Simple Rustic Home
Serene and peaceful with plenty of nature and natural elements. This is the picture perfect Formentera based home of Consuelo Castiglioni, creator of luxury fashion house Marni. It is an evocative build, parts of the house are almost biblical in feel and I don’t know about you, but it is in these kind of hushed, simple, low-tech environments that one feels able to ‘catch up’ with one’s true self again and throw out all the built up walls and pretense.
I can almost hear the impatient morning call from the neighbouring farms cock crowing through my speaker and smell the warm, freshly baked bread with a dipper of olive oil waiting to be laid out on the table above. That beautiful table setting seems like it would almost blanch if you were to place a processed burger in it’s vicinity!
Above is a rather magnificent wooden day bed from which to look out on to the beautiful views, swap the car fumes for the beguiling scent of fresh greenery and flowers while dosing off to the sound of a short intermission rainfall, before the main act returns refreshed and dazzling…the warm summer sun!
A mixed purpose area which serves as a thoroughfare but also with scatter cushions on the floor and chairs for just chilling.
The vibe is artisanal. Here accessories and fittings are handmade and heartfelt. The bedding from the local weekly open-air market or perhaps some handmade cushions from one of the nicest neighbours… Exposed beams and rough sawn doors add to the unfussy, authentic feel.
A stone bath with shamelessly unpampered walls. No paint, no wallpaper! And no sleek modern storage. No bottles of perfumed chemicals masquerading as luxury tonics to the natural human state, just a sponge on the side with a bar of handmade soap! Haha! Can you handle it?!!
However, I rather like the juxtaposition of the shiny modern stainless steel kitchen island with the rough rustic edges. Very ‘un-Jesus’, but simple, polished and stylish nonetheless. The twin mats add just the right amount of decorative diversion needed.
Uh! Too beautiful for words…A light fresh breeze, the warm sun, a chilled drink, the right few people, beloved pets nonchalantly wandering around pecking or snuffling at discarded biscuit and breadcrumbs, a few jokes, an uncommitted discussion on something or other…another unplanned nap…then supper!
refs:
Exquisite photography by Francois Halard
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This is a beautiful place. I doubt I could live here, but I certainly enjoyed the pictorial visit and your writing. You are right about the biblical feel of that dining area. I also love those stairs. In the picture, they look like little tubs on their side:~) Cool!!!
The only thing I struggle with is where this house is located. You don’t mention this, but all I could think was how many outdoor living spaces there were. Where I live, this would be a problem due to mildew. When we have our rainy times, nothing stays dry even if it’s under a roof.
If I put the mildew issue out of my mind, I must admit you’ve win the happy “sigh” of the day award with your last paragraph. It’s sound so peaceful. I want to go take a nap:~) Thanks, pea!
p.s. I know you’ve had a long time, but I just noticed that “OPEN” sign flashes. That’s so cool. I love it.
Sara recently posted..Red Writing Hood: Mystery Man
Sara, “This is the picture perfect Formentera based home of Consuelo Castiglioni” (which I believe is in Spain). But I know what you mean – I’m guessing they probably get a lot of sunshine year round there as it is the Med and you dont get that horrible damp feel when things never quite dry good enough.
Hurrah! I’ve got a happy ‘sigh’ award!
Pea recently posted..Simple Rustic Home
I agree with you that not everyone can live in a house like that. But we can take a few mainstream ideas to easily apply in our normal lives. For example, I exchanged the commercial brands of soap & shampoo by handmade natural products from a local shop in Cairo called Nefertari (named after the royal wife of the pharaoh Ramesses the Great). I can tell you that natural handmade products are super amazing and give you a nice feeling that’s free of chemicals
Thank you or your contribution Mohamed and you are right. There are quite a few things that we could reconsider looking at the from a natural and handmade perspective that would make our lives that much sweeter!
Oh I would love to live here. It looks so peaceful and quiet. your descriptions are lovely and really take me there. Oh if only!
Yes please. I could have this as a summer home.
Pea recently posted..Simple Rustic Home
Hi Pea,
This is truly a simple rustic home. I can appreciate why the table will blanch if a processed burger were nearby or on it. Indeed all the pictures you have shared with us makes this home seem biblical. I like the bed and the bath best. The bath shouldn’t be a problem since I had to serve in the army before and made do with even less than this haha!
All in all, this is the kind of place to take a short holiday to get away from everything. But it is certainly not the kind of abode that I have in mind.
Thank you for sharing this lovely article!
Irving the Vizier
The Vizier recently posted..Guidelines to the Sharing of Knowledge
Thank you Irving and you are welcome.
Pea recently posted..Simple Rustic Home
I think it’s a gorgeous place. I don’t know if Ill have it for my holiday home or all year round yet.
Hi Pea — What an amazing place. It strikes me how the design seems all about form and texture, with not a lot of bright colors. Maybe that’s just the way it was photographed.
Jeffrey Willius recently posted..SLOW FOOD – And That’s An Order!
Hi Jeffrey how lovely that you visited. I was only just thinking of you today coincidentally. It ‘s good that you get around, it reminds people to come and read your amazing writing.
Pea,
These images are all so very beautiful. You paint a very serene picture through your words and images. I especially love the third image with the opened doors bringing the outdoors inside. A passage from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Gift from the Sea” comes to mind and I thought I would share. In it, she describes quite beautifully the power of a minimalistic space in connection with nature, at a home she lived in by the sea:
“[I]t is beautiful, my house. It is bare….but the wind, the sun, the smell of the pines blow through its bareness. The unfinished beams in the roof are veiled by cobwebs. They are lovely…As for the walls…I dragged home from the beach grey arms of driftwood,…trailing green vines with flopply red tipped leaves…whitened skeletons of conch shells…With these tacked to walls and propped up in corners, I am satisfied…I have a window, a view, a point of flight from my sedentary base.”
I hope you like it. That’s another great read:)
Sophia
Sophia recently posted..The Everyday in Venice. Diary entry: Venice, Nov. 8th
Ha ha! One of the pleasures I get has to be triggering your back log of superb poetry and prose and getting you to share it here! With the quality of my regular visitors I feel very wealthy right now.
I loved it and shall find time to check her out. Thank you.