If you ask Linda and Rick Palmer, there’s no better place to be on a winter weekend than in front of their fireplace, The New York Times littered across the floor, their two bull dogs, Chloe and Lulu, snoozing on the couch, empty coffee mugs awaiting refills. Since the Palmers like to immerse themselves in a casual, cozy atmosphere, their home, a former barn marked by exposed posts and beams, fits them perfectly. 

Located just two blocks from the canal, the home, constructed with a board-and-batten exterior and a cedar-shingled roof, was built in the eighteenth century in nearby Milford Neck. It was moved to Lewes’s Shipcarpenter Square in the 1980s, an area comprised of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dwellings relocated from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia and made into private homes. The first owners of the barn built an extension on the back, transforming it into a cozy two-bedroom, two-bath house. The Palmers, its third owners, purchased it as a second home. When Richard accepted a position as a physician at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, they bid adieu to Vienna, Va., and moved in full time. “I never imagined that we’d live in a barn,” laughs Linda. “But when we saw it, we fell in love with it. You just had this feeling of being enveloped by the warmth of the wood.”

Linda, a former commercial interior designer, was thrilled to learn that the inside required only minor alterations, such as refinishing the floors and having window shutters made, to which she added antique latches for a vintage appearance. And while they prefer historic homes, they don’t feel obligated to decorate with period-appropriate pieces, instead opting to surround themselves with a pleasing mix of the old, the new, and the unusual. In the barn’s thirty-by-forty-foot great room, an antique stepback cupboard mingles with newly purchased wicker chairs and rattan baskets share space with a Haitian statue. An Aboriginal painting blends with their art collection, mostly pieces done by artist friends. Linda’s niece created the painting of an Irish barn, and a former neighbor painted the orange and yellow sunflowers. “I like it eclectic,” says Linda.

To create intimacy within this space, Linda divided the room into distinct sections. An angled fireside seating arrangement offers guests repose on an overstuffed sofa enlivened with a scarlet, sage, and saffron floral slipcover. Over the hearth, two cormorant decoys, made by Delaware carver Rick Fish, flank an ebonized framed mirror, which was once part of a late nineteenth-century mantle Linda found in a Lewes antique shop. A “sitting room” comprised of two easy chairs made of black wicker sits across from the “dining room,” its table illuminated by a Nantucket oil lamp chandelier and hemmed by a graceful nineteenth-century sofa that serves as seating on one side in lieu of chairs. This room is a work in progress. “My mother always moved furniture around,” recalls Linda. “You’d come home and everything would be in another place. I do the same thing. I move rugs in and out, change the position of the table—mix it up and make it more interesting. I just get this urge to look at it in a different way.”

The kitchen is part of the new section, where aged pine distressed with a gray wash covers the walls, cupboards, cabinets, and doors. French doors off the kitchen lead to an enclosed brick-floored room, a sunny spot for reading and relaxing. Their “Florida” room is an ode to one of their favorite vacation spots. Palm tree–upholstered seating complements a wooden mermaid statue and a painting of two children riding an alligator. The piece might seem an odd selection but one Linda felt compelled to have—the young passengers resemble two of her children when they were little. A watercolor of manatees reminds Richard of a favorite Florida animal.

In all but the coldest weather, the Palmers are likely to be found relaxing on the screened front porch that faces the square. The soothing space is full of natural touches like woven straw lampshades and wicker furniture. An etched glass window Linda found in a Washington, D.C., antique store hangs above the love- seat, and a life-size wooden blue heron named Henry stands guard. And the dogs’ favorite spot? “Under our feet,” laughs Linda. “It’s hard to give the porch up when winter comes. We wait as long as possible.”

While the interior needed only minor work, the landscaping required a complete redesign. Richard, an avid gardener, hired Libby Zando of Zando Design/Build in Milton, Del., to create a whimsical look to complement the house. “I wanted an unstructured air, not a formal garden—more country,” he explains.

To give the garden a tousled effect, Zando chose a variety of perennials such as catmint, hostas, ferns, ice plants, various sedum, hydrangeas, and mazus. A six-foot-high cedar fence was added for privacy and a gate made from roughhewn split logs and accented with a trellis peak decorates the entrance. A custom-made pergola over the patio was also added and the outdoor shower modified with an open shed roof.

The peacefulness of the home and its garden, combined with Lewes’s slower pace, has had a soothing effect on the Palmers. “The sky seems bigger here,” Linda concludes. “And now my husband walks to work instead of driving. It’s a much more casual life. But a comfortable one.”

Pam George, a frequent contributor to Delaware Today, Delaware Beach Life, and The Hunt, writes from her home in Wilmington, Del.