The Small Villa on a Hill

When I think about my dream home it makes me want to cry because I know the reality of owning such a place is so far away. Realistically I am an 24 year old architectural student who on a daily looks up home precedents and furnishings and saves them on my Instagram or Pinterest just in hopes that one day when I could afford it, I can make my dream come true.

It all starts in hot plains of an Italian countryside. As you drive you notice the sun and it’s pink skies following you. The weather is warm and the wind brushes you skin. The plains are green with accents of red poppies and the grass is dancing with the wind. The road is winding and slowly leads you into a meandering driveway that leads up a hill. As your car slowly meanders it’s way through, you hear the crushing of the white pebbled driveway. And look, in the distance. A small villa which sits right on top of the hill beaming in the sunlight, so simple and peaceful.

When you reach the house you come out the car to explore. You realise that the exterior of the house is a mixture of stone and rendered creamish white walls. The voids are arched french windows with the shutters painted turquoise. The lawn is beautiful, the driveway is covered in white pebbles, and the walkways around the house are a light stone slab which leads around to the back. A stone wall starts at the side of the house and envelopes it for security. You start to smell a sweet and fresh aroma, it’s the white flowers in the lawn, as the wind caresses them their aroma spreads around the front garden. And who wouldn’t notice the tall, dark mahogany tree right in front at the side of the house. It’s branches stretches wide and creates shade where a swing has been placed.

It’s time to go in. And you go through the grandiose turquoise doors, which is covered in floral woodwork: a product of the art nouveau style. As you come in you are introduced to a spacious lobby with a light well to let in a much natural light in as possible. To your left A grand mirror hangs on the wall with a wooden bench so that visitors can take off their shoes. To your righg a timber console table decorated with a statement flowers in a large vase and family photos surrounding it . Beside the table is a door, as you open it you realise it’s a walk in cloak room, with a wall shelved in shoes and a space for coats. You come out and As you go further into the house the floor level changes by one step, a Japanese feature and code of etiquette which governs expectations of social behaviour; one should take of their shoes before entering a person’s house.

The rest of the house is fitted with Parquet amber oak, so rich and warm. Their is a stair case on your right leading upstairs but you decided to explore the ground floor first. As you pass the staircase there is a door to your left, a study. You walk further and open living space greets you. To your left a kitchen, medium sized and tasteful, not too grandiose like some designers make them today; too big and flashy for the nouveau riche. The cabinets are turquoise just like the houses front door and shutters with gold metal handles (obviously not real gold). The counters are a beautiful white marble with gold accents to match the gold handles. The rich oak parquet flooring really makes the turquoise stand out. The sink is located right in the middle of the counter, a ceramic fire clay Belfast sink. Above it timber shelves housed with cookbooks, house grown herbs and interesting mugs. The most interesting part is the light well right above the sink, it makes the sun glow and upon it and the clay sink glisten. Right in the centre of the kitchen is an island which houses a stove and a canopy kitchen fan. It’s sides are storage, the shorter side shelves for cookbooks and kitchen decor. The owner has made some bruschetta which they have left on a wood board, you can smell the fresh tomato and onions and the zingy balsamic vinegar laced on top of the bread. To the right of the room a dinning table simple and wooden. Has a white ceramic bowl filled with lemons.

As you walk further into the open floor plan the sunlight warms your skin, it’s the light coming from all the big paned windows in front of you. You notice the ceiling level has changed, it’s double height and so are the windows. But hey they aren’t windows you quickly notice, they are bifolding doors, and you open it to let the fresh warm air in. In the space to your left the wall is fitted with a tall timber gridded shelving system the same height as the ceiling. All sorts of books have been neatly organised, coded from fiction, to science, and most importantly the classics. A white fabric corner sofa sits right in the middle of this space. The walls are stone with bits of the wall rendered in off-white. To your right a fire place, and on top a tv. What a great place to either relax in the sun and read a book, or a cosy night watching a film. the decor is interesting, bits if colour, here and there. Pinks, oranges, yellows, greens and blues in the cushions, the big Persian rug and artwork that hangs on the walls.

You walk outside via the bifolding doors, a garden for nature. Where birds can live and feed. It is incredible, lemon trees and olive trees and flowers carefully landscaped to compliment the small villa. And because the house is on top of the hill as you walk further into the garden, you can look down onto the countryside. The Italian landscapes, colours of yellow warms greens, the trees and the grass and the wheat. And rows and rows of vineyards for fresh wine.

You walk back to the lobby to go upstairs, the stairs are an amber oak with cream stair runner in the centre. The first floor landing is spacious. There is a big rectangular void just at the end of the landing, another balcony with seats so the owners can chill and look out into the country and watch the sunset. You look around again and six doors, six mysteries. A bathroom, storage, an art room and three bedrooms. The art room is the most interesting because it has been designed like a workshop. It has a big arched window to let as much light in, and the artist can paint the landscape. The counter tops are wood with a ceramic sink fitted in the middle so that the painter can wash their brushes. Another wall is fitted with a grid shelving system, different paints and materials have been carefully organised so that the artist can reach out for anything they need. A studio easel is placed in the middle of the room, the artist has been painting a still life.

The bedrooms are plain and decorated as minimal as possible. Timber bed frames and white walls to make the rooms bigger. The master is the biggest out of the other rooms with an en-suite and walk in closet. The architect was kind enough to give it a private balcony, a great place to read the newspaper and drink your morning coffee. The other two rooms have their own en-suite however with smaller closets. The heart of the house really is the living space, but the rooms are plain so that each person occupying it can decorate it in their own fashion and style to show of their personality and likes.

You go back down stairs to walk out the house. As you drive off down the meandering driveway on the hill, all you keep think is “ohhhh if only that house was mine”.