Château de Villette: The Splendor of French Decor

The book is amazing, a beautiful home that has been wonderfully restored and maintained, I just love the book unfortunately it was packed in a box without any padding and the corners are all seriously damaged, I keep my books, not just read and trade in, so this is very disappointing, I haven't had trouble like this from Amazon before but again, my beautiful book looks like it's been abused and it wasn't an inexpensive book. very disappointed.Gary

We all see magazine stands flooded with, "Country French" magazines. When you look inside, what you usually see is actually Ikea/Restoration Hardware Country French. Bland and glaring white rooms filled with cheap looking white or cream colored furniture and accessories. The text referred to Mr. Garcia's style as "kitsch". The writer man is ignorant and that should have been edited out. No one can design French rooms better than Garcia. Everything I've ever seen by Jacques Garcia looks like something out of Versailles or "Dangerous Liaisons". He even owns a distinctive sofa that once belonged to Madame de Pompadour! I opened this book and saw the gorgeous red/burgundy drawing room, with deep jewel toned walls and was instantly transported back to that period. The carved rococo onyx bathtub is fit for a king! I wish the book had a few more pages, but that is my only critique. If you want to tour a gloriously restored chateau with impeccable décor and can't make it to France, grab this book before it goes out of print. Bravo to Amazon for offering it at such a good price.

I thought it was an OK book. The interior decorations and photos are fabulous. I would rate the book 4- or 5-Stars for that. The reason I gave the book an overall 3-Stars rating is because the chateau just isn't very impressive in my opinion. It is nowhere near as grand as Vaux le Vicomte, Chenonceaux, Cheverny, Anet, Le Lude, and others.There is a nice floor plan of the lower level on page 34, which you don't see in very many books on chateaux. There are also some photos of the upstairs bedrooms which is also unusual.From a social historical view the chateau probably reached its zenith under Sophie de Grouchy (sister of the famous Napoleanic Marshal Grouchy) and her husband the Marquess de Condorcet. They entertained many leading figures of the late 18th century French Enlightenment. Eventually, Sophie sold the chateau on 1818 to what was to become a stream of successive owners.

I have loved this Chateau forever and when I found the book here on Amazon, I had to get it! It's a thick, heavy coffee table book that I can't keep my hands off of. The pictures are beautiful and the history of the chateau is really interesting. The author did a wonderful job putting this book together!!

This book could have been a lot better, a whole lot better. There seems to be a trend, in books like these, to do close up photographs of an object, for example a vase, that could be anywhere. So that’s what this book has a lot of, instead of fully illustrating the different rooms in the house. There’s a two page spread of a cat on a red pillow; there’s the shadow of window ones on the hall floor; there’s a closeup of some carving on a bathtub - any of these photographs could be anywhere. This limited technique of photography is an impediment to understanding. Thanks to the ridiculous way this book was photographed, I came away from it with an incomplete feel or understanding of this - I suppose - great chateau

Interesting . Not that great.

Unimaginable depth and breadth of the authentic french chateau. Breathtaking!

Very interesting. Achateau I did not know about.

I just finished writing my new book. Shattered. Wanted something completely gorgeous and indulgent.I already have Garcia's fantastic (and I'm hard to please) book on his own chateau. This chateau is not as fantastic as Garcia's but it's filled with a sort of baroque minimalism with sexy silk curtains and lots of golden bling that's actually an antique. Buy for yourself or/and a friend if you like looking at the best things in life.

The printing, photos & Texts,… outstanding!A wonderful private tour through the history, hosts dedication to recreating this château in all it’s poetic splendor,… clearly, romantically & with attention to the poetry & soul of its present owners. Bravo Bravo Bravo,…Besten Dank!Grab it while it’s still in print!