It might seem strange, but whenever Vicky Charles designs a holiday home, she imagines her client living there out of high season, directing as much energy towards creating cosy rooms as she does to spectacular poolside settings.
In the case of this hillside residence in the coastal Mallorcan village of Deià, Vicky’s firm Charles & Co was commissioned by a long-standing client (they had previously worked on a complete renovation of his canal house in Amsterdam) to create a base to gather his family – including two daughters, three grandchildren and his ex-wife – for celebrations.
The home had belonged to a Spanish family and hadn’t been touched for at least 15 years, so needed updating from top to bottom. But the timeline was short – just a year – as the client wanted to host his daughter’s 40th-birthday party there.
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‘The whole place was repainted, with new kitchens and bathrooms. There’s space for everybody: four bedrooms on the ground floor and a small guest bedroom upstairs with two bunk beds, plus the guest cabin.’ The original floor plan was too open, so they closed off some spaces to make them feel more intimate, while painting dark beams white was an ‘easy win’ that brightened some rooms. The pale-pink marble flooring in the lounge from the 1990s was also retained.
Having designed Soho House locations around the world, famed for their ‘home from home’ atmosphere and cosy-cool aesthetic, Vicky had learnt that ‘good hotel design has to keep that balance of location and familiarity’, and the same principle applies to a second home.
‘We expect our clients to arrive with just their clothes, and we will have done the coat-hangers, bathroom products, at least for them to stay there the first night,’ she says.
Admitting she’s a ‘compulsive shopper’, she delights in sourcing everything from picture frames to wine glasses; even Scrabble and swimming goggles for the grandkids. That said, when Vicky’s husband joined her towards the end of the project with their children and cooked the first meal for the client in the new kitchen, he gave her a list of what was missing – including a grater.
Squashy upholstery (all produced in Portugal) offers plenty of corners to curl up in on cool evenings, while the outdoor terraces and poolside area are provided with equally comfortable seating to make the most of the views of the sea, the hills and the lush gardens.
‘The colour palettes are inspired by all the flowers and the painted houses in town,’ Vicky says of her approach to the decor. ‘It’s hard to articulate because it happens intuitively – the spaces just evolved.’
This is a designer who never wants to surprise her clients too much. She believes they should enter their finished home knowing roughly what to expect. However, while her client was keen to be involved in choosing tiles and fabrics, he was determined to keep away from the build in the final stages.
‘He wanted that experience of walking into the house with the candles lit, the music… he was overwhelmed,’ she recalls. In fact, Vicky’s client has just sold his Amsterdam home and is now spending a large part of the year in Deià – a testament to her work. ‘The sign of a successful second home is when you suddenly want to be there all the time!’ she says, laughing. charlesandco.com
