Photography by Mark Gilliland
The weather outside outdid merely frightful. Streets and walkways were coated in snow and ice, temperatures dove below freezing, and power outages stretched across the city and suburbs. But intemperate conditions didn’t stop legions of local French Country fanatics from mushing their way to Maison de Chanticleer in Edwardsville to pay homage at the feet of interior designer and author Charles Faudree. Before they could express their adulation and get their books autographed, we jumped the line and posed a few questions of our own to the dapper and delightful Mr. Faudree.
Why do you live in Tulsa?
Tulsa is the only part of Oklahoma you need to see.
But where were you born and raised?
Muskogee. I really am the Okie from Muskogee.
What do you think is French Country’s appeal?
I think it is the warmth of the furniture and the casualness.
When you decorate, is it purely French Country?
No, I have never been a purist in that sense. I always mix in a few Asian or English accessories. But the two books I have done are 90 percent country French.
When did you get involved in design, and then French Country?
As a child, I loved it, but I didn’t even know what it was. The first chair I ever bought was a pretty little French chair. I was 16. I bought it at an estate sale in Oklahoma. I sold one house furnished, and somehow that chair went with the house. But I still get to see it. The client who bought the house is still my client. It was probably a mistake but not a big one. I believe where there is a good, there is a better.
Is there one key element to using French Country?
It’s all about the mix of fabrics, periods, colors and not about the match.
How would you add a touch of the Far East to the look?
The piece of Asian may be nothing more than a blue chinoiserie toile, which would be Asian design. And black chinoiserie furniture would still work. It doesn’t have to be a red Chinese buffet.
Aside from writing books, decorating homes and running your shop, what else are you doing?
I am working on a fabric line. I’ll have toiles, checks and stripes and some wovens as well.
What has been your favorite project?
I just finished a house in Jamaica, which is one of the most fun houses I’ve worked on. Architecturally, it is Italianate. I had a dream client who has a passion for detail, loves all the things that I love, so that’s been nice. I’ve lived in 11 houses in the last 25 years, and three of those are my favorites too, so it is hard to say.
For the past five years, you have been working on Finca la Caprichosa in Seville, Spain, for Joanne Hearst. Why so long?
The house is 100 years old. She is an American. She wanted nice bathrooms and big closets. She went to the degree of taking out the Spanish tile floors and putting in heated floors.
Living and working in Tulsa, how did you meet her?
She had a daughter who went to school in Tulsa. She bought a condo in a high-rise right across from my shop. She had raised King Charles Cavaliers [spaniels], and I have Cavaliers so we became friends. I bought duplexes and redid them, and she bought one. She picked out a pivotal fabric for each room; she met me in France, and we bought some furniture. Then she said, “You fill in all the blanks. I will be back in nine months, and you have the soap in the dish.” That has never happened in my life. She came. They picked her up, and two days later, she called and said, “Charles, it took me this long to stake my claim and to feel that this was my home. I don’t know where you have been all my life, but you have to be in it the rest of my life.”
