or gilt. The result is a seamless sonnet of a life thats well lived and also well appointed. Lucky for us, Charles shares this world of his in every one of his exquisite rooms.

If I could give any gift to him in return, it would be to always introduce Charles to more new friends. I hope this foreword fills some part of that wish and youll pass along the favor to another in your circle. Theyll thank you over and over again.

Karol DeWulf Nickell

Editor in Chief, Better Homes and Gardens

In 1978, as I was about to turn forty, I gathered the courage to leave my sales position and move from Dallas, my home for many years. I wanted to pursue my dreaminterior decoratingand chose to move back to my childhood home, Muskogee, Oklahoma, to open my first design studio and antiques shop.

Nancy E. Ingram discovered me there and published my very first house in Tulsa Home & Garden magazine, and Nancy and I have been together ever since. As she says, We have had quite a trip together and were still on the road. I am a decorator and I am proud to say that. I thank God every night for my talent and my wonderful clients.

Since that first story, my homes and those of my clients have been featured in almost every design magazine. But for years I wanted to do a book of my own. Jenifer Jordan, a great interior photographer, said, I think I have a book in me, too, and I would love to do it with you. Nancy agreed.

Then M. J. Van Deventer signed on to help me write. We grew up together in Muskogee and shes interviewed me and written about my work for years. She has an amazing way of finishing my sentences for me. Our first book, Charles Faudrees French Country Signature, was released in October 2003 and is currently in its eighth printing. Now, here we are againour great team, including editor Madge Bairdwith our second book. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed producing it.

Through the all-new photography we introduce you to some of my favorite clients across the country and abroad. One of them is Joanne Hearst, who once owned a duplex next door to me in Tulsa. When she hired me to redecorate the duplex, she picked out the main fabric for each room and then went out of town and left everything else up to me, saying that she wanted it decorated down to the soap in the dish. It was absolutely the perfect job.

When Joanne returned to Tulsa after a seven-month absence, the duplex was done. She didnt call the next day or the next, and I was convinced she didnt like it. However, when she did call, she simply said, I dont know where you have been all my life, but youre going to be with me the rest of my life. That was almost eight years ago, and we have been working on her seventy-five-year-old finca (farm) in Spain for the past four years. Her homethe manor house for a tiny village near Sevilleis featured in this book.

People are always asking me where my favorite places are. Paris, of course, is my favorite European city and I go there at least once a year. If you have not been to the Paris Flea Market, let me tell you that it is truly a delightful experience. It is huge and each vendor rolls up his doors to a space no bigger than a one-car garage filled with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century furniture. Outside on the streets, other vendors tease shoppers with folding tables filled with junque. I love it all, and never tire of going there. Contrary to what you may have heard, I have never found the French to be rude, and the Paris Flea Market loves Americans.

Im often asked if I speak French, and even though I am of French heritage, I dont speak the language. When I was sixty-five years old, I decided to take French lessons. After five lessons, we started learning about how a chair is female and a sofa is male, and I got out of there. That is not my kind of language. Plus, when I go to France, they dont even understand the few words I do know due to my Oklahoma twang, like com bien (how much)? Im not much of a wheeler-dealer; its easier for me to negotiate prices on paper, with my Bic pen in hand.