The TOSCANE The Toscane mantel marries traditional Italian rustic style with Italian flair. This mantelpiece has a commanding presence in addition to an air of refinement. Learn more about this beautiful mantel, and others like it by viewing our online catalog! http://francoisandco.com/catalogs/countryside-mantels/

Falcon House is located on Falcon Ridge Road, which winds along a steeply inclined ridge in a stretch of foothills within Carmel Valley in Monterey County. An old lichen covered barn and split rail, cedar fences characterize this area known as Markham Ranch, and contrast sharply with the preponderance of sprawling, large estate-style homes, many more at-home in the Italian countryside than any landscape of California. Designed for a young family, Falcon House responds to the family’s desire to live a more modest lifestyle, eschewing overt displays of extravagance for an intimate and deferential relation to nature. The 3,200-square-foot residence occupies a difficult portion of the northern slope of a hillside, overlooking a verdant valley and oriented toward Castle Rock in the distance. The steep terrain necessitated a compartmentalized plan capable of negotiating the gentle hillock at the center of the site. A corridor bridge spans two pieces of the house, uniting living and sleeping spaces and allowing an existing watercourse to flow essentially through the house unobstructed. Large panels of glass open the living spaces to the landscape, beneath the deep overhang of a butterfly roof. Operable clerestories placed high on the window-wall allow prevailing breezes to cool the interior spaces. The bedroom wing of the house hugs the hillside as it turns to the west, ensuring privacy from the main living spaces. The sense of seclusion and protection of this wing is reinforced by its lower roofline and its embedment into the hill. Initial resistance by neighboring homeowners has given way to appreciation, having seen the results of careful siting and a material and color palate sympathetic to the surrounding hillsides. The dwelling embodies an attitude of respect for the landscape, and through that perspective Falcon House has become as natural a part of its environment as the hawks flying overhead. 2008 AIA Orange County Chapter Merit Award

The region of Tuscany has great history and is known for its true artisans who create masterpieces out of the lands natural terrain. Most homes there are built by stone; but, it's the wood accents, doors, gates, and shutters that make their homes feel warm. Ziegler Tuscan Style Garage Doors capture the essence of the Italian countryside. Each garage door is designed to replicate an old cellar or stable door. We combine rustic woods and bold colors with hand forged distressed hardware to create the Ultimate Tuscan Garage Doors.

Patio fountain - huge mediterranean backyard stone full sun patio fountain idea in Orange County

The Chianti III is a stunning model home in Mirada at The Estuary at Grey Oaks. Built by London Bay Homes, named America’s Best Builder in 2008, the Chianti features a stone façade reminiscent of the Italian countryside. This fully furnished four bedroom plus den/5th bedroom home features over 5,900 square feet of living space, a relaxing third-story viewing deck, perfect for stargazing, and formal living areas that blend comfortably into the home’s more casual outdoor living space. The Italian-influenced architecture carries over to the interior design that features stone walls and wood beams throughout the home. Large window areas capture magnificent vistas of the nearby lake and golf course beyond. The second-floor bonus room is perfect for entertaining friends over a game of billiards. The grand two-story home also includes a private study and home office center. Enjoy the view from a third level viewing deck with a fire place. This home showcases a wide array of unique design features throughout its 8,625 sq.ft total area. Image ©Advanced Photography Specialists

This lovely Mountain Modern Home in Littleton, Colorado is perched at the top of a hill, allowing for beautiful views of Chatfield Reservoir and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The pink and orange sunsets viewed from the front of this home are breathtaking. Our team custom designed the large pivoting front door and sized it at an impressive 5' x 9' to fit properly with the scale of this expansive home. We thoughtfully selected the streamlined rustic exterior materials and the sleek black framed windows to complement the home's modern exterior architecture. Wild grasses and native plantings, selected by the landscape architect, complete the exterior. Our team worked closely with the builder and the landscape architect to create a cohesive mix of stunning native materials and finishes. Stone retaining walls allow for a charming walk-out basement patio on the side of the home. The lower-level patio area connects to the upper backyard pool area with a custom iron spiral staircase. The lower-level patio features an inviting seating area that looks as if it was plucked directly from the Italian countryside. A round stone firepit in the middle of this seating area provides warmth and ambiance on chilly nights.

The Chianti III is a stunning model home in Mirada at The Estuary at Grey Oaks. Built by London Bay Homes, named America’s Best Builder in 2008, the Chianti features a stone façade reminiscent of the Italian countryside. This fully furnished four bedroom plus den/5th bedroom home features over 5,900 square feet of living space, a relaxing third-story viewing deck, perfect for stargazing, and formal living areas that blend comfortably into the home’s more casual outdoor living space. The Italian-influenced architecture carries over to the interior design that features stone walls and wood beams throughout the home. Large window areas capture magnificent vistas of the nearby lake and golf course beyond. The second-floor bonus room is perfect for entertaining friends over a game of billiards. The grand two-story home also includes a private study and home office center. Enjoy the view from a third level viewing deck with a fire place. This home showcases a wide array of unique design features throughout its 8,625 sq.ft total area. Image ©Advanced Photography Specialists

The Cordoba is a stunning model home in Cortile Estates at Mediterra. Built by London Bay Homes, named America’s Best Builder in 2008, the Cordoba features a stone façade reminiscent of the Italian countryside. This fully furnished three bedroom plus study home features over 5,300 square feet of living space. A relaxing interior courtyard in the center of the house is perfect for entertaining, as well as a formal dining room with a wine cellar and a second catering kitchen. The Italian-influenced architecture carries over to the interior design that features stone walls and wood beams throughout the home. Large window areas capture magnificent vistas of the nearby lake and golf course beyond. The second-floor bonus room is perfect for entertaining friends over a game of billiards. The grand two-story home also includes a private study. Enjoy the view from outdoor living area with a kitchen, bathroom, pool and spa. This home showcases a wide array of unique design features throughout its 9,516 sq. ft. total area. Interior design, furnishings and selections completed by Romanza Interior Design. Image ©Advanced Photography Specialists

The Cordoba is a stunning model home in Cortile Estates at Mediterra. Built by London Bay Homes, named America’s Best Builder in 2008, the Cordoba features a stone façade reminiscent of the Italian countryside. This fully furnished three bedroom plus study home features over 5,300 square feet of living space. A relaxing interior courtyard in the center of the house is perfect for entertaining, as well as a formal dining room with a wine cellar and a second catering kitchen. The Italian-influenced architecture carries over to the interior design that features stone walls and wood beams throughout the home. Large window areas capture magnificent vistas of the nearby lake and golf course beyond. The second-floor bonus room is perfect for entertaining friends over a game of billiards. The grand two-story home also includes a private study. Enjoy the view from outdoor living area with a kitchen, bathroom, pool and spa. This home showcases a wide array of unique design features throughout its 9,516 sq. ft. total area. Interior design, furnishings and selections completed by Romanza Interior Design. Image ©Advanced Photography Specialists

Andrea Calo
Tuscan patio photo in Austin

The Chianti III is a stunning model home in Mirada at The Estuary at Grey Oaks. Built by London Bay Homes, named America’s Best Builder in 2008, the Chianti features a stone façade reminiscent of the Italian countryside. This fully furnished four bedroom plus den/5th bedroom home features over 5,900 square feet of living space, a relaxing third-story viewing deck, perfect for stargazing, and formal living areas that blend comfortably into the home’s more casual outdoor living space. The Italian-influenced architecture carries over to the interior design that features stone walls and wood beams throughout the home. Large window areas capture magnificent vistas of the nearby lake and golf course beyond. The second-floor bonus room is perfect for entertaining friends over a game of billiards. The grand two-story home also includes a private study and home office center. Enjoy the view from a third level viewing deck with a fire place. This home showcases a wide array of unique design features throughout its 8,625 sq.ft total area. Image ©Advanced Photography Specialists

The Challenge: Create a rugged yet warm farmhouse feel in a high rise tower. Start with an entire 9600 gross square foot penthouse floor of raw concrete floor, walls and ceiling. Devise inventive ways to address intractable existing conditions including a plumbing layout inconsistent with our Client program, a relatively low ceiling and a massive elevator core and yet take of advantage of panoramic views of the city from all sides. For example, rather than make a bulky drywall enclosure for existing pipes that poke thru the kitchen counter, they are wrapped with antique painted galvanized sheet metal to keep sight lines around the corner as open as possible. Or, transform an unattractive and inconveniently located 24” diameter vertical duct in the middle of Samantha’s and Hannah’s (grandchildren’s) guest bedroom into part of a lovely arched top bed nook. Or, disguise a chase for above floor plumbing runs as the base for an open buffet counter. The oppressive elevator lobby was shortened; terminating in handmade glass and steel garden doors at both ends. Custom details include a groined vaulted ceiling and arched openings with stone pilasters (for future trompe-l’oeil images of a Tuscany countryside). To maximize a feeling of height, the ceilings start low and get higher as they progress to the outside walls. The Program: Create a five bedroom condo for an elderly couple with specific and different needs. Mr. likes his privacy and to stay up late into the night on the internet. He likes order. Mrs. has some physical limits that have been addressed in various ways such as shorter travel distances, a step down shower, raised dishwasher and custom cast (to ensure that they won’t rust) iron grab bars. She prefers more disorder. Spaces should be visually arresting, full of detail and easy to maintain. Private spaces include separate master bathrooms, his and her offices and a multi screened Media Room. The balance of the floor must link spaces into one continuous open room along the south and east elevations using large elements yet keeping an intimate scale, sound control and privacy. For example, a substantial fireplace made of old barn timber framing, country stone and a hammered iron grill is strategically located at the critical Southeast corner. Above, black iron offset pintel hardware allow custom double doors to hide a large flat screen TV. High technology is in place for inconspicuous yet easy use. Icon driven key pads operate lighting, window treatments, audio visual systems with multiple sources and access to movie and music databases and five HVAC zones with independent humidity controls. Outstanding Features: Exterior masonry walls have stone culled from five quarries. Sprinkled throughout are surprises - bricks with words as messages from the past, wood trimmed niches and colored glass. Glass pieces set in window corners offer bursts of color when backlit by the sun. These materials are assembled in a rough irregular fashion to look like the work of a mason from the Italian countryside. Interior ceilings and walls have overlapping layers of two plaster colors. Perimeter ceilings are made of smooth random width cedar. Rough planed cedar beams hide ductwork and allow the maximum ceiling height between them. Custom details are everywhere-consider the ten foot barn doors on overhead track at the service elevator, cedar benches/storage areas that run below window banks, antique air registers, acid washed piano hinges and transom window operators and existing concrete piers that are featured instead of hidden. The floors are made of random width wide plank old oak with hand planed faces and edges. Overall, the elements were carefully selected or painted/stained to form a soft muted gray palate The Country kitchen features an old fashioned style ice box appearance for the refrigerator/freezer, a tin ceiling, a distressed assortment of cabinets in multiple heights, colors and woods such as the cherry wood buffet cabinet with sliding glass doors on both sides. A backlit breakfast counter, a hammered copper hood and chicken wire inserts are part of the effort to make a comfortable, eclectic old fashioned looking Kitchen while containing the latest appliances and storage systems. Awards: This project has won several kitchen and bath awards: Felman Kitchen Awards 2009 St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles Kitchen of the Year – Gold Award 2008-2009 SubZero Wolf Kitchen Design Contest – Regional Winner, Regional Designer’s Choice 2010 NKBA Art of the Industry – Pinnacle of Design Award 2010 NKBA Art of the Industry – First Place Medium Kitchen 2010 NKBA Art of the Industry – Consumer’s Choice Award 2010 K&BB Kitchen of the Year Award Felman Bath Awards 2010 Ladue News Award—Master Bathroom

Guest bedroom in an Italian Countryside manner.

The Chianti III is a stunning model home in Mirada at The Estuary at Grey Oaks. Built by London Bay Homes, named America’s Best Builder in 2008, the Chianti features a stone façade reminiscent of the Italian countryside. This fully furnished four bedroom plus den/5th bedroom home features over 5,900 square feet of living space, a relaxing third-story viewing deck, perfect for stargazing, and formal living areas that blend comfortably into the home’s more casual outdoor living space. The Italian-influenced architecture carries over to the interior design that features stone walls and wood beams throughout the home. Large window areas capture magnificent vistas of the nearby lake and golf course beyond. The second-floor bonus room is perfect for entertaining friends over a game of billiards. The grand two-story home also includes a private study and home office center. Enjoy the view from a third level viewing deck with a fire place. This home showcases a wide array of unique design features throughout its 8,625 sq.ft total area. Image ©Advanced Photography Specialists

This beautiful marble mantel is a hand carved work of art. Carved from a pure white marble in the french style from the rococo period. This piece is an elegant addition to any french countryside home.

Image by 'Ancient Surfaces' Product name: Antique Stone and Marble Bathroom Elements. Contacts: (212) 461-0245 Email: Sales@ancientsurfaces.com Website: www.AncientSurfaces.com Those antique stone elements used in creating the crème de la crème of award winning bathrooms could be used today in rendering your humble bathroom into a magical indoor dreamscape equivalent to having your own exotic travel destination just a few step away from bed. Allow yourself a full body and mind therapy that will let you unwind and escape from life's constraints and worries for an ephemeral period that will feel like an eternity... From our antique marble and stone sinks, specialty reclaimed shower stones, floors and counter vanities, all our stone creations are guaranteed to give your bathroom a unique composition and arcane feel. Our stone elements are considered by many high profile designers and architects a badge of honor that helps them achieve an overall creative design vision for your house.

This beautiful marble mantel is a hand carved work of art. Carved from a pure white marble in the french style from the rococo period. This piece is an elegant addition to any french countryside home.

This beautiful home in Edina gets a refreshed look, inspired by French and Italian countrysides. Photography by Cinda Pfeil
Home office - traditional home office idea in Minneapolis

This beautiful home in Edina gets a refreshed look, inspired by French and Italian countrysides. Photography by Cinda Pfeil
Example of a classic kitchen design in Minneapolis