The Aristocrats!
By 
One of the many awesome things about being rich in America c. 2014 is that you don’t have to pay for lots of things — which when you think about it is kind of ironic! Such as, for example, real estate ads.
It is definitely the most eclectically renovated house in Frenchtown, right up to the peak of its cupola, now crowned by a copper roof. The formal circular driveway that once dominated the front lawn has been replaced by a colorful meadow of wildflowers and berry bushes. In place of the attic, there is the 1,400-square-foot “Skybrary” (translation: library in the sky), a mystical aerie carved and customized for Ms. Gilbert by an imaginative carpenter, Michael Flood. In the basement, a terra-cotta honeycomb from Brazil holds 500 bottles of wine. Buddha statuary is a recurring theme in the garden.
Ms. Gilbert wrote her most recent best-seller, “The Signature of All Things” (Viking Adult, 2013), a historical/botanical romance, while ensconced at her 15-foot-long acacia slab desk in the “Skybrary.” A king-size “napping bed” is tucked in a corner, 11 windows resemble a ship’s portholes (hawks, not fish, go floating by outside), and the original ceiling beams are dangerously low. A flight of stairs leads to the intimate cupola, with its 360-degree views.
“I really believe that whoever buys the house will do it because they have an emotional attachment to this enchanted space up here,” she said of the attic.
Downstairs, the main hallway is flanked by an office/library and a country kitchen with a wood-burning stove, tin ceiling, plank floors and a marble-topped center island with a Bertazzoni six-burner range as its centerpiece. The kitchen, after the removal of a wall, flows into the living room, which faces west toward the river. The dining room across the hall from the living room has south and west exposures, and pocket doors that separate it from the library, or not. The powder room has an automated Japanese toilet/bidet and an exotic Balinese lava stone sink.
The Buddha statuary is an especially nice touch. You see this all the time in Boulder: somebody has a two million dollar house (built using exclusively sustainable eco-friendly materials naturally), and there’s a tastefully understated statute of the Buddha in the front yard, to remind passersby that they can escape suffering by ridding themselves of desire.