By Paul Miller
Interior Designer
Read Time: 5 Minutes
As much as we love home, it is a joy to explore the street life, galleries, restaurants, and architecture of another part of the world. Or even to simply lounge under an umbrella with the ocean only a few steps away. Beautiful resorts or boutique hotels give us more than a place to lay our heads between sightseeing. They offer up a host of design inspirations that would be hard to imagine otherwise.
Clients often say they want a design that reflects the stylish luxury of one of their favorite vacation spots. With this in mind, I’ve taken a virtual tour of some of the world’s most beautiful resorts to unpack what it is that makes these spaces so unforgettable. As is always the case with great design, the magic is in the details.
Source: Belmond Cadogan Hotel London
Bright, Airy Simplicity
For many years now, luxury resorts and boutique hotels have been trendsetters. Some of their more practical choices have even worked their way into everyday home design, such as washable white bed linens instead of more intricate custom treatments. What hospitality design is best at is making chic seem simple. That magic comes from creating airy spaces that offer theater without fuss. When we step into one of these charming but lighthearted oases, we can forget the unfinished tasks at home: the touchups we keep meaning to schedule or the rooms that have not yet come together.
Consider the entry of the Cadogan Hotel where reflective white mosaic floor tile ups the sunshine of the day, while offering a romantic glimmer in night lighting. Elegant traditional moldings are painted white, highlighting their intricacy and history while simultaneously and paradoxically giving the space a relaxed, modern elegance. It would be hard to achieve this look without the architectural details or the stylish materials, but consider the inverse: a modern space with a few thoughtfully placed antiques in the mix.
Traditional Architecture, Modern Styling
Engaged pilasters. Wainscoting. Layered crown moldings. Given that we are generally less and less formal as a society, it is not surprising that today most homes have the bare minimum of architectural details. Yet even a lover of modern style can layer their taste against a background that is rooted in traditional craftsmanship. The benefit of dramatic moldings and graceful architectural embellishments is that they make a room seem more solid and romantic. Practically speaking, engaged pilasters and wainscoting can enhance the scale of a large wall, such as in the lounge at JK Place Roma, or define important spatial transitions, like at the base of the stairs at the same resort.
Source: JK Place Roma
Source: JK Place Roma
Divide and Conquer
Driven by the problem of how to offer intimacy to multiple guests, resort and boutique hotel designers often use partitions, screens, plants, and furnishings to create smaller settings within larger spaces. This is great inspiration for clients with large, unwieldy spaces or open floor plans that prove to be just a bit too much that - open. The lounge at the Cadogan Hotel in London features a cozy rounded nook with table and banquette seating. The contoured tray ceiling and dynamic chandelier give the space added personality and a sense of place. A similar approach could be taken in a large room that seems under utilized and even a bit cold. More practically speaking, by creating these smaller nests within the larger nest, family members can gravitate to their own nook without being siloed by taking off to far corners of the house.
In the lounge at JK Place Rome, furnishings divide the larger space into a series of conversation groupings. The key to the success of this design is the pairing of lightweight, easily moved chairs with sofas that ground the area and provide a sense of permanence. The softly toned, uniform fabric mix allows a variety of pieces to share the space without seeming to clutter it. A dramatic, large format modern painting provides the essential focal point, or emphasis, to bring the room together. Note that the rug is sized to fit under all furnishings, another tactic that unifies the groupings.
Source: Belmond Cadogan Hotel
Source: JK Place Roma
Dynamic Ceiling Designs
No detail is left unattended in a perfect luxury setting, so naturally ceilings - what I call the fifth wall - are another source for inspiration. The exposed and beautifully finished woodwork of the ceiling at the Amanyara Resort provides a warm glow to offset the subtle white seating. Yet particularly in a home with more vibrant colors and patterns, this same ceiling design would be a unique and comforting choice. Note how the exaggerated engaged pilasters here are overtly modern, clean white columns, relieved at their uppermost height by a soft cant that opens the ceiling up for better viewing.
Similarly to the treatment at Amanyara Resort, the woven texture of the sun porch at Hoshinoya Resort offers the warmth and beauty that grasscloth wallpaper could add to even a traditional flat ceiling. While this approach may not provide the lofty height of a cathedral ceiling, it can push the ceiling away or draw it close depending on the color and the density of the texture. Either outcome might be desirable, depending on the space.
The linearity of the white beams in the bar at JK Place Rome drives the eye toward the art displayed near the opening and enhances the dynamic texture of the fluted wall treatment. This room doubles down on its lower ceiling to achieve a cozy, snug setting. The same approach would be ideal in an older home or in a basement with ductwork that lowers the ceiling height.
Source: Amanyara Resort
Source: Hoshinoya Resort
Source: JK Place Roma
Bringing It Home
Knowing just how to implement the ideas that inspire us on our vacations - be they virtual or real - comes from an understanding of the elements of design: balance, rhythm and repetition, emphasis, proportion and scale, and harmony. Deciding that an accent wall in a stunning lounge is what you want at home is just the beginning. Will it work in your home? On which wall does it make sense? Would the color need to be different? The truth is that rarely can any one design element be cut and pasted into another space without thoughtful consideration of proportion, style, and the appropriateness of the concept and materials for the home it is meant to enhance. When the time is right to start bringing home that illusive and magical resort style, consider contacting an interior designer to help develop the big picture concept and sort out all the details.
An early version of this post was published in 2021.
