Photography by Alise O'Brien
Designer Tom Manche is a traditionalist who works in classic English, French and contemporary styles. But you need only one phone conversation with him to realize that his affable personality and glib sense of humor don’t allow him to do traditional in a traditional way. Take the floor in the foyer of John and Vanessa Mattingly’s West County home:
“When we first looked at color palettes, we looked at a piece that looked just about like this,” Vanessa Mattingly says, tapping her toe on a café-au-lait colored tile. “So I expected the whole floor to look like that. Then I saw it after they were halfway finished laying it … and it was all different colors! At first, I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ but I really love it.”
“It has a very European feel to it,” Manche says. “That’s what we wanted, because we were doing French country.”
Indeed, the foyer captures the feel of a late 19th-century French domestic study with its warm, glossy limestone floors, wrought-iron chandelier, goldenrod walls and a lovely—but jaunty—oil portrait hanging on the wall of a young man in full military dress.
“That came from Tom’s house,” Manche says matter-of-factly. Er, Tom … who? “Oh—this Tom!” he laughs, pointing to himself. “I’m in the process of downsizing, so I had a big estate sale. This painting was in my living room—his name is Colonel Brandt. He was a colonel in New York. And yeah, he looks very important here, but he has a nice face.”
The painting is a good metaphor for Manche’s approach to design: formal but fun. Though it’s definitely a high-quality antique oil painting, it has a ticklish-ness about it. The Colonel has a hint of mischief in his eyes, as opposed to the dour portraits in gilded frames seen in other European-inspired foyers.
“We wanted warm, colorful, elegant and comfortable,” Vanessa says, “and that is exactly what Tom created for us.”
Manche first began working with the Mattinglys a few years ago, after they saw what he had done in friends’ homes. While in their old house (whose décor Vanessa describes as “just traditional”), they asked for Manche’s help with a particularly challenging room and were pleased with the results. So when they decided to build, they called on Manche as soon as they had their initial ideas sketched out on scratch paper. The process proved something of a three-way collaboration. Vanessa’s “French country obsession,” sparked by a sideboard found at an antiques market (the couple had a wall in the kitchen built to accommodate it) provided the theme for the décor. John, who is in the lumber business and manufactures items for “an entire house package,” including doors, window frames and wall paneling, designed and picked out all of the trim, including moldings and paneled ceilings. Manche took care of both the big picture—how each room came together as a whole—and the tiny but important details like the use of “rain glass” panels for the master-bath shower (“when there’s water on it, you can’t tell,” he says.)
“When we started out, we just knew we wanted a pretty entry hall,” he says. “John and I were laying it out on paper. We wanted the arches going on throughout the house.”
The arches became the home’s defining feature—even the pantry door is arched. “They just soften the whole space,” Manche says, “because everything is so linear.”
Manche is a big believer in window treatments for softening and balancing a room. Treatments here range from heavy, silky drapes in the study to airy yellow curtains in the living room, and even the arched windows, soft as they are, received a bit of fabric—dainty, barely-there swags.
The Mattinglys love color, so Manche used French country classics—sunshine yellow, poppy red and meadow green—liberally throughout. Even the natural materials, such as the limestone in the foyer and the glowing cherry wood flooring used in the library, were chosen for their rich tones.
“We picked carpets that went with whatever was going into the room,” Manche says, “because that really warms up the space—though here in the study, we wanted to see that cherry wood floor.” John’s elaborate oak-paneled ceilings, trim and bookcases, built from less rosy woods, set off the floor; each shelf is individually lit and holds some of the couple’s most valuable possessions—at least on a sentimental level.
“This is one of my favorite rooms,” Vanessa says, “because there are little tidbits from our lives all throughout—pictures and little things we’ve collected along the way. Every time I walk by, it reminds me of something we did or someone we love.”
In the formal dining room, the Mattinglys created a bonnet for a stunning antique china cabinet purchased at an antiques market years ago for a mere $150. On either side, they installed built-in, lit cabinets; the ceiling is decorated with elaborate moldings straight off a royal Victorian wedding cake.
“We compromised,” Vanessa says. “I wanted the cabinets built in. John wanted the moldings in different shapes. In the end, we came together.”
On the antique dining room sideboard, set against a blazing red wall, stands a quartet of porcelain figures that were also downsized out of Manche’s household. “I’m getting used to going to my friends’ and clients’ houses and seeing things that were in my house,” he chuckles.
One of the most soothing rooms in the Mattinglys’ home is the master bedroom. Unlike the rest of the home, which is as warm and vibrant as a June afternoon in the Midi, the master bedroom and bath are designed to be cool, quiet and soothing. Manche used soft beige carpet rather than tile or hardwood, and the Mattinglys chose a color scheme of chocolate brown and a soft blue. “It just feels so beachy to me,” Vannessa says, “with the water color and the sand color. It’s a very relaxing room, but it’s also very elegant.”
“I always tell my clients,” Manche says, “no matter what we do in the public space of the house, the master bedroom can be completely different. It doesn’t have to go with anything else in the house—it should be for you.”
Vanessa nods in agreement. “I think that’s why,” she laughs, “our bedroom has become the second family room.”
