With spring travel cancellations and social distancing in full swing, Living in Paradise provides a welcome virtual escape to exotic faraway destinations. Annie Kelly and Tim Street-Porter are the talented duo behind this newly published book. Kelly, who writes about design and travel for numerous magazines, is also a designer and has also authored other titles, including Casa Mexicana Style and the Rooms to Inspire series. Tim Street-Porter, who photographed this book, has authored and photographed quite a few books and has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times. Needless to say, these two have an eye for exceptional design, and this book promises to inspire readers to create their own tropical paradises at home. Living In Paradise showcases fourteen gorgeous residences in Southeast Asian design. If the coronavirus situation has you feeling cooped up and stir crazy, this book definitely has your name on it. Let’s look at a few of the featured properties:
Villa Timur
Villa Timur is a country home at the corner of Made Wijaya’s boutique resort and spa property in Ubud. It should be noted that Wijaya, the late famous tropical landscape architect, was also the designer of this property. The hotel, called the Taman Bebek (which means “duck field”) exhibits classic European styles adapted for the tropics. Villa Timur is built in the colonial method with wraparound verandas, which surround high ceilinged rooms mainly used for sleeping. Javanese furniture, textiles, and mosquito netted beds add to the interior charm. A tiered thatched roof is designed to create a natural cooling system for the interior. The verandas are about more than just picturesque views. The accommodate areas for seating, dining, kitchen, bathrooms and dressing rooms. Interiors are furnished from a collection of antique Indonesian pieces, upholstered in traditional patterned Balinese fabrics, colorfully painted doors, wide plank floors, bamboo blinds, and mosquito nets on the beds. This compact house packs in a lot of design and function.
The entry to the green and red villa includes a Caribbean inspired cutout door.
Sharma Springs
Talk about creative use of materials! Designer Elora Hardy is the daughter of jewelry designer John Hardy, with a creative background in the fashion world, having worked for Donna Karan Collection and DKNY. Her design firm Ibuku Design Studio, in business for ten years, was retained to build this home for Canadian couple Sumant and Myriam Sharma and their four daughters. The result of putting their trust fully into Hardy’s hands is a wildly creative flight of fancy that effortlessly ascends six stories while blending with the landscape.
The furniture is all custom designed by Hardy’s firm Ibuku Design Studio. Unsurprisingly, her innovative pieces are made from natural materials of the region. She plans to expand this part of her business.
This handmade masterpiece of curvilinear bamboo is devoid of the normal boundaries of architecture. A scaled-down model served as the blueprint for what was designed and completed within twelve months. Some living spaces are open to the elements. A tree-house-style bamboo open tunnel serves as a corridor, crossing a ravine to get to the fourth floor of the building. Views of the river valley and distant volcanoes are dramatic. Eco-friendly bamboo is insect treated and offers structural strength. Custom contemporary bamboo furniture completes the exotic elegance.
Villa Keliki
Villa Keliki is a beautiful two and a half-acre private estate located in a hilly, ancient Balinese village, about 15 min north of Ubud. Behind a grand entrance, winding paths lead through colorful gardens and bamboo bridges to multiple smaller cottages that serve as exotic guesthouses. Each is thematically designed to represent various regions of Southeast Asia. This property is owned by American winemaker and inventor Bob Davids.
Above is the original house on the property- refurbished in a traditional Indonesian colonial style with broad verandas.
This Balinese-style loggia provides an informal dining space in front of the kitchen pavilion. The door is a reproduction of an eighteenth-century Balinese door. The chandelier is twentieth-century dutch and chairs are late nineteenth century.
The above living room has a whitewashed ceiling and carved shuttered french doors that open to an expansive view of rice fields above the property.
There’s so much more to see in this beautiful book- 250 color photographs and eleven additional properties in Bali, Java and Thialand. Take this virtual escape to the tropics, out this month! Order your copy here.
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