The order of decisions matters more than the budget
Renovating a bastide in Valbonne turns mostly on the order of decisions. The house already exists, with its thick walls, old floors and particular light. Our role as a decoration atelier is to coordinate the decorative side of the renovation, so that the choices of material, colour and layout land at the right moment, neither too early nor too late. Here is how we approach a Valbonne bastide, step by step.
Valbonne draws families who settle for Sophia Antipolis and the network of international schools. Many buy a stone bastide with real character that needs bringing up to date. The temptation is to decide everything at once. Experience shows the opposite. A good decorative renovation moves in layers, in an order that avoids redoing work and regretting choices.
Read the house before you change it
Before talking colour or furniture, we spend time in the house at different hours. A bastide often has a strong orientation. One side gets the morning light, the other stays darker in the afternoon. We note where the sun comes in, where the air moves, which rooms hold the cool in summer. Those facts then decide the use of each room.
We also look at what is worth keeping. An old fireplace, terracotta floors in good condition, a beam, a stone staircase. These give the house a value nothing new can copy. The project is built around them, not against them.
Our scope, and other people's
Let us be clear, because it shapes the whole project. Emicasa is an interior decoration atelier. We design the layout, choose the materials, colours, finishes, furniture, textiles and lighting, and we coordinate the decorative side of the renovation. We produce 2D and 3D plans so you see the result before you commit.
We are not architects and we do not handle structure, permits or the technical side of the building. When a project touches structural work, electrics or plumbing, you work with your architect and your trades on those parts. We work on the part that is ours, and we coordinate with them so the decoration lands right. That clear split protects your project and removes grey areas.
First layer: the surfaces
A decorative renovation starts with the large surfaces, because they are slow to change later. Walls first. On a bastide we often advise lime plaster in sand and earth tones rather than flat paint. Lime lets old walls breathe and gives a depth paint does not have. Where a stone wall is sound and handsome, we leave it exposed.
