On the Opal Coast, the family spirit of this old mill with charming decor

New luxury for the holidays. Take your summer accommodations to a charming guest house. With just a few rooms (a maximum of five), often located in bucolic locations, furnished and decorated with care by hosts who put their whole soul into it, they guarantee a quiet, unique, unforgettable stay. They can also become a source of inspiration in terms of interior architecture. An overview of our favorite addresses, with a first stop at Moulin Moulin on the Côte d’Opal.

History of the place

After Covid, Nicolas Marion and Jeremy Zitelli decided to leave Lille to go green. They delve into the ads to find “THE” house in the village where they can settle in and rethink their routine. A photo catches their attention. it is an old mill located 3 km from the sea, which has been operated by the same family for five generations. It produced flour until the 1970s, before being converted into an outlet in the 1990s before being taken over by a couple who converted it into guest rooms. “We didn’t think at all about buying on the Cote d’Opal. But the house stood out. We visited there several times to continue our research, but remained under its spell, recalls Nicholas. It must be said that the first floor of the main building is located on the water’s edge, and even if the interior was dark and needed restoration, it had a special charm. The transaction is completed. Jeremy and Nicholas are moving in 2021. They are settling into the premises as well with the goal of reviving a bed and breakfast operation that had been abandoned for several years by the previous owners. “We lived in this house for six months without starting construction work. This was the first time this happened to us, explains Nicholas. But we wanted to be sure of our choice before starting work. Very quickly the idea came to make it a family home, keeping some evidence of the various passages between the walls and placing all our furniture and things, sometimes inherited from our aunts, grandmothers and grandfathers…”.

Works

“The house was old, not to our taste and very damaged. It did not meet any existing standards. But he had a crazy charm, says Nicholas. It also had great potential with the possibility of restoring different parts: the old mill, the attic, the shops… When we started the project, we had these future developments in mind. Therefore, we still have plans to develop, such as the upcoming opening of a vacation rental, independent of guest rooms. Clearly, structural work was important. we had to repair the roofs, heat the oil boiler with wood, clean the house, rearrange the bathrooms for optimal comfort…with “brown” board. We thought it would be quite a pain to remove them and we didn’t know what we would find underneath. In the end, the fact of living there allowed us to avoid removing them. Because we learned that these panels were installed when the factory increased its production capacity, and that the vibrations caused by the acceleration of the rhythms caused many cracks. Panels were installed to hide them. Therefore, we felt that this choice was closely related to the history of the house, and instead of removing these panels, we ultimately decided to keep them. Our idea was to paint them the same color as the walls. For all the pieces, we worked on quite a diverse palette: ochre, brown, green… from the Bilboquet Déco brand. This idea really adds character.”

Decorative options

“Apart from bedding, we didn’t buy much to furnish the house,” explains Nicholas, who was a designer and interior architect before embarking on this adventure. We had woolen mattresses and pillows handmade in the workshop in Aveyron as a tribute to our grandmothers who named our rooms after them. To still emphasize this slightly old-fashioned spirit, we chose floral patterned quilts and bed linen from Haomy.

In addition, we used our possessions, our furniture, as well as all the treasures we had found or inherited from our families and kept in our basement in Lille. To arrange them harmoniously, we photographed all these disparate objects and furniture and classified them according to color palettes. This allowed us to create a form of harmony while freely combining 1970s or very designer light fixtures with rustic or 1920s furniture. We ended up working like exhibition curators, creating a dialogue between all the pieces.”

Favorite brands, objects, furniture

“We don’t like to throw things away and we’re very involved in the recovery of materials,” explains Nicholas. For example, we reworked all the floors to make benches, create moldings, and even build the chicken coop. The same approach with the damaged roof tiles, which made it possible to strengthen the banks around the water body. We are sensitive to brands that share these values. So we’ve partnered with Q Bottle Company, a company that gives used glass bottles a second life, for breakfast dishes and courtesy trays. He is also located in the region 15 minutes away from us. In this spirit of neighborliness, we have also chosen Orion lamps from the Bello Bello ceramic workshop, also in the north, for the holiday home we are currently finishing.”

To hunt for treasures

“Nina’s room has family furniture that we particularly like and that our visitors really like. We are talking about “magic box– dates from the 1950s and 60s and clearly shows the search for functionality during this period; I find a little bit of the spirit of Auguste Perre there, notes Nicolas. It’s a chest that opens to become a side table with lots of small shelves and drawers. It belonged to my grandfather, who posted the bus timetable between Montauban and Toulouse on it; the paper is still where my grandfather put it.’

Tips for decorating

“Painting a board is a really good idea to remember. Using color makes it possible to upgrade this coating and limit the damage associated with replacement, Nicholas always insists. And then, we can’t say enough that the ugly objects we’re attached to can be sublimated through associations with other more precious or interesting pieces. And therefore we should not hesitate to mix styles and eras. I am sure that loving objects makes them beautiful.

Moulin Moulin, 40, rue du center, 62187 Dannes. Double room from 105 euros including breakfast. Information and reservations: moulinmoulin.fr: