An interiors mag-aholic’s dream, this lemon-yellow and cream finca blends countryside seclusion with effortless elegance. Muted beiges, creams and golds twist and turn around the house. The style is graceful, the furniture big and the atmosphere serenely tranquil. If this house were a massage, it would be a long, deep aromatherapy rub: relaxing all your senses and inducing an immediate sense of peace, it’s an absolute treat.
Ideal for families and friends alike, Can Talaya’s open-plan downstairs living and dining area is perfect for entertaining, relaxing, dining and reclining. Sumptuously comfortable yet flawlessly pristine, it’s a double-height space crammed with beautiful finds. Explosions of ornate, carved wooden furniture and beautiful objets d’art merge with rough, thick finca walls and polished cream stone floors.
This cream theme threads throughout the entire house – under the medieval-style chandelier and up the winding gallery stairs, past the oval windows and up into the rustic farmhouse-style gallery bedrooms… All it needs is a cream-coloured cat to slink around the house and complete the look. With cream window shutters, a cream stone fireplace and curved cream church-like doors, every inch of this house has been lovingly designed. Yet rather than creating a can’t-touch-anything environment or a too-cream-for-kids colour scheme, Can Talaya, with its flickering candles, wicker chairs and basket of logs by the square fireplace, feels homely, dramatic, snug and old.
The owner is French, and you can’t help but notice a certain Gallic style creeping in. The two bedrooms in the gallery level have pretty farmhouse bedspreads, while light floods through oval-shaped windows and flashes against copper objects on high shelves. The effect is one of stylish, cosy simplicity.
The master bedroom, with its adjacent twin room, is ideal for families. The bed is gigantic – though not as enormous as the bath in the middle of the opposite room – while billowing white curtains lead to a terrace and pool beyond. Next door, exposed beams and thick finca walls make the twin bunk room the ideal kids’ den.
Steps down to a large pool lead you to sun loungers, umbrellas and eye-squintingly turquoise views across the pine trees. Nearby, a dining area with outdoor kitchen, shaded terrace, and a chill-out space of white sofas and candles tempt you to bask, eat and relax here all day long. It’s here, down some steps by the pool, that you’ll discover the hidden guesthouse, which can accommodate a further two guests. Secluded, glamorously grown-up and perfectly private, this is destined to be a Mr & Mrs Smith favourite, which will be booked and rebooked, then rebooked again…
Reviewed by Charlotte Crisp
