Juliette Byrne is an award-winning luxury interior designer in Cannes, based in the Chelsea Design Quarter in London and on the Riviera for site meetings and the installation. The studio was founded in 1988 and renovates and furnishes apartments, penthouses and villas in Cannes and along the coast. Its most recent work here was the 18-month renovation of an 18th-century apartment in the hills above Cannes harbour, and its restoration of a villa in Dresden won design et al's International Design & Architecture Award. Four of the studio's London projects have won at the UK Property Awards.

Juliette leads the design on every project with a team of six designers, alongside an architect and contractor appointed by the client or recommended by her. Owners who spend only part of the year in Cannes usually hand the studio more of the decisions, and each project ends with the keys to a finished, furnished home. The first meeting is complimentary and there is no minimum project size.

Villa, Cap-Ferrat

Pied a Terre, Cannes

Interior design for apartments and villas in Cannes

Cannes grew into a resort after Lord Brougham first came here in 1834, and the palaces and grand houses that followed went up on the Californie and Croix des Gardes hills between 1850 and 1900. The Croisette's Belle Époque buildings came next, with the Carlton opening in 1911, and much of the prime property today is apartments in buildings of that era: high ceilings, cornices and tall French windows, some of them long since divided into apartments. Le Suquet, the old town, has smaller and older houses; Palm Beach has contemporary blocks with wraparound terraces; Super Cannes and the upper Californie have villas with pools and views across the bay.

Nearly all of it sits within a copropriété, which shapes what can be changed and when, and most of it is used in bursts: the Festival in May, the summer, a long weekend in winter. So the design has to do two things at once: bring back the proportions and detail of an older building, and make the home easy to close up and reopen. The studio also works further along the coast in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and its projects outside the UK are gathered on the International page.

An 18th-century apartment above Cannes harbour, renovated over 18 months

The apartment sits in a Classical 18th-century building in the hills above the harbour and had been left untouched for years. The studio brought the original coffered ceilings, walls and floors back, then added panelling and new cornices to the main rooms, with the bespoke panelling and cabinetry drawn to echo the ceiling's coffers and the double-height proportions. The old parquet was sanded back and stained a soft grey to carry a white palette with brass and copper accents, and the entrance hall was painted a deep blue, a nod to the harbour below.

The kitchen was rebuilt with a bespoke island and bi-fold pocket doors on the run of units, and the bedroom was fitted with a full-height upholstered headboard and a wall-hung dressing table. The work ran for 18 months with contractors Chartwell Group and was handed over fully furnished. The project page has the photographs, and the studio's guide to luxury interior design in Provence and the Côte d'Azur tells the story in more detail.

The copropriété: getting approval to renovate a Cannes apartment

In Cannes the copropriété comes before any permit. The règlement de copropriété sets out what an owner may change inside the flat, and anything that touches the common parts, from the façade, windows and shutters to the balconies and the shared pipework, needs the agreement of the syndic and a vote at the general assembly, which usually meets once a year. The building's règlement also fixes the hours for noisy work. Changes to the outside need a déclaration préalable or a permis de construire from the Mairie de Cannes as well, under the town's own local plan.

The studio reads the règlement before the first drawing, so nothing is designed that the building will not allow, and the assembly's vote is built into the programme from the start. Where walls are coming down, the architect's drawings accompany the application. It is the same discipline the studio applies to licences to alter in Knightsbridge, where most apartments are leasehold.

How the studio runs a Cannes project from London

It begins with a meeting at the property, where Juliette walks the rooms with the client and takes the brief. Back in Chelsea the studio draws the whole scheme: the plan and the elevations, the joinery, the kitchen and bathrooms, the lighting, and every finish, fabric and piece of furniture, with each item priced and approved by the client before it is ordered. The drawings and schedules are then issued as a single tender package. The studio works as both architecte d'intérieur and interior designer, so the plan of the property is reconsidered along with its decoration.

The building work on the coast is carried out by a local contractor, either the client's own or one the studio has worked with before, and the studio keeps control of it through site visits and video calls. Clients abroad tend to ask for more of the everyday decisions to be made on their behalf within a brief agreed at the start. Procurement and installation stay with the studio: every piece is ordered by the studio, delivered to Cannes and put in place by the team, down to the bedlinen and the towels, so the owners walk into a home rather than a list of things to buy. Read more about the full interior architecture and design service.

A villa on Cap Ferrat, further along the coast

East of Nice, the studio has just finished a contemporary villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, redesigned from the plan up. New glazing and a rewire came first; the kitchen then gained a Taj Mahal stone bar and worktops and now opens onto the dining terrace, and a full-height travertine fireplace became the focal point of the sea-facing reception. Eighteen months from brief to a furnished handover, it is the studio's latest project on the Riviera, and the page on its work in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat goes into the villa in more depth.

What an interior design project in Cannes costs

What a project costs follows from the property itself: its size and condition, the specification, how much of the joinery and furniture is made to order, and whether the brief involves structural change, new windows or approvals from the copropriété. Those questions are talked through at the first meeting, and the studio then puts together a fee proposal for that project. After the client has reviewed the furniture and finishes, each item is costed and documented with complete transparency, and fees are only discussed once the client wishes to proceed.

There is no minimum project size. A furnishing scheme for a flat on the Croisette, a single room or a refresh of a home the studio completed years ago are all welcome, and the Cannes apartment was a one-bedroom property.

How long a Cannes apartment renovation takes

The programme is fixed before work starts. In Cannes it is governed by the copropriété's vote where one is needed, by the contractor's diary, by the lead times on made-to-order joinery and furniture, and by the building's rules on when noisy work is allowed, which can decide when the heavy work happens. The full renovation of the apartment above the harbour took 18 months; the villa on Cap Ferrat, with new windows and a rewire, took as long. With six designers, the studio can usually begin a new project without a wait.

Award-winning interior design, from Chelsea to Cannes

The 18th-century villa the studio restored in Dresden took design et al's International Design & Architecture Award in 2024 and its Elite Residential Property Award in 2025, for a building of the same century as the Cannes apartment. In London, the UK Property Awards have gone to four of the studio's projects, the Belgravia townhouse, the Penthouse, Mayfair, the Boutique Hotel, Mayfair and a Chelsea townhouse, and the International Property Awards recognised a new-build development in Chelsea. Elsewhere in France the studio designed a family chalet at Chamonix.

Juliette is a BIID Registered Interior Designer, named among the best in Britain by Country & Town House and in House & Garden's Top 100. The studio has no house style; each home is designed around its owners and the building it is in, built by craftsmen it has worked with for years, and finished on budget and on time. Its projects appear in the national and international interiors press, collected on the Press page.

Frequently asked questions

Do you take on interior design projects in Cannes from London?

Yes. Cannes, Saint-Tropez and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat are all places the studio has finished projects, and a Riviera project is run no differently from one in London: the brief is taken at the property, the scheme is designed in Chelsea, and the team flies out for site meetings and the final installation.

Do I need permission from the copropriété to renovate my Cannes apartment?

For work inside the flat that leaves the structure and common parts alone, usually not, though the règlement sets the hours for noisy work. Anything affecting the façade, windows, shutters, balconies or shared services needs the syndic's agreement and a vote at the general assembly, and the studio builds that into the programme from the start.

Can you restore the original features in a Belle Époque apartment?

Yes, and it was the heart of the studio's work in Cannes. Coffered ceilings, cornices, panelling and parquet are restored or reinstated, and the new joinery is drawn to match their proportions, as it was in the apartment above the harbour, so the modern kitchen, bathrooms and technology sit inside the original rooms rather than replacing them.

Can you run the project if we only come to Cannes in the summer?

Yes, and many owners do. The studio takes more of the decisions within an agreed brief, keeps the client up to date by video call, and plans the noisy work around the building's rules, so the home is finished and furnished by the time the owners arrive.

Do you work with a French architect and contractor, or recommend your own?

Either. If the client already has an architect and contractor, the studio joins that team; if not, it introduces ones it has worked with on the coast, as it did with Chartwell Group on the Cannes apartment. Day to day the contractor runs the site, while the studio keeps the design, the procurement and the installation in its own hands.

How long does an apartment renovation in Cannes take?

That depends on the scope and on the building's calendar. Renovating the 18th-century apartment above the harbour from the plan up took 18 months; a scheme that is furnishing only, with no building work and no assembly vote to wait for, is a far shorter programme.

How much does an interior designer cost in Cannes?

No two projects cost the same, because furnishing a flat and reconfiguring a Belle Époque apartment are different undertakings. The subject is covered at the first meeting, which is complimentary; the studio then sets out a fee proposal for that project, and nothing is ordered until the client has approved its price.

Do you work anywhere else on the Côte d'Azur?

Yes, anywhere between Monaco and Saint-Tropez. Projects in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Saint-Tropez are already complete, and the studio travels to wherever the property is, from the first meeting to the day the furniture goes in.

Where is the studio and how do we start?

The studio is on the King's Road in the Chelsea Design Quarter, London. To begin, book a complimentary first meeting to talk through the property and what you would like from it, using the Contact Us button below or by emailing office@juliettebyrne.com.

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Interior Designer in Cannes

Interior design projects in Cannes and on the Côte d'Azur