A House That Keeps Collecting: A Seaside Villa in the Mediterranean Style

By the sea, a family of travellers – a hotelier, his wife, and their son – wanted a house that could hold what each journey leaves behind: the books, the objects, the ideas gathered along the way.

They thought of it as a living collection: an interior settled enough to take in new finds without losing its line. Mediterranean architecture became the common ground, holding registers from across the world, the calm of Scandinavia in the bedrooms, colonial notes from Latin America, without any of them pulling against the rest. Oksana Trunova drew the interiors, and Dantone Home furnished the house and made its bespoke pieces.

Clean lines, flat roofs that double as terraces, pale render: the architecture follows the modern Mediterranean. Full-height glazing sets the living rooms open to the pool and the water beyond, so the boundary between inside and out all but disappears.

The palette stays with the coast: sand, cream, grey-blue. Light oak, linen, cotton, and a stone-look porcelain hold the background steady, a calm ground for the pieces the family has carried home from across the world.

A run of arched openings draws the living room into the rooms around it, and light moves the length of the sequence.

At its centre sits the Narvik sectional, sized for the family to gather on at once. One section turns towards the hearth, set a little apart for a quieter seat by the fire.

The same arch returns as a curved niche, fitted with an open shelf for books. Above the seating hangs a large painting by a friend of the family, made to the colours of the room.

One of the owners trained as a chef, and the kitchen was planned around the way she cooks. Dantone Home built the whole run to measure, with a single granite-topped island at its centre. Four tall units take the appliances and the everyday china out of sight, and a dedicated station handles the coffee.

Fluted copper-toned fronts pick up the colour of the ceiling, while a black splashback sets the depth behind them. Linear handles cross the fronts in a broken line, which gives the cabinetry its rhythm. Open shelves at the island keep the cookbooks within reach.

The dining room is built around a solid elm table, with Contempo chairs by the Swiss designer David Girelli set around it. Close by, the Peru sideboard carries the travel theme on: its ridged front recalls the stepped terraces of the Andes.

A pair of bespoke consoles does three jobs at once. They mark the line between kitchen and dining, hold storage, and stand in as a balustrade for the stair down to the lower floor, where the wine cellar, the cinema, and the spa are kept.

Downstairs, a spa brings together a hammam, a sauna, and a massage room. The scheme runs on touch – warm wood against cool, polished stone – with the light kept low to bring out the grain of the stone.

The study takes its cue from the old English clubs. At its heart is a bookcase in deep emerald, built by Dantone Home to hold the family library. Around it sit a vintage record player and a few pieces in a colonial style. It is a room to work in and to step back into.

Each bedroom carries its own register, from American classic to colonial. In one, the Cancun sideboard sets the tone, its fronts rippled like wind-marked sand.

The son's room runs on graphic black and white – a tall headboard cut in a wave, wall lights, framed photographs – softened by grey textile and warm wood. It has full-height windows, a writing desk for schoolwork, and a tall bookcase whose closed and open compartments settle into a chequerboard.

The climate lets the house carry on outdoors, across more than one level. Just behind the living room are an outdoor sitting room and a lounge by the pool. A private terrace on the third floor holds another retreat above them. Outside, the furniture keeps to natural forms and materials: the sitting room is laid out in the Tulum collection, with a floor lamp turned from solid wood, while a Taormina dining set takes the breakfasts, the whole coast in view.

At the infinity pool, its blue surface bringing the Maldives to mind, loungers and chairs from the Taormina line sit in a tone that answers both the water and the pale façade. They are by the French designer Laure Grezard.