{"id":1448,"date":"2014-10-01T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rmgandco.com\/en\/?p=1448"},"modified":"2014-12-23T14:44:37","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T14:44:37","slug":"mountain-majesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmgandco.com\/en\/mountain-majesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Majesty"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.robbreport.com\/home-and-design\/mountain-majesty<\/p>\n

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Mairi Beautyman<\/p>\n

SEPTEMBER 01, 2014<\/p>\n

This eclectic Alpine estate is the realization of a couple\u2019s high hopes<\/b><\/p>\n

When an entrepreneur and his wife sought to build a home in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, they set their sights on one designer. \u201cThey said, \u2018Can you possibly come over here and have a look at what we are trying to do?\u2019 \u201d says Anouska Hempel, recalling how her friends\u2014the couple are frequent guests at the Hempel-designed Blakes London hotel\u2014went about inviting her to visit the then empty parcel.
Hempel obliged, and she and her namesake London firm then spent more than two years on the architecture, landscaping, and interior design, the latter of which entailed creating most of the home\u2019s custom furnishings. Ultimately, the team translated the husband and wife\u2019s affinity for Hempel\u2019s eclectic style (think Blakes, where every room is unique and accented by pieces from her far-flung travels) into an 11,200-square-foot house, on a 13,400-square-foot lot, that stands tall against a backdrop of the central Alps.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/b>
Grand Entrance<\/b><\/p>\n

Hempel\u2019s approach to the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home was cohesive. \u201cIt\u2019s about a total look, creating a life and style from the inside out and the outside in,\u201d she explains. \u201cOtherwise it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d Thus, from the painted steel windows punctuating the gray cement facade to the custom, couture, and antique furnishings gracing the interior, nothing whispers new. Myriad classical touches, such as cast-iron elements and trompe l\u2019oeil detailing, are a unifying force inside the house, which includes living and dining areas, a study, a subterranean wine cellar, and a walled terrace.<\/p>\n

The rendered and handpainted concrete columns just outside the home\u2019s main entry\u00a0 resemble marble\u2014\u201cYou don\u2019t have to spend a fortune on everything,\u201d notes Hempel\u2014and the oak doors (her design) are an opulent 11 feet high. \u201cI have to do a huge door everywhere,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Inside the entrance hall, a sandblasted slate fireplace sits opposite the room\u2019s grandest features: custom pendant lanterns that plunge 13 feet from the ceiling, over slender stairs. Crafted of burnished steel, the bespoke railing has been \u201cpolished within an inch of its life,\u201d Hempel says.<\/p>\n

Living Daylight<\/b><\/p>\n

Located directly behind the entrance hall\u2019s slate fireplace is its twin hearth in the 460-square-foot living area. The space\u2019s slate-and-oak floor and mottled trompe l\u2019oeil\u2013style plaster walls, the latter of which were painted by one of Hempel\u2019s in-house artisans, set a neutral stage for the space\u2019s timeless furnishings. A screen of beveled glass and black lacquered wood sets off a sitting area, which benefits from three pairs of French doors. (\u201cShe is Swiss-French,\u201d says Hempel of the wife, \u201cso many elements are very French.\u201d) Adorned with the designer\u2019s ceiling-to-floor-length, rust-colored taffeta curtains (the fabric is from the Anouska Hempel Design collection), the doors\u2019 mirrored shutters, which fold back from the panes of glass, reflect sunlight and the mountain views\u2014an old trick Hempel credits to the Venetian people. \u201cThey would capture light on the water and send it back into the rather dark and cavernous palaces of that time,\u201d she says. In the study , similar richly hued curtains complement two antique leather club chairs sourced by the home\u2019s owners.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/b>
Wild Things<\/b><\/p>\n

In the kitchen and its dining area, which Hempel describes as \u201cSwiss-Austrian,\u201d wildlife-themed accents lend an air of whimsy. The antique chandelier that hangs above the slate-and-pine dining table bears moose antlers and feather lamp shades. At the end of the custom granite-topped island, dish towels can be slung through the nose rings on two iron bull heads. The designer chose the towel rings from a collection of antique fittings that she has amassed during her travels over the years.<\/p>\n

On the walls, doors, ceilings, and cabinetry, knotted American pine has an understated patina obtained through the use of talcum powder and chalk. \u201cYou just rub [the wood] down, and it gives a very lovely dusty aspect to it\u2014as if it\u2019s been there forever,\u201d says Hempel. \u201cIt\u2019s something I really want to tell the world: Do not get out the old varnish brush and dirty it up. It is not the right way to go about [creating] something authentically aesthetic to a certain period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0
Back to the Future<\/b><\/p>\n

Hempel often delves into the past to add unique layers to her projects. For this home, that meant exploring the traditional use of overmantels and ultimately reimagining the adornments in the form of gilded glass, or verre \u00e9glomis\u00e9, murals mounted above oak doors. \u201cThey\u2019re very old-fashioned but people seem to love them,\u201d Hempel says. One of the house\u2019s overmantel-type designs crowns an open-door view into the entrance hall, where two low-back, wool Greta Garbo chairs from the Dutch firm Eichholtz provide a resting place for the homeowners or their guests. The \u00e9glomis\u00e9 panel features a floral-arrangement-like design created by the wife. \u201cYou are not looking through a door at all,\u201d says the designer hyperbolically, to underscore the artful effect, \u201cbut through something like an art department or a gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decor is similarly artful but more futuristic in the home\u2019s 4,800-square-foot subterranean level, which houses a wine cellar, guest rooms and maid\u2019s rooms, and a garage. Deck chairs made of leather and stainless steel impart a midcentury modern feel to the basement staircase, where Hempel\u2019s Yardstick lamps look like hovering UFOs. \u201cYou buy your lamps by the yard and order them as high as you\u2019d like or as small as you\u2019d like,\u201d Hempel explains.<\/p>\n

Pearly Whites<\/b><\/p>\n

The layered dark- and light-gray hues of the home\u2019s common areas give way to airy shades of white and pale wood in the 560-square-foot master bedroom. The space, which is situated on the house\u2019s second level, incorporates a notable find: a pair of 500-year-old chests of drawers with mother-of-pearl inlay that Hempel acquired in Damascus. \u201cThey were very, very dark, and I stripped them blond with an acid,\u201d she says. The drawers served as her muse for the king-size four-poster bed, which she created to match, in American white oak inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The muted-white silk curtains that canopy the bed also suspend from above three French doors, and the marble floor, which the designer describes as \u201cdusty, not shiny,\u201d is inlaid with pine. \u201cIt is all very chic and elegant without being flashy,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t do flash.\u201d
\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Anouska with Love<\/b><\/p>\n

Carefully siting the house on its lot helped to separate the property from a country road. Hempel artfully employed a bi-level terrace framed by walls of lead, stone, and cement; 26-foot-tall hedges; and a trellis overgrown with wisteria. The furnishings on the terrace are all Hempel\u2019s creations, from the steel pendant lanterns over the cement-and-Belgian-stone tables to the teak benches, decorative cement balls, and lead planters.<\/p>\n

The property\u2019s wood-burning outdoor fireplace is prominently placed opposite the home\u2019s main entrance. Like the two fireplaces inside, it is fronted by a segment of sandblasted slate flooring that has been polished \u201cto look like an oil slick\u201d reflecting the fire\u2019s glow. \u201cIt\u2019s like what the Romans used to have: You got out of your carriage and were warmed up by a fire usually in the walls, wherever you were,\u201d says Hempel. \u201cIt\u2019s part of being a great romantic. I pick up things from everywhere and try to bring them into other people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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