Home of Marine & Victor, founders of Maison MAVI
50 shades... and not a single shade of grey! All you have to do is push open the gates at Marine et Victor's home to be immersed in colour. A lilac pool, green shutters and touches of terracotta set the tone right from the patio. So far, nothing surprising when you consider the backgrounds of the founders of Maison MAVI. One is an artisan painter, the other a decorator and colourist. Based in the heart of the Luberon in France, they have turned their town house into a life-size canvas on which to give free rein to their artistic souls. With unexpected combinations and bold choices, each room reveals its own personality. Enjoy the tour!
A blank canvas
Crumbling walls and dark floors: twenty years of neglect have left their mark on the house, and with them the promise of extensive work. "For us, it was a fantastic opportunity to start from zero!" Marine and Victor rethought the spaces and used their expertise as colour experts to work on the perspectives. Gone was the bland, featureless entrance. The couple played with several shades of green to emphasise the high ceilings and create a warm, enveloping hallway that hints at the pink-clad staircase. As for the theatrical suspension, it uses the different tones of the room to create a link between all the elements.
It's all about balance
Like a red thread, the green extends into the living room. To design her living room, Marine got inspired by her experience in fine arts to bring colours together without ever compromising the balance between them. Forget the cacophony: here khaki meets lilac while enhancing our colour fauve. The co-founder of Maison MAVI has played with textures to create an ever-wider palette. Limestone, lacquer, fabrics... each material reveals a different facet of the same colour, with a subtle touch.
The centrepiece
Thought of as a library, the fireplace is the focal point of the living room. Marine started with two lacquered cabinets by Montana, before adding shelves that reflect the museum bookshops that are special to her. Used as works of art, the colourful books help to reinforce the balance between the different shades in the room while adding pops of yellow.
Activate all senses
In the kitchen, the colours are warmer, flirting with orange and pink. The columns and Marine's picture are linking the two walls. "I designed the kitchen to be useful! It has to make you want to sit down at the table and eat well! Pink is the perfect colour for that". Never neglected, the ceiling has been repainted peach to match both the blush wall and the fauve cabinets.
Colourblock
With its imposing appearance, the cabinet wall looks like it came straight out of a Greek temple. The fronts radically changes the look of Ikea's Metod cabinets. "It's a simple piece of painted medium that instantly adds character!". The handles, simply painted in the same shade, reinforce the colour-block dimension of this part of the kitchen.
The winning trio
Same ingredients, radically different results! In the scullery and adjoining bathroom, Victor stretched pink and fauve on the walls to create an enveloping effect despite the cramped space. Marine combined them with our Electric blue, which projects its shade and changes the perception of colour. "Wet rooms are spaces where you can be bold! You can't limit yourself to a certain number of colours. I don't think white is always the best option for enlarging a space".
From floor to ceiling
Once the choice of colours had been made, all that remained was to find the ideal floor. A Change of perspective! Marine literally turned the problem upside down and designed the terrazzos of her dreams, which can be found in the living room, but also in the entrance hall and the study. From the shape of the patterns to the shade of the stones, no parameter was left to chance: "Anyone can do it! It's a bit more expensive than a standard model, but it allows you to add your own personal touch.
Colour playground
Across the hall from the living room, the study catches the eye with its ochre mosaic and pastel arches. It's hard to imagine that just a few months ago, a badly laid-out kitchen sat here. Marine has taken advantage of the light to combine around ten different shades in a palette that runs from khaki to orange, via lilac, yellow and sage... "The softer and more neutral the tones, the more you can combine them together". A real playground!
Touch of Provence
Although colour is undoubtedly the main theme, Provence is never far away, particularly in Marine and Victor's bedroom on the first floor. The founders of Maison MAVI have played with earthy tones, highlighted with lilac and yellow, to create a unique cocoon between the 70s and the light of the South. The ceiling, which has long been white, is now covered in lime. "It gives a soft, enveloping feel that was missing. It gives the room stature!"
Like going to the movies
Colorful switches, tinted ceilings, carefully selected door handles... Having spent time on movie sets, Marine neglects no detail. “I see every room as a decoration opportunity”. The bathroom is no exception. We find touches of pink, and the same Montana modules as in the living room, kitchen and bedroom. Take a closer look: each mirror comes in a different color to add rhythm and stretch out the room.
Ultraviolet
A change of atmosphere! Facing north, in the light of the painters, Marine's studio is a 180° turn. Vibrant and electric, violet comes in all its shades, right down to the workshop furniture created using Ikea pedestals mounted on castors. With its drawers in matt lacquer lilac and its upper part echoing the kitchen columns, it houses the artist's sketches and tools when she swaps graph paper for paintbrushes. "It's a colour that stimulates the imagination and inspiration!
Double-sided
Chocolate on one side, yellow on the other. The second bathroom on the first floor continues the play of contrasts. Here, the couple have once again played with materials to combine colours. The joints of the tiles surrounding the bath are beige, to create unity with the soft butter wall and the Lemonade painted oak bathroom furniture. There are also hints of green, the same shade as on the ground floor. A perfect loop!
Ideas that inspire us
- Tinted beige to allow strong colours to coexist in the same room
- Medium cut-outs painted in the same colour as the fronts to create furniture full of personality.
- Custom-designed floors to create a unique interior
- Switches, ceilings and door handles treated as accessories.
