But, surprise! This little gem is located in Ibiza, most specifically in Cala Llonga which is located on the East coast of the island, and is surrounded by lots of nature, rocks, and calming sea views.
The house is unusual - not at all how you would imagine an Ibiza house. It is a modern townhouse, spread over 4 floors, with a rooftop pool and terrace. So, I was excited when my client asked me to come on board as this is very different to anything I had done before. I started to put the design ideas together while the house was still a building site but the base materials for this new design canvas were quite chic, simple, and a palette with which I could work easily.
The house is about 400sq m. On the ground floor there is a garage, gym, sauna and playroom. The first floor has the main living and dining spaces, the kitchen, a wine cellar, a cool room and a guest bathroom. It also features a large terrace overlooking the trees and sea view. The second floor has three bedrooms and a small outdoor patio with a garden. Again, this floor has large terraces overlooking the nature. The third floor is the master bedroom (accessible by a lift as well as stairs) with an outside bath area and direct access to the roof terrace. The rooftop pool is so cool with sunken terrycloth pool beds all along the pool side and with magnificent views all around. I used a lot of rattan furniture on the terrace and added palm trees to make it even more green.
In terms of textures and materials, the floors are light grey stone, which are actually warmer than a concrete floor. The walls are white in all the communal areas but we used textured wallpaper in all the bedrooms - I love wallpaper and need texture. There is a lot of natural light from the generous floor to ceiling glazing, so we kept all the colors light. This is a very contemporary house so we gave it its own identity by incorporating my vintage/mid century modern style while keeping it quite minimal.
I love the simplicity of the living room. The house has so many rooms and is spacious but the living room isn't big and, with the kitchen having quite a presence with its blue/grey slate effect and gold stools, I felt that the sitting room had to be as organic as possible and have a shape and an identity of its own. I knew from the beginning that with everything being square in the house (the rooms, the layout, the outside etc.) I had to find the perfect sectional round sofa! That was the first thing I went looking for and I found an amazing Giacomo Passera sofa. I already had a cool Harvey Probber cabinet which I had bought in Miami for a client in London who had changed her mind about it. So that was done - two amazing collectors' pieces in the room were all that was needed, and a few extras such as a cool Jonathan Adler coffee table in silver/bronze and a giant lamp for the cabinet.
My client liked the colours and hues I had used in my Ibiza house (tobacco, cream, off white, beige, browns) so we used a bit of that but I don't like to do the same each time, so I also introduced the malachite grey wallpaper from Harlequin in the guest bedroom and a light pink wall in a small room which would have been boring otherwise. My client has a young daughter so, of course, pink was a good choice for her room. We kept it clean and cool, and now any Barbies can make their way into that room and it will still be very cool.
What I like most about this project is that it took me completely by surprise again. I think it's a very unusual Ibiza house. It has such a sophisticated feel about it and yet it's a very simple, beautifully designed and well thought out space. The vintage pieces make it even more special and give it its sophistication. Most people on the island would put super-modern pieces in very minimal houses, which may be interesting architecturally but you do not feel a connection between the furniture and the architecture. And that's what important, the fusion of both.
As I said, it reminds me of Sydney, a very cool metropolitan city but also a very casual and sporty one, on a beautiful sea coast.
