This old farmhouse in the Pyrenees Mountains, France has been decorated for the holidays in a Nordic spirit because it snows heavily in the winter. This Nordic appearance permeates every corner of the house. The owners transformed this 18th century residence in their principal home after a thorough reform. The home had no electricity or running water and being an old country house, the stables were located on the ground floor, the foundations were of great concern. It was an absolute ruin, but with the help of architects Ferran Vila Barceló and Ferran Vila Franch, the house was recovered to its former glory and modernized to be comfortable and cozy.

We knew the owner  wanted to preserve as much original appearance. We take everything we could underpinning and reinforcing the old structure and recovering and recycling the damaged materials. Even small, useless to hold the deck beams were used in the ceiling of the rooms, to beautify the windows, in the bathroom mirror or for part of the furniture … A challenge! Many of the furnishings as we made our own designs, using, for example , old pieces of wood from old doors, they could no longer fulfill its original function.

Would you like to spend Christmas in this house?

Spread out on two levels, the bedrooms were located on the top — with direct access from the outside — is an open space that houses the kitchen, dining and great room opened . “The kitchen is one of the jewels of the house. We both like to cook and invite our friends. It was imperative to have a space in which many people live and be attractive, warm and effective. ” Designed by the firm Tenuee, the structure of the furniture is made of solid oak front doors and drawers were made with ancient wooden boats from the Japara area in Indonesia. ” We had a hard time finding what we wanted. We are young and we wanted to choose something casual with which to identify and to contrast without attracting much attention with the rest of the house.”

The rest of the decor is simple and rustic Nordic breathes with certain strokes. “Ceilings with exposed beams, stone walls, old wood, natural fabrics, shades of cream, pickled … We were attracted to a lot of furniture, materials and unique pieces in which the passage of time becomes apparent.” The comfortable bedroom has solid wood beamed ceilings, sweetened by fir branches, pine cones and wreaths spread out on the antique furnishings.

Photos: El Mueble