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Project Name: Barnyard Beautiful

Location: Quebec, Canada

Date Completed: Winter 2019

Interior Designer: Henrietta Southam Design

This small project turned complete overhaul by Henrietta Southam Design effortlessly balances both rustic charm and refined luxury. Making sure to not disturb the home’s existing chalet qualities whilst adding polish and elegance ensured a seamless transition from inside to out. In turn this provided the home with provincial character and opulence.

The entire house was built post and beam: this was where both the beauty and constraint lay. There was no moving, nor dissembling of the beams. Finding space and appropriating volume provided a challenge for the designers. The process of splicing space was much like a Rubix cube: if you pushed one way you had to contend with a changed roomscape on the other side. The concept was named Barnyard Beautiful as it is in of itself a juxtaposition of worlds: the rustic bones and setting are layered with the polish and elegance of a more refined palette. The pastoral charm of this household manages to harmoniously balance thoughtful design choices with the influence of the naturally beautiful Québec countryside.

Decisions were swift and concepts were uncontested as the client had chosen Henrietta Southam Design on the basis that their aesthetics aligned perfectly. The purchase, relocation, and transformation of this home was a prescient and informed move to assuage the craving for a simpler, slower paced life to counterbalance a demanding high-profile business one.

Rustic yet luxurious can be used to describe both the Barnyard Beautiful project and its surroundings. It’s location and environment is key to the overall experience of the design. The veranda dining space perfectly highlights the whole home’s charming and welcoming energy all whilst bringing the ever so calming Quebec countryside in. Paulo Pereira from Arban Stone delivered a vast match-stick marble fireplace surround that adds sumptuous drama to the living space, whilst alluding to the appearance of a snow leopard.

Barnyard Beautiful was the first large scale project Henrietta Southam Design undertook in the province of Québec. What was supposed to be a master bedroom with ensuite renovation became a full-out spatial reconfiguration. Alongside an added walk-in closet and a completely overhauled master bath, Henrietta Southam Design undertook an additional kitchen revamp, a mudroom with a dog shower, adding a guest bathroom, a powder room and a 3-season outdoor dining room veranda. The client set an unmatched break-neck pace that Southam was thrilled to have been a part of.