When a dilapidated farmhouse went up for sale in Jacek Kolasiński’s dream neighborhood in Szczecin, Poland, he didn’t hesitate to buy it. “I had been looking for a place here for a very long time,” the interior designer explains of the urban area, which retains the countryside charm it had before World War II. “I’ve liked it since I was a child.”

Sitting on the edge of a vast forest, the building had once served as housing for seasonal workers in the surrounding fruit gardens, as well as a forge. It had deteriorated so badly that it was nearly impossible to renovate. “I like challenges, so it was perfect for me,” Kolasiński says.

He brought the 1,500-square-foot structure back to life by tearing down light blocking walls and cramped ceilings and salvaging unique features like columns and old brickwork. Its reconstructed bones were then bathed in white and sparsely furnished with décor that seems transported from a Parisian loft. Somehow, in the rustic space Kolasiński now shares with his wife and daughter, it feels right at home.