At home with Paul and Déborah Barnier

Once a disused agricultural barn, Paul and Déborah Barnier have transformed the cavernous, bare-bones structure into a calm, considered and contemporary home in the Toulouse countryside.

With our switches, sockets and hardware throughout, we made the journey to see the (almost) finished project.

Watch our interview with Paul and Déborah above or keep scrolling for the highlights.

‘We fell in love with the property right away because of the arches, beams and high ceilings.’

‘Our vision was to have a scheme influenced by Bali and Morocco, inspired [partly] by our travels. We wanted it to feel like being on holiday at home.’

‘We had all the structural work done by tradespeople, but from the painting onwards, we did everything ourselves.’

‘We discovered Corston on Instagram. We loved the brand straight away because the products are out of the ordinary.’

‘People will normally look at a switch and think, ‘it’s simple’. But now, when people come here, they really look at the switches.’

‘The details make a big difference. And because they’re timeless, if we change the decor in the house tomorrow, we don’t necessarily have to change them too.’

‘The fact that the building is old meant it was completely fine putting in switches that are a bit more traditional. They go completely with the style of the building.’

‘We decided that two different finishes would fit with our interior.

‘We chose to use Antique Brass in the living room (where we already had other golden-looking details) and Bronze in the bedrooms for something a little more discreet – and to tie in with the woodwork which is all black.’

‘We really like the [Corston] products, and we know that we can use them for lots of other projects.’

Published on 22nd May 2024