With Dubai’s reputation as a multicultural city, it comes as no surprise to open the door on this Italian-owned and designed Victory Heights villa to find a genteel nod to English country living.
Homeowner Cristina, who lives here with her husband and three sons, explains: “We wanted the interiors to be warm but also to draw on influences from English country houses, which is a style I love and also complements the golf course view.”
The six-month top-to-toe renovation was executed by fellow Italians Cinzia and Marco Tedeschi from award-winning boutique firm Smart Renovation, and has transformed the villa into a cohesive, light-filled family home with its own distinctive personality. While the footprint is largely the same, the introduction of a ground floor extension connected to the main living area by a statement ‘jumbo window’ has completely changed the way that light accesses the space. To ensure a seamless flow throughout the open-concept ground floor, as well as add the desired element of warmth, premium laminated wooden flooring from Germany was used throughout (bar the bathrooms). At the same time, another primary goal was to install a sliding door between the kitchen and formal dining area. “This is the perfect solution for when Cristina is hosting a dinner party and doesn’t want the kitchen in view of her guests; but it has also been designed to be an attractive feature to enhance the elegance of the dining space,” notes Cinzia.
In terms of colour palette, grey, burgundy, green shades and detailing anchor the downstairs interiors with the addition of blue hues upstairs. Says Cinzia: “The inspiration actually started from the powder room, which features stunning Gucci floral wallpaper in burgundy that contrasts beautifully with the white moulded panelling around the vanity. “From there we chose to continue with burgundy for the kitchen, but also paired with matt grey across the cabinetry for a more contemporary edge.” An entire wall of storage inset into the wall is an added bonus, with a foldout cabinet that opens to reveal an air fryer, an inventive – and practical – solution. This continuity spills over into the adjacent dining area, with grey giving way to greens, seen in both the wallpaper and seating upholstery, with burgundy accents cleverly added through piping as a subtle detail on both the dining chairs and ceiling pendant.
Cinzia elaborates: “Even the bespoke marble table has hints of rose, which softens the overall visual. The standout feature, however, has to be the spectacular wallpaper mural. This was hand-selected by the client, who chose to feature wallpaper throughout the home to add personality as well as texture.” Sourced from Dubai-based Archiade Atelier, the Misha wallpaper design holds special resonance for homeowner Cristina: “It is a visual recreation of the historic Silk Road, starting from Venice and featuring Istanbul, Jakarta and hints of Arabia. It has great depth of field and the finer details such as the mosque, hot air balloon and camel come together to make a truly wow statement.”
“An entire wall of storage inset into the wall is an added bonus, with a foldout cabinet that opens to reveal an air fryer”
The burgundy thread is also prominent in the sitting room area, where grey is reintroduced in the sofa, and the familiar contrast piping neatly tying everything together. Overlooking the garden, the idea to recess the curved floor-to-ceiling picture windows to better frame the exterior view connects the green of the lawn and golf course with the overarching colour scheme.
Exterior landscaping has been afforded equal consideration and uses clean lines and contemporary design to ensure the surrounding view is the focal point. A modern pergola sits adjacent to the pool with an outdoor kitchen area clad in textural tiles that add character but tick the box when it comes to durability and being easy-to-maintain – an important consideration. “Of course, being Italian, we had to include two olive trees to dress the patio doors,” adds a smiling Cinzia. Back inside, she points out the English-style moulded skirting boards that add movement to an otherwise flat surface, and which she laughingly refers to as “the belt to hold the dress.”
It doesn’t get more quintessentially English than in the entrance hall, where modern grandeur in the form of a half-panelled staircase is reminiscent of traditional manor house décor but is firmly in the 21st century thanks to the burgundy palette. Cristina’s heirloom furniture adds personality and another layer of warmth with the eye-catching pendant chandelier by LampShades Dubai adding the requisite cohesive note. Upstairs, the open landing has been transformed into an intimate family den, with Cinzia highlighting the window treatment. “To add an English accent, we framed the curtains with a fabric-covered pelmet, which hides the unsightly curtain rails.” Golf fairway green and deep teal were the chosen colour themes, respectively, for the two boys’ bedrooms, which gives each space its own personality while espousing the home’s overarching colour palette – and featuring more of Cristina’s signature piping detail. “When choosing the colour pairings, we played with warm blends of red, green and beige stone versus cool colours as seen in the grey tiling and blue tones,” remarks Cinzia.
Bathrooms are also similarly differentiated, this time with the use of textural stone tiling that evokes images of waves or sand dunes and used as a vanity backsplash as well as for the walk-in showers. Says Cinzia: “An important element in the bathroom design was the addition of a substantial niche, that is both a practical element as well as a design statement. We chose marble as a contrast to the ‘rustic’ tiling to elevate the luxury feel. We also incorporated LED lighting for the vanity mirror and niche to enhance the textural detailing.”
“The exterior view connects the green of the lawn and golf course with the overarching colour scheme”
Even the nursery follows suit with whimsical animal wallpaper and accents of grey, green and red, plus a reupholstered daybed from a local big box store, that mirrors the rest of the soft furnishings. It’s the master suite, however, that steals the show. The exquisitely elevated bathroom showcases a deep free-standing bath above which an extended backlit niche is juxtaposed against striking matte gold fixtures. Sourced in Dubai, the marble used for the vanity came from a single slab with the backsplash tiles glimmering with hints of Tiffany-esque blue. In contrast to the rugged textural tiles used in the other bathrooms, here Cinzia went with a semi-polished finish to bring home a sense of holistic elegance. “In all the bathrooms we also made sure that the tiles were edged to the highest standards to ensure a perfect profile,” she adds.
The adjoining burgundy- and grey-styled bedroom has a secret all of its own, as Cristina explains: “We decided to close in the original balcony, which served no real purpose, and create a walk-in closet. People are so surprised to open what looks like a regular closet door to find an entire room. It was a genius idea and is such a luxury add-on.” While Cristina finds it impossible to pick one favourite space in her newly renovated home, for Cinzia it is the powder room. “It may be a ‘chocolate box’ of a room but it has such a strong aesthetic impact. It was also where the concept and creativity flowed from and our starting point for this project.”
The last word goes to Cristina. “This really is our dream home, and everything turned out exactly the way we envisioned.”
Want to know more? Reach out to Marco and Cinzia at info@smartrenovation.ae