224 274
TRAVEL
224
January15
ensuite bedroom with private garden
terrace. Upstairs are two spacious suites
with king size four-poster beds, a lounge
area and walk-in closet.
The master bedroom suite was my
favourite. Opening up to a huge private
terrace complete with deck chairs and
a sitting area offering uninterrupted
180-degree ocean views, this was a truly
magical setting where you could watch
both sunrise and sunset.
Looking around the amazing property,
the thing that struck me most was the
attention to detail that had gone into
conceptualising a home away from
home for resort guests. Dolores de
Battista, the Maltese resident interior
architect, teamed with Original’s Geri
Murphy to design the interiors. Their
great sense of colour and style and their
overall vision for the project is reflected
everywhere you look.
Most of the furniture comes from
Originals, who opened a showroom in Sri
Lanka two years ago. A carefully curated
selection of their trademark Indian
recycled furniture and contemporary
teak pieces, combined with Vincent
Sheppard chairs and sofas in bold
colours, creates a clean sophisticated
ambience. Colours, furniture and artwork
work together beautifully. It made us
feel instantly at home to find ourselves
surrounded by some of the same
furniture designs that we have in our
Singapore house.
Marcy ensures that employees
are trained thoroughly. Each villa is
staffed with a “houseboy”, among them
Sandun, a charmingly dedicated young
gentleman who looked after us with great
and discreet care, predicting our every
need and making sure everything ran
smoothly for our stay. In fact, he has now
set the standard of perfect service for
me: completely attentive and completely
unobtrusive – almost impossible to
achieve, yet he made it look easy.
My children enjoy an exotic refreshment to beat
the tropical summer thirst
The amazing master
bedroom suite
Glorious
views from the
private terrace
of the master
bedroom
One of
the stylish
bathrooms
with colourful
accents