Tropical Reinvention - story of a Sri Lankan villa
August 3, 2020
Designer Judith Stewart describes the transition from a Georgian Edinburgh New Town property to Sri Lankan village Wallauwa.
Moving to Sri Lanka on a whim just after the Tsunami in 2004 Jude has undertaken ‘build-from-scratch’ projects as well as aesthetic renovation contracts. She tells the story of her most recent undertaking, Villa Florie, close to Galle on the Southern Coast.
“I came on holiday with a friend fourteen years ago and being impulsive thought it would be fun to build a house here!
My background is textiles and interior design but with lack of fabrics it was all rather a challenge to pull a design together. One is quite naive as to how things work here.
In those days, twelve years ago, colonial style houses were what was being built, lots of dark wood which I found rather depressing but I took a more minimalist take on the interior with the odd antique pieces shipped from Edinburgh. Unfortunately my veneered pieces and my iron beds made by a sculptor in the Scottish Borders did not fair too well in this humid climate.
However it was an impressive house overlooking buffalo wallowing around in the wild paddy. Far too big for me, I sold and moved into Galle Fort until I could find my third house.
I knew the owner of Villa Florie who was downsizing. It had a magical atmosphere, large garden with lots of wild life and an interesting house to renovate and a convenient location.
I didn’t need to make any major structural alterations and have kept the footprint of the building but made considerable alterations, new bathrooms, a free standing kitchen, created a laundry room and a prep kitchen, a dry room and opened up the house by adding windows for airflow and uninterrupted views.
A useful addition is the dining Ambalama, previously a small shrine room in the middle of the garden. By knocking out a wall and creating windows it is a now a useful and relaxing space overlooking the pond for entertaining. I also put in a pool and added a small Ambalama, just another area for hanging out an enjoying all the wildlife.
I renovated a building to the rear of the house used by the previous owner for staff kitchen and dining area to make a fourth bedroom with bathroom, leading out directly to the garden and pool. A central open verandah separates it from the staff/store room.
In fact after eight years in the house I do forget exactly what I have done in the house. I still find it a challenge to find interesting fabrics in Sri Lanka other than handloom but there is a source of good quality hand printed Indian fabrics now available. I do still tend to bring some textiles from UK and Mexico where I have family.
I have lived in this house for eight years, longer than anywhere else world wide. It is light, airy and has an easy flow. The garden is open and flat, unique here, full of wildlife and of course suitable for crazy croquet.