The Chambre Jeanne d’Arc was one of the many rooms that we were not able to visit before purchasing the Château. The hallway leading to this room had caved in and so all of the rooms in this area of the Château were inaccessible…

Once the first phase of work began, and the rubble had been removed and the area consolidated, we were finally able to see this room for the very first time. The floor had completely fallen, the ceiling only remained in half the room and bathroom tiles were hanging from the walls. We discovered that this room had once been a bathroom and shower area when the Château was used as a school holiday camp venue in the 1960s. It seemed that nothing remained of the original room and the area was of little historical value. Or so we thought…

Until one day, as the work in this area continued what remained of plaster ceiling in this room fell with an almighty crash! And so we discovered that beneath the plaster were the remains of the original hand-painted Renaissance beamed ceiling. Some plasterwork also fell from part of the wall and so we discovered the remains of renaissance frescoes…

Work in this room continued with rebuilding the floors and the ceiling. Where there were painted beams we made sure that these were properly secured in place for the future. At the time, we do not have permission to restore the beams, or repair the walls, and so we had to wait for further permits until we could continue. Many years passed and in between we began slowly decorating and using the room just as it was…

It wasn’t until 2021, when we began the flooring on this level, that it was finally time to continue working on this room. To begin, as the space was so large we decided to build a wall and split this room into two - adding the Chambre Marie Louise LaChapelle. Both rooms were then plastered and painted, carefully working around the frescoes, and afterward old wooden floorboards were installed.

Next, we began furnishing the room. Foremost in our mind was that we knew that there had to be thread between the later 18th and 19th Century style bedrooms and the more Renaissance style quarters. And so, we chose a mélange of French furniture from different eras. Adding just enough furnishings to be cosy, and fill the room with texture, whilst keeping the focus on the beauty of the ceilings and the view of the mountains from the window.

It took a few rearrangements and changes for us to finally be content. We hung matching Fortuny curtains above each bed and chose pieces with a colour palette matching the beams - filled with beiges, blues and reds.

Apart from the addition of some decorative painted frescoes or wallpaper, and the restoration of the painted beams, this room is now almost finished. We look forward to continuing to share the progress of the last few bits and pieces of work…