The French House specializes in purveying antiques, tableware, home decorating accessories, and custom-designed furniture using antique wood – as well as a taste of the culture of the French countryside.

Susan Brechtel practiced interior design for three decades before she opened The French House (235 Lee Lane, Covington, 893-4566; 2240 Magazine Street, Interiors Market, 525-3330) on the Northshore, a move that defined her decorating style and helped establish both her reputation and a steady customer base.

  Just six years after opening the two-story storefront in Covington, Brechtel has brought her daughter, Jennifer, into the business and opened two new outlets in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The business’ success has surprised even Brechtel.

  "When the French House opened in 1995 as a storefront, I thought it would be a weekend or part-time thing," she says. What she found was a bounty of customers interested not only in the French country style but also authentic, out-of-the-ordinary, quality products. "The first year we opened we did a six-figure business," Brechtel says. "It was a real surprise. The French House gave us credibility and a clientele."

  Brechtel’s customers include people who come to her for interior design expertise, shoppers looking for a single piece of furniture or a decorative piece, as well as other interior designers.

  "We do a big trade with designers," she says. "They want to make sure that when their [reputation] goes on a piece they buy for a customer, it is a real antique and well-made. We also have very competitive prices."

  All three stores offer a range of antique furniture, fine tableware, milled soaps, all-natural French fragrances and body products, works by Louisiana architect A. Hays Town and other artists, vintage posters, and furniture Brechtel designs and constructs from reclaimed antique cypress planks. The Covington location is the flagship store and predominantly serves as a feeder business for the other shops as well as a gallery for Brechtel’s interior design clients. The locations in New Orleans, which is inside the Interiors Market gallery, and Baton Rouge serve as retail outlets for a public enchanted with the culture and design sensibilities of the Old World.

  "The Covington store is the holding bin for everything," Brechtel says. "It’s the heart of the business. It’s where it all began but mostly it’s [visited by] people who come here for design work. The Magazine Street and Baton Rouge stores are smaller spaces, but they expand our customer base and get our name out," Brechtel says. They also expand the public’s knowledge and appreciation of both French and Louisiana culture and history, a part of the job Brechtel finds particularly gratifying.

  "It’s an expanding experience," she says. "People like to hear about where things come from and how they’re made, their heritage. It’s truly an Old World experience with the French products. Most of the products from France are still produced in true cottage industries. They’ve been made the same way by the same people for a long time. There’s something to the products that has a human element. We had to quit carrying one line because the 87-year-old man who had made and cut the soap died, so it wasn’t available any more." In fact, Brechtel seeks out such craftsmen to supply her with unique products with heritage.

  In addition to the retail operation, Brechtel and her daughter work on two or three interior design jobs a year and meticulously see each project through from entryway to laundry room.

  "My vision of the home is a total environment, how the palette changes from room to room," Brechtel says. "I don’t use a lot of jarring colors. We deal in harmony." The design is not aged or stodgy, but a comfortable, clean, elegant look. "We do the updated French country look," she says. "We aren’t straight traditional, but we use traditional elements in a contemporary way."

  Among her favorite things to design are the furniture she creates from cypress planks taken from Louisiana swamps and Mississippi River barges in the 18th and 19th centuries to build houses.

  "It’s my passion," Brechtel says. "I love my wood. It has a life of its own. It has an aura. We don’t remill the planks; we use them as-is. There’s a piece of Louisiana history there that shouldn’t be lost. People gave their lives to mill those trees. There was an element of risk to going down to the swamps and working in that natural environment."

  Not all her thoughts are in the past, however. Brechtel also looks forward to expanding her business family to include her younger daughter, Christina, who currently is studying interior design. "My plans for the future: I’d like to see my daughters enjoy the fruits of all our labors. It’s a true family business."