Showhouse featuring Scagliola Stone in Atlanta, GA

This is a story about a self-described "crazy Frenchman" who found the perfect product to sell in an ideal market and proceeded to live happily ever after.

(PRWEB) June 28, 2004 -- It's no fairy tale - despite the romantic manor Thierry Francois is erecting at the corner of West Andrews Drive and West Paces Ferry Road to showcase his products.

Thierry Francois modeled his Buckhead home after a 'hotel particulaire,' a hotel turned into a private residence.

Thierry (pronounced Terry) is the owner of Stone Age Designs, a company that crafts antique-looking mantels, range hoods and architectural details from a mixture of crushed marble, limestone or travertine called scagliola. Because the details are molded from the mixture and not hand-carved, they are not as pricey as antiques or carved reproductions.

In a town where less is definitely not more and wretched excess is celebrated, this development in upscale home "must haves" has made the 37-year-old entrepreneur a prosperous man in just five years. Clients include architect Bill Harrison and residential designer William Baker, entertainer Kenny Rogers, comedian Jeff Foxworthy and former Atlanta residents John and Patsy Ramsey.

The house Francois is building will be a monument to his craft. Modeled after what the French call a "hotel particulaire," a hotel turned into a private residence, the manor features large rooms with custom-made, imported, floor-to-ceiling mahogany casement windows that he estimates cost between $150,000 and $200,000. All mantels, columns, moldings and details will be crafted of scagliola, including the grand staircase with its wrought iron railing.

Outside, twin, slate-roofed outbuildings with copper-clad dormers serve as garages for three vehicles and as a buffer between the house and Buckhead's busiest residential street. They flank a gated drive and shelter a motor court in front of the house.

Although still a shell, the house is impressive with 14-foot ceilings on the first floor and 11-foot ceilings on the second. Designed by Baker and interior designer John Oetgen, the house has an enormous entry that opens to a grand salon and continues through the house to a formal terrace with a 10-foot tall fountain at the rear. There are not many rooms, but all are oversized and filled with light from the magnificent windows.

"I've already had offers to buy it," said Francois, a native of the Mediterranean island of Corsica, who says when finished he expects the house to be valued at $3 million to $3.5 million. "But I am not a builder. I don't want anyone to think that I am going into the building business. I have enough to do."

Still, he is not sure if he and wife Shannon and their two tiny daughters, Olivia, 3 years, and Lily Marie, 14 months, will live in the house.

"It would be hard to have people come to see the products when you are living here," he explained.