European Houses

Smitten by the distinctive setting of this chalet, its owner enlisted the help of interior designer Maria Ousseimi to transform its challenging interiors in a way that reflects their shared Lebanese heritage

Set inside a 19th-century palazzo, the French-Chinese food writer’s apartment blends old-world architecture with the warmth of a large, cosmopolitan family – never more so than during the festive season

Holidaying on Menorca, antique dealer Dorian Caffot de Fawes and his interior designer husband Thomas Daviet felt an immediate affinity for the capital Mahon and its burgeoning art scene. It led them to make the unexpected decision to create a beautiful home for themselves, and a base for their business, on the Spanish island

Home is where the art is for polymath creative Jorge Parra, who is painstakingly bringing a suite of rooms in his family’s ancestral palace south of Madrid to life, one wall at a time

Leaving London for a small mountain town in Switzerland, designer Deniz Bayern has turned this old farmhouse with unexpectedly modern interiors into a charming home for her family

Having inherited a derelict merchant's house on the Greek island of Patmos, designer Melina Blaxland-Horne and her husband Dimitri set about salvaging abandoned elements of its period interiors before embarking on a careful and characterful restoration

Impressive in size and location, this house on the south-west coast of France is the holiday home of hotelier Cristina Lozano who, together with her long-time collaborator Lorenzo Castillo, has transformed the large, lofty rooms into tactile, characterful spaces

The wonderfully relaxed and uplifting interiors of Julian Chichester and his wife Holly’s house in Portugal belie the long, tricky project that went before. Now, they provide the ideal backdrop for an eclectic mix of auction finds and pieces from Julian’s own furniture and lighting collections

The neglected villa has been given wonderfully whimsical interiors by its Spanish owner Marta de la Rica

Having moved back to Malta, where she spent much of her childhood, Sophie Edwards took over the island’s oldest pottery, which produces the hand-painted ceramic pieces that feature in many of the colourful, light-filled rooms of her townhouse

For interior designer Benji Lewis, happening across this somewhat rundown French house in a favourite village of his provided the opportunity to restore it and retain all its period charm

In a Moorish-style building in the heart of Funchal, designer Jacquelyn Scalamera has created a home that feels layered yet fresh, blending Portuguese craft, vintage finds and quiet architectural references.

The sensitive four-year renovation of La Maison de Frédéric – an archetypal village house in the Provençal Gard region – has created a characterful, luxurious holiday home for design lovers

Doyenne of fabrics Carolina Irving has turned her eye for texture and print to creating a diminutive but super stylish house full of bottle greens and rusty reds. Her friend, the interior designer Remy Renzullo, explains.

After spending over 20 years holidaying and renting on Menorca, art and antique dealers Victoria Krauss and Fernando Alcolea bought this farmhouse in 2017. It is now an inviting family home, filled with the type of unusual pieces to be found in their interiors store on the island

Deep inside a protected nature reserve on Mallorca’s northern coastline, the American sculptor Michael Prentice has spent decades building an enchanting retreat.

Layered with antiques and fabrics, this cottage in Deià is the perfect showcase for the decorator and designer's eclectic, joyful style

Wanting to create an unfussy and simplified place to unwind, Penelope Chilvers used local craft and influences to decorate her flat.

In an archive story from 2022, Cathy Nordström’s sommarstuga or summer cabin is a spacious and family-friendly getaway bursting with colour and pattern – with many of its fabrics designed by Cathy herself