{"id":521788,"date":"2026-03-08T04:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521788\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T04:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:02:24","slug":"how-an-interior-designer-made-her-rented-barn-feel-just-like-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521788\/","title":{"rendered":"How an interior designer made her rented barn feel just like home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jenny Swire remembers a shop in the Johannesburg suburb in which she grew up, run by an interior designer and filled with David Hicks\u2019s designs. As a young teenager in the 1970s she would swoon every time she passed. \u201cOh, it was so beautiful,\u201d she says dreamily. She begged her father to let her decorate her bedroom accordingly and, eventually, he relented. Swire\u2019s bedroom soon became a Hicksian confection of apricot, cream and peach. \u201cMy God, I loved that room,\u201d she says with a sigh. \u201cIt was perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could argue that Swire has been chasing that first sweet high ever since. She is now an interior designer herself \u2014 her third career, after enjoying success as a model and then as a fashion stylist and editor for titles including Tatler and Harper\u2019s Bazaar. Now living in a hamlet in the Chilterns, she is in the business of perfection, with her projects ranging from London flats to ski lodges in Wyoming. She, like all interior designers, is trained in the art of problem-solving. Floor not working for you? Take it up. Bathroom in the wrong place? Move it. One can only wonder why, then, she has ended up living in a house with a rental lease that stated she is limited to surface-level changes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The interior designer Jenny Swire and her dog, Adelaide, sit on a George Smith sofa covered in Pierre Frey velvet<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Swire\u2019s home sits in a lush valley in the Chilterns<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a twist of fate, really,\u201d says Swire, who originally moved to Henley-on-Thames a few years ago to be close to her mother, whose dementia was creeping in. When lockdown lifted the landlord wanted the flat back and, with nowhere lined up and a dog to consider too, she began googling. A city girl at heart, the idea of the countryside was anathema, but her search soon threw up a converted barn. She viewed it and took it on the spot, despite the bright orange quarry tiles underfoot and enthusiastically stained timber.<\/p>\n

With a discrete apartment on the ground floor for her mother and enough space for her two grown-up daughters to stay when they needed, the barn met all Swire\u2019s requirements. The large, open-plan kitchen, living room and mezzanine had windows on all four sides, flooding the room with light, and a skeleton of wormwood-pocked beams that reminded her of the timber-framed houses designed by Herbert Baker and Edwin Lutyens, two great heroes of hers. \u201cIt was a case of prayers being answered,\u201d Swire says.<\/p>\n

There was just the decor to consider. But Swire trusted her gut. Having emptied a storage container filled with art, furniture and objects, she had the luxury of being her own client. The pressure was off, in a way \u2014 \u201cbecause I could just plonk something anywhere and work it out properly later. There was no deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Swire\u2019s bedroom is a peaceful retreat, with a 19th-century Anglo-Indian table and lamps made with vintage French carboys<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

A 1970s Italian drinks trolley repurposed as a console<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Swire found the 1920s decanters, now storing bath salts, in Oxfam<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Constance Spry vases sit on a Syrian chest of drawers<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

As it happens, most of Swire\u2019s initial instincts were right. Her sculptural sofa for instance, \u201cwas too heavy to move\u201d \u2014 and happily so: its curved silhouette now hugs its corner position neatly. Placing another 1930s sofa on the opposite wall therefore became a no-brainer. A Jean Claude Mahey coffee table and a mirrored bar trolley from the 1970s now complete the space, the retro European flavour a counterpoint to the English architecture that frames it.<\/p>\n

Swire divided the living space into pockets, using furniture as her markers. This has worked particularly well in front of the wood-burner, which the barn\u2019s owners had placed in a small space with little room for sitting. Instead of trying to squeeze a sofa in, Swire leant into the limitations. Now a plump footstool covered in fabric from Vanbrugh \u2014 her daughter Alice\u2019s company \u2014 fills the area and has become the go-to spot for her dog, Adelaide.<\/p>\n

\u2022 How an interior designer created a chic home from a wreck<\/a><\/p>\n

The house has forced Swire to be less restricted by her own principles. She has even come to like the stained woodwork, seeing it through an almost 1970s lens. That said, there were a few areas where she was unwilling to compromise, namely art and curtains. Happily her landlords let her put up curtain poles \u2014 \u201cso I didn\u2019t feel like a sitting duck when darkness fell\u201d \u2014 and pictures.<\/p>\n

Now, Swire says, it feels like home. \u201cThe whole experience has been a lesson in relaxing,\u201d she continues, \u201cin not being too judgmental.\u201d It is, she adds, a great reminder that \u201cas long as you fill your home with the things you love, somehow they\u2019ll fit. Things don\u2019t have to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

jennyswire.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Assorted artworks jostle behind the sofa and 1970s coffee table by Jean Claude Mahey<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\"Dining<\/p>\n

The curtains by the dining area are made of wool fabric from AW Hainsworth<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Swire uses a Charles Hollis Jones Perspex chair and dining table in her workspace<\/p>\n

SIMON BEVAN<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read more expert advice on property, interiors and home improvement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jenny Swire remembers a shop in the Johannesburg suburb in which she grew up, run by an interior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-521788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}