An 18th-century Swiss mountain farmhouse with calm yet characterful interiors
A charming little children’s bench, painted with motifs of mountain cows, catches my eye in the sitting room of Deniz Bayern’s family home in Switzerland. ‘It was the first thing I bought specifically for the house,’ explains the Turkish-born interior designer. ‘I was in an antique shop in Austria, I was pregnant at the time, and I just thought it was so perfect.’ She was right. Not only did it go on to influence key elements of the house’s decoration, but it now seems to embody the very essence of their idyllic life here.
Deniz and her husband Konstantin, known as Koko, had been very happy in London for over a decade. They’d bought and renovated a Victorian house in Queen’s Park, Deniz had set up her interiors firm Studio Kaya and their first child, Alexis, was born in 2020. But with a growing family, and a lively Goldendoodle named Chilli, they began to crave green space, fresh air and a change of pace. Deniz spent most of her teens at a boarding school in Switzerland’s Engadin valley, Koko was born and brought up in Bavaria (a few hours over the border in Germany) and they were married in St Moritz, so the Swiss mountains felt like a natural fit. They eventually made the move in April 2023, by which time Deniz was pregnant with their younger son, Nikolaus.
The house was a serendipitous find. Deniz received a marketing email from an estate agent featuring this 18th-century farmhouse in the town of Galgenen, around half an hour’s drive from Zurich. They arranged a viewing and, when they arrived, they realised they knew the owner. It might have been possible to ignore the signs had they not instantly fallen in love with the glorious setting. ‘We look out over a lake on one side and the mountain on the other,’ says Deniz. ‘All the nearby houses are still owned by farmers, so there are cows and sheep right on the doorstep. No one has fences or walls marking out their land, so the landscape stretches as far as the eye can see.’
Though the timber façade remained close to the original style, with the steeply pitched roof and shutters painted in a dark green, the interiors had been thoroughly modernised and painted entirely in white. Keen to bring softness to the space while retaining a sense of calm continuity, Deniz chose soothing neutrals for the walls before picking out the woodwork in soft greenish greys, which she often uses in her work. ‘I think, subconsciously, I was also influenced by the paintwork on the little bench as well as by the landscape,’ she adds. ‘Funnily enough, Alexis has called it “the green house” ever since we moved in – it must have been because of the shutters – so we’ve always thought of it that way.’
The greenest of greens can be found in the main bathroom, where shimmering emerald tiles are complemented by a chequerboard floor in sage and white. It was the only room that required a complete refit thanks to a leak. ‘We ended up installing it about two weeks before I gave birth so lots of quick decisions had to be made!’ remembers Deniz, laughing. The anxiety now feels like a distant memory as the boys spot deer on the mountainside and farmers out on their tractors during bathtime.
A predominantly decorative approach was unfamiliar territory for Deniz. ‘I don’t usually like working with ornamentation so it was a bit of a challenge to begin with,’ she says ‘It brought me to the 18th-century Shaker movement and its philosophy of humble, functional craftsmanship, which made sense here.’ Instead of using strong colour or pattern on pattern, she has introduced layers of texture with a mix of wooden furniture, natural textiles and fabrics in classic checks and botanical prints. With the children’s bench as her starting point, she found herself drawn to other hand-crafted Swiss and Austrian pieces that suit the farmhouse’s modest proportions and reflect something of its history.
The family’s own story is also woven through the rooms. Alexis sleeps in an antique sleigh bed that used to be Koko’s and, up in the attic guest room, Deniz works from the same mahogany desk she had back in London, planning projects across Europe and developing a product line. Next to it is a headboard in a red and blue Liberty print that has inspired a slightly richer palette. ‘We bought it as a tablecloth for the welcome dinner at our wedding, which had a Turkish-Bavarian theme. The pattern and colours reminded me of Iznik pottery,’ says Deniz. ‘When we moved in here, Koko and I covered the headboard with it ourselves, which is a lovely memory.’ It is by incorporating such thoughtful details into her restful schemes, gently blending old with new, that Deniz has turned this blank canvas of a house into the perfect family home.
Studio Kaya: studiokaya.co.uk
Christopher Horwood1/7The main bedroom has walls in ‘Mizzle’ and woodwork in ‘French Gray’, both from Farrow & Ball – a slighter softer version of the combination used on the ground floor. Framed botanical prints from an old book, cushions from Zara Home and a bedcover in a traditional Loden fabric from Bavaria enhance the fresh verdant feel. The bedside table with iraca palm panels was made by Deniz’s friend Lucia Echavvaria, the designer behind Magnetic Midnight.
Christopher Horwood2/7Another corner of the main bedroom highlights Deniz’s skill for combining old and new, and high-street and high-end pieces. An antique French chair, a late-19th-century rattan and bamboo chest of drawers from Willow and Brooks and curtains in Romo’s ‘Kemble’ french blue check sit alongside wardrobes from Ikea’s ‘Platsa’ range. She had them painted to match the walls and added bronze handles from Zara Home.
Christopher Horwood3/7A red and blue Liberty fabric originally bought for a dinner the night before Deniz and Koko’s wedding was used to cover the headboard, bed base and lampshades and inspired the distinctive scheme in this attic bedroom. Above the window is a set of small Bavarian paintings and blue and white Steingut Topf pots used to make fermented foods like sauerkraut. As the beams here were already stripped, Deniz decided to leave them unpainted, balancing the wood with walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Light Blue’.
Christopher Horwood4/7A lithograph of Neuschwanstein by Andy Warhol, 1987 – residence to Konstantin’s great-great-great uncle – and a a traditional Turkish peshtemal towel behind the headboard tie in with the Turkish-Bavarian theme in this room.
Christopher Horwood5/7Deniz works from an English antique mahogany desk that she had back in their house in London. Now she can enjoy glorious views of the lake while working.
Christopher Horwood6/7Deniz in the garden with Goldendoodle Chilli.
Christopher Horwood7/7The timber farmhouse is built in the traditional local style, with a steeply pitched roof and shutters painted in a dark green by the previous owner.
