Private villa, Al Safa

The owners wanted the villa to feel like one calm home, not a set of closed rooms: a living room that opens to the dining and the stair hall, a kitchen where the family actually sits together, and a master suite with a proper dressing area.

The look had to be warm and classic without feeling heavy: light marble floors, brass accents, wall panelling and one strong colour in each room.

The original layout split the ground floor into small closed rooms, with a dark staircase and a kitchen cut off from the living areas. Every change of layout meant moving walls, services and ceilings at the same time, and the house had to come out quieter and simpler than it went in.

Design came first. Once the owners approved the 3D views, we restructured the interior: opened the living room with an arched passage, rebuilt the stair hall with a brass and fluted-glass screen and a new balustrade, and moved the kitchen into one space with a breakfast banquette.

The living wall combines a book-matched marble panel with backlit shelving. The kitchen pairs sage shaker cabinets with gold-veined marble. Upstairs, the master suite gets a bronze-finish headboard wall, built-in wardrobes and a dressing table, and the bathrooms are finished in marble and walnut with backlit mirrors.

A two-storey home that reads as one space: light, warm and calm, with every room designed down to the lighting and joinery. Delivered in 5.5 months from start of works.