Nadya Savannah Sawney by Rachael Smith

Nadya Savannah Sawney

Photographs Rachael Smith

Words Rachel Leedham

If this former chapel could talk, it would no doubt be thanking Nadya Savannah Sawney, who has brought a new chapter to the building’s life. The 200-year-old Methodist chapel in a small hamlet in north Oxfordshire had been converted into a home in the late 1980s but when interior designer Nadya and her husband Stuart Sawney bought it in 2013, it had become very neglected. Nadya tackled the damp problems and added windows to the north and south facades, opening the house up to the glorious countryside views. A muted backdrop has been punctuated with punchy patterns to breathe new life into the building. ‘I have a sense that the building is happy now that it is warm and being taken care of,’ Nadya notes. ‘I do believe that buildings appreciate being looked after.’