Inside an artfully renovated Provencal farmhouse

Back in October, our lovely foodie friends Alexandra Dudley, Laura Jackson and Billy & Jack visited us (see Cooking up some serious sunshine in Cotignac) and stayed just outside Cotignac in a beautifully renovated farmhouse from the 17th and 18th centuries, the Domaine Saint Joseph.

Its owner, Charlotte Baring, is a talented interior designer, and she was kind enough to share the story of this gorgeous place with us.

The story

Charlotte spent about five years looking for the perfect house in Provence. She had almost given up hope when she found Domaine Saint Joseph, and fell in love with the place instantly.

The owners were an English couple in their 70s who had moved to Cotignac in the 80s and created a wonderfully cozy, eccentrically English home-away-from-home, AGA included. Charlotte and her husband immediately felt at home, but at the same time their minds were whirring with all the potential and ideas popping up constantly as they walked around the maze of endless passages and back stair cases leading from one room to the next.  

Less than three months later, the Domaine Saint Joseph was theirs!

The house needed a lot of work. She waited patiently, and little by little the Domaine Saint Joseph started taking shape. The interior of the house was all newly repainted, almost every bedroom had a bed, and Charlotte was finally getting a few pictures up on the walls.

The interior design

The interior decor and design of the house was Charlotte’s chance to let her creativity go wild.

“I am always strongly influenced by the places around the world I have lived in and travelled to.  I have this funny feeling that somehow interior fashions seem to chase me around the world.” says Charlotte.

She decorated the domaine with beautiful Suzani and Ikat silk fabrics from Central Asia, shweshwe tribal fabrics from South Africa, as well as vibrant and joyous wax fabrics from West Africa.

She mixed those bright and ethnic inspirations with more traditional and old-fashioned touches, such as very British fabric houses like GPJ Baker, and recycled old curtains from a cottage she used to own in the British countryside.

We love the styling and hope you also enjoyed knowing more about this gorgeous place (hint: available to rent).

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