Enter the French farmhouse of Lucinda Chambers, the former fashion director of Vogue

A house with doors and windows on both sides is not something imported like a child’s drawing. If I’d seen it in the estate agent’s window, I’d probably have gone,’ says Lucinda Chambers, a quintessentially British idiom who vacations at her 19th-century former farmhouse in Toulouse with her husband Simon and the three of them. children for the past 22 years.

The simple exterior of the property gives no hint of what to expect. Former Vogue fashion director and founder of fashion emporium Colagerie and sustainable label Colville, Chambers admits she ‘loves everything’ when it comes to decor. So her home is a warm cornucopia of high-end secondhand finds that reflect her magpie taste or ‘freestyle wherever I want to go’.

In the sitting room, geometric rugs complement wicker chairs and mirrors, and elsewhere there are mismatched ceramics, decorative bottles and throwbacks from local second-hand stores. Red and white-striped fabric is a leitmotif woven into curtains, cushions and tablecloths. She laughs: ‘I’m awkward. I wish I was more hard nosed but I love stripes, patterns, Moroccan influences and things found on my travels.’

In the living room, everything from an Indian Kantha fabric to an Ikea sofa to a slipcover rug bought at a Swedish garage sale. Chambers created the ottoman by attaching a block upholstered in dip-dyed linen to vintage eBay legs. The mirror is from maisonsdumonde.com.

In the year In 2000, it was a sense of calm that led her and Simon to take a trip to France. Over dinner at a friend’s house in London, acquaintances Cindy and Richard learn that they are selling their house in Toulouse. Thirty-five years ago, I owned a small furniture store in London called Shepherd’s Bush Swallows and Amazon. Cindy came in one day and bought a rug for “the blue and white room in Toulouse.” It looked so romantic, and the house was stuck in my head. So when we found out it was for sale, we flew in the next day.’

In the kitchen, the previous owners of antique chairs sat around the table. A rug from a pound shop in London adds a pop of color, as do bright woven carafes from a local second-hand store. Try curiousa.co.uk for a similar chandelier

Chambers is thrilled to learn that everything in the house is being sold: the duvets, the hats on the wall, the car. ‘That’s how I sold it to Simon – I told him we didn’t want to buy anything!’ A few decades later, only the kitchen table and ashtray remain.

The first thing she did when she moved in was to paint the attic space white and widen the outdoor terrace and add extra pebbles to the floor. She then built what she called ‘Nando’s’, an outdoor kitchen where everyone could cook.

A net fabric from London’s Portobello Road was used for the corridor curtains, for a similar experiment ianmankin.co.uk. The hats are family and friends who come to stay permanently. Try frenchconnection.com for a similar rug

She credits her mom with the inspiration for Chambers’ decorating project. As a child she moved every 18 months, although always in London AZ page 50 (around Knightsbridge) where her mother decorated each new house from rococo to ultra-modern. She was amazing – she could make dry stone walls, make wallpaper, take down ceilings. Like her, I guess I’m good with my hands.’

From her Toulouse home, Chambers explains that it is always evolving, ‘very up and down hip’ and also sleeps ten like a Tardis. ‘I’m always adding things, bringing things from London, traveling with inappropriate luggage and wearing lampshades on my head.’

• For more information, visit collagerie.com