Designing a Villa For My Friend

Its always an honour when a close friend entrusts you with the design and construction of their home. For me though it's often a double edged sword. What if they are not happy with the end result, what if the project is delayed or gooes over budget - these are all things that can happen on any project. If it's a purely client relationship then OK yes it's a problem but it gets resolved and then life goes on. Who really cares if they dont use again for whatever reason. But when friendship is part of the equation it could be a lot more serious. I would hate to lose a friendship because I messed up on a work thing. But hey you know what - that didn't happen with the design and furnishings for my dear friend Indy. She has a wonderful home filled with beautiful bespoke furniture and we are closer now than before so win, win I would say! Lets look at the home we designed and furnished.....

It's a modest three bedroom villa that is on a larger than average corner plot as part of a development in the Chergtalay area of Phuket. Budget restraints were a serious factor in the overall design so I had to be careful not to present ideas that would be out of the budget range. We opted for double volume ceilings in the main living spaces to give a much grander feeling. The villa is a single story with the house wrapping around the swimming pool and a large grassy area beyond.

We custom built all the bedroom furniture including the beds, bedheads, night tables and walkin-closets. Also the doors are beautiful solid reclaimed teak as well as other items like coffee tables, and easy chairs. This furniture was some of the first pieces made by my factory. Im very happy with all of it and it was this project that really made me fel that investing in a furniture factory was a giant step in the right direction.

This project was also one of our first efforts creating beautiful inlaid wood work from our CNC machine. We created ornately patterned bedheads on teak veneer that turned out so nice.

The swimming pool is bigger than average and that was something that did stretch their budget a little but now that it's finished they are so happy they spent the extra money on it. We used stone tiles that give a beautiful hint of blue to the water colour and the pool looks so inviting all the time. I'm super happy with how the project turned out and am so honoured that my good friend Indy put her trust in me and my team!