Seeking an escape from their busy city lives, a creative couple turned to the sun-drenched Puglia region of Italy, where they transformed an abandoned farmhouse into a cool and stylish home perfect for relaxed family living
HOME PROFILE
WHO LIVES HERE Olenka Airasca, an interior designer (@olenkainteriors), her partner Andrea and their son Noah THE PROPERTY A mid-20th-century rustic stone farmhouse near Ostuni in Puglia, Italy
EXTERIOR
A wood and bamboo pergola provides a spacious outdoor dining area by the entrance, where the couple can entertain friends and family and take in the breathtaking views. They kept the original iron front doors. Acapulco chairs, Sklum
STAIRS
A huge old capasone – a traditional local vase used to store oil – sits at the corner of the outdoor stairs
With views over rows of ancient olive trees and vines, the cerulean sea sparkling in the background and the silence interrupted only by the song of cicadas, Olenka Airasca’s farmhouse in Puglia is a haven of pure relaxation. ‘It’s my ideal habitat – almost in the wild,’ she explains. Olenka, her partner Andrea and their son Noah split their time between this farmhouse, near the charming town of Ostuni, and Monaco. The couple work on interior design projects around France and Italy with their company Olenkainteriors. ‘We needed to find a retreat where we could escape to a more rustic life,’ says Olenka. ‘A home away from the “bling bling” of the French Riviera. When I’m not working, I want peace and stillness.’
They discovered the farmhouse during a visit to the nearby town of Ostuni. ‘We fell in love with the area, with its enchanting Puglian villages and the sea,’ recalls Olenka. ‘Plus Andrea is half-Puglian and used to spend summers here during his childhood.’
Typical of the local rustic style, the house is made from stone with a white limewash. ‘When we bought it in 2019, just before lockdown, it had been abandoned for decades,’ explains Olenka. ‘Although the structure was sound, it took time to restore it.’ To keep within their budget, she and Andrea took on much of the renovation themselves, with the help of local craftsmen. ‘We kept the structure and bones of the property the same, just adding a staircase to connect an outbuilding – where the previous owners used to bake bread – to the rest of the house,’ says Olenka. A central living area is flanked by two bedrooms, with a small but perfectly formed kitchen: ‘We eat lunch outside under the pergola.’ Flooring was replaced with quartz and cement. ‘As it was a farmhouse,’ says Olenka, ‘we wanted to preserve its unique rustic style while adding our own interpretation.’
The interiors mix traditional and contemporary Pu
