After several years living and working between Paris and the South of France, Araceli Villar and Pierre Négrier founded Doux Août in 2019, a Béziers-based creative studio working across interiors, art direction, and object sourcing. Their projects tend toward what they describe as poetry: spaces that reveal character slowly.
That sensibility aligned naturally with Swedish architect Maria Masgård, who studied at the Royal Institute of Technology and heads her own firm in Stockholm. In 2024, Masgård and her husband, Stefan, purchased La Maison B, a three-story historic house in the center of Béziers that had been remodeled repeatedly over the years. Plasterboard, laminate, and layers of paint concealed the original stone walls and beams beneath.
Working in collaboration with Doux Août, the approach became less about renovation than uncovering: stripping the house back to its original structure and allowing the materials to reemerge. Lime walls were revealed and paired with a natural micro-cement. The renovation is ongoing and deliberately slow. Join us for a look inside.
Photography by Doux Août of La Maison B.
For more French farmhouses see our posts:
- The New Old House: A 1,300-Square-Foot French Farmhouse Rehab in Tellières-le-Plessis
- Atelier Vime in Brittany: An 18th-Century Childhood Home Lovingly Updated
- Les Bains Gardians: White Horses and “Conscious Hedonism” in France’s Camargue
- Maison Légère: Restoring Balance and Harmony in France
- D’une Île: A Rustic Retreat in Normandy with Cottages to Rent
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