It was internet cookies that led Karina and Craig Waters to buy a 94-room château. The Australian couple’s daughter, Jasmine, was on a school exchange in southwest France; as Craig followed her progress, his browser became inundated with property ads for the French Pyrenees. One pop-up featured the Château de Gudanes, a Dracula’s castle–meets–Downton Abbey in the Aston Valley. The couple tacked it onto a tentative property viewing list for their forthcoming trip. It was love at first sight, but there was just one problem: The Château de Gudanes was a forlorn wreck. It had neither water nor electricity, let alone a functioning roof. Trees grew from its turreted chimneys. Interior scaffolds were reflected in antique mirrors. Rooftop snowmelt dripped over Empire wallpaper dating from the late 1700s, back when when Voltaire and Diderot philosophized in the castle’s principal salon. It was a house of horrors—an atrophied mansion with the power to This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty Buy Now Related Stories Interiors Issue 19 Prankster’s Paradise Is the nine-to-five grind approaching monotony? Arrive at the office early to even the playing field and invoke mirth for your co-workers. Interiors Issue 18 A View from the Porch The shapes and sizes of our homes are changing, and society along with it. Avi Friedman has come to make sense of the new era of household realities. Interiors Issue 16 My Bedside Table: The Fashion Designer Starr Hout, who cofounded fashion brand Apiece Apart with her friend Laura Cramer, talks about her evening rituals and a kid-friendly bedroom. Design Interiors Issue 15 The Community Entrepreneurs: The Food Enthusiasts Food can be used to enrich, strengthen and connect people of all societies and cultures: All you need is a passion for tasty morsels and tradition. Interiors Issue 14 My Bedside Table: The Editor The editor in chief of Milk Decoration magazine in Paris discusses what she likes to have at hand while slumbering. Interiors Issue 14 Home Tour: The Evergreen Cottage For this home tour, we look inside a festive house in a cobblestoned corner of Copenhagen.
Interiors Issue 19 Prankster’s Paradise Is the nine-to-five grind approaching monotony? Arrive at the office early to even the playing field and invoke mirth for your co-workers.
Interiors Issue 18 A View from the Porch The shapes and sizes of our homes are changing, and society along with it. Avi Friedman has come to make sense of the new era of household realities.
Interiors Issue 16 My Bedside Table: The Fashion Designer Starr Hout, who cofounded fashion brand Apiece Apart with her friend Laura Cramer, talks about her evening rituals and a kid-friendly bedroom.
Design Interiors Issue 15 The Community Entrepreneurs: The Food Enthusiasts Food can be used to enrich, strengthen and connect people of all societies and cultures: All you need is a passion for tasty morsels and tradition.
Interiors Issue 14 My Bedside Table: The Editor The editor in chief of Milk Decoration magazine in Paris discusses what she likes to have at hand while slumbering.
Interiors Issue 14 Home Tour: The Evergreen Cottage For this home tour, we look inside a festive house in a cobblestoned corner of Copenhagen.
