 |
| The tapestry fragment is from a larger 18th century piece that hung in a French chateau. At the time, tapestries were both decorative and functional—they helped keep the cold from seeping inside the stone walls. The pair of arm chairs are period Louis XVI, reupholstered with contemporary material, and scraped and bleached. The large coffee table, made from a 250-year-old Indian door with legs from an antique chair, is flanked by large, upholstered Kriess sofas. The lamp on the piano was designed by Jacques Lamy. Antique French iron window grates are reinvented as a doorway to the back of the house. |
Annick and Larry McNally fell in love with their lofty 1970s era Turtle Creek North penthouse because it reminded them of home. In Annick’s case, home is in the western limits of Paris, where the family’s apartment boasted big rooms and high ceilings. For Lawrence, home is Montreal, Quebec, with its sophisticated mix of European and American influences. While their hearts remain thousands of miles away, Dallas is where the McNallys have lived and worked for 24 years. Larry is a family medicine doctor and Annick owns Le Louvre French Antiques on Slocum Street, which allows her to travel home to Paris often on buying trips.
 |  |
| (above left) Walls are paved in stone veneer by Ann Sacks; pair of 300-year-old shutters from the south of France reborn into doors; a leather chest from Spain, circa 1900, holds bar accouterments. (above right) Sofa and table from Crate & Barrel mix with old boiserie cabinets from France. | |
“I was so homesick when I first got here,” Annick says. “I had to find a way to bring France to Texas. Like all good French people, my family always had lots of antiques. So, I decided to import them and surround myself with everything French.” Two decades later, her original 900-square-foot showroom has expanded to 8,500 square feet, boasting a large collection of 18th and 19th century French furniture, architectural elements, including stone fireplace surrounds and carved windows and doors from crumbling chateaux. “I love really heavy architectural things, which probably says something about me psychologically,” she says, laughing.
 |  |
| (above left) A hallway becomes a passageway to the past with stone walls, a biblical tapestry, circa 1600, hand-forged sconces, old chateau doors, and iron gates. (above right) The master bedroom is simple and serene, draped in muslin. An old Spanish door serves as a headboard. | |
Eight years ago when the couple decided to relocate from a house to a highrise, the choice to buy an older, rather than new, penthouse was easy. “The terraces in this 45-year-old building are so much bigger than anything else we saw,” says Annick, who wanted to recreate the spacious rooftop decks she remembers atop Paris apartment buildings. At 2,600 square feet, the McNallys’ broad, wrap-around terrace affords views north, west, and south, and it’s roomy enough for five cozy seating areas. “We love the outdoors and we love to entertain. We almost never use the formal dining room any more. We set the table outside and open all the doors and windows. It’s really a spectacular scene at night.”
 |  |
| (above left) The dining table base is fossil stone, carved in Mexico topped with beveled glass; chairs are newly made, Louis XVI style. An antique wheel, from Indonesia and bought in Paris a decade ago, becomes sculpture. A series of large plaques, purchased at auction are imprinted from the original walls in Egypt and reshaped into plaster. They serve to break up the mirrored walls and echo the stone walls from other parts of the house. The bronze hardware on the doors were custom made in Paris. (above right) Dallas designer Neil Stewart advised the McNallys on the renovation of the kitchen, resurfacing the cabinets in pickled wood, the counters in emperador marble, softly colored tiles from Home Depot, and natural straw shades for a casual look. Annick designed a stone niche over the oven, similar to those in France.Gold and silver hardware from Home Depot helps soften the stainless steel Gagganeau oven. Windows opening to a deck and bar area outside allow Annick to cook while entertaining her guests. | |
Inside, floor-to-ceiling mirrors bounce light during the day and reflect downtown’s neon dazzle at night. “It’s very magical, very electric,” Annick says of the city views that, thanks to copious mirrors, can be experienced from just about any room in the house.
With 3,600 square feet inside to fill, Annick looked to the sophisticated Paris apartments her family has lived in for inspiration, with their mix of modern upholstered furniture and family heirlooms. She also gave a big nod to her favorite American designer, Michael Taylor, whose lofty sofas, large coffee tables and natural stone and wood elements provide a soothing, organic palette for mixing. Taylor was famous for using huge plants to break up space in large rooms, and in her Dallas apartment, Annick has used palms and other potted trees inside and out to divide the open spaces. The rooms feel full of air. Pale colors add to the weightlessness. Says Annick: “You can do a whole apartment in cream as I have done here, but you have to have living plants to break things up. You need three colors in a room to balance the eye. In my apartment, the accent is on the raw woods, the white upholstery, and the mellow brown of the Chinese furniture, the piano, and arm-chairs. I have balanced the room this way.”
 |  |
| Annick buys fresh goats milk cheese rounds from Central Market or Eatzi’s and prepares the lettuce on plates ahead of time. She dips the cheese in herbed olive oil, and sprinkles on almond slivers. When guests are seated, she broils them quickly in the oven, making them crisp and warm. Windows that open from the kitchen onto the deck area allow Annick to cook and entertain at the same time. Says Annick: “There is nothing worse than to be in the kitchen when your guests are elsewhere. It’s an American thing to make the kitchen open to the entertaining areas. It’s very nice.” | |
In the living room, there are new, upholstered Kreiss sofas. “The French would be happy to perch on a tiny, uncomfortable settee,” Annick says. “But in America, we have to have comfortable furniture—I like that.” Also in the living room are a rustic stone fireplace; massive hand-carved boiserie removed from an 1860 chateau in southwest Paris, which are scaled to fit the apartment; and a large, glass-topped coffee table made from an antique Indian table. In the master bedroom, an old carved headboard balances a pair of highly carved Spanish doors, facing opposite. Throughout the house, Annick has installed ornate iron gates and an old Indian door with highly carved windows in lieu of traditional American doors. Some walls are veneered with French stone from Ann Sacks, while the floors are paved in natural limestone. It all looks so effortless. French women have a knack, don’t they? “In France, we hardly ever use decorators,” Annick admits. “We say, ‘I can buy quality things and put them in my house, and it will be beautiful,’ and it is.”
 |  |
| (above left) Outdoor dining is elegant and chic when the McNallys do it. Annick incorporates family silver, mixed white and beige contemporary plates. “No place mats. The focus is on the food,” she says. (above right) After meals, Annick McNally’s guests gather outside to enjoy the dramatic views. The upholstered wicker furniture was not originally made for outdoor use, but she coated it with several coats of paint to protect it from the elements and covered the cushions with Sunbrella outdoor fabric. An iron candelabra is heavy enough to withstand strong winds. “Everything on the penthouse deck has to be chained down to prevent it from flying away in Texas storms,” Annick says. | |
Lucky for Annick, whose primary business comes from Dallas decorators looking to fill their clients’ abodes with the Louis XV country pieces, whose scale and casual quality fit well into Dallas homes. It’s been Annick’s bestseller for years. In France, she explains, you don’t see one period being a trend as much as you see a mix of many. Dallas, which is still a very young city, hasn’t changed her mind about much. Except that she uses her car to go everywhere, and that’s about it. She still entertains at home with classic French flair, including serving the salad after the main course and serving cheese before dessert. Annick brings her more elaborate French style of entertaining at home and combines it with Dallas’ flair for outdoor living. Her meals always include five or six courses, a formal structure that she’d like to change. Being French, however, she is stubborn. “I love this thing you do in Dallas with the informality inherent in barbecue and a simple salad. How wonderful!” she says. “I’m trying to learn to do this kind of thing—it’s easier living, you people in Dallas are right about that.”
In her apartment and in her entertaining, she combines the best of Franco formality with a dash of American comfort, like a pair of well-loved khaki trousers with an Hermès scarf. And the French, well, they still have that knack.
 |
| Homeowner Annick McNally. |
Annick’s Chèvre Salad
1/2 cup walnuts broken into pieces
1 tablespoon walnut white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 or 2 heads of curly endives
1 slice coarse country
bread wheat
1/4 pounds fresh goat cheese (chèvre) cut into slices
Position oven rack in the middle of oven. Preheat to 325 degrees. Spread walnut pieces on baking sheet. Place in oven and bake until they begin to change color (6 to 8 minutes). Remove from oven and set aside. In a small bowl combine walnut, vinegar, salt, and pepper, and stir until the salt is dissolved. Gradually add 4 tablespoons of olive oil until well blended. Set aside. Separate the leaves from the head of salad. Set aside.
Preheat broiler. Remove crust from bread slice and discard. Tear the bread into small pieces and place in the food processor to blend to fine, soft crumbs. Transfer to a saucer. In a separate saucer, place the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Carefully holding one slice of cheese at a time, place in the olive oil, turning to coat on all sides. Then place in the bread crumbs and turn to coat with crumbs. Place on baking sheet, and set aside.
Whisk the remaining dressing and spoon over the lettuce. Toss until well coated. Divide among four plates. Slip the cheese slices into the broiler about 4 inches from heat, until the top is golden and cheese starts to soften, one or two minutes. Using a spatula, carefully transfer each slice to the center of a lettuce-lined plate. Sprinkle with walnut pieces.
