Dream House | Beachfront Whitehouse apartment transports you to another world

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” — Jacques Cousteau, a famous French undersea explorer and researcher, 1910 – 1997

Truer words have never been spoken. Water is the most magical and mysterious of elements, and scientists, psychologists and neurologists have long documented its healing powers as it relates to our spiritual, psychological and physical well-being.

Water is indeed life. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and astrobiologists have as their guiding principle “follow the water” as they seek alien life beyond earth.

Our own research for the ideal life transports us to a body of water in a sheltered bay, where we find this habitat, seemingly in another world. Its location: Whitehouse, Southcoast Highway, Westmoreland.

Here on this cove resides lifestyle professional and entrepreneur, Emma Watson and her twin boys, Preston and Liam. It is also home to her mother, Realtor Maura Watson. Both women live in separate apartments in this modern-style, 12,000 square foot fourplex (four-unit) building. Its simplicity of design has as its specific attributes: columns and beams converging and generating an imposing frontage. It has clean, sharp lines and a rectangular form naked of any decorative elements. An open floor plan and sky-lit ceilings admit the heavens above. Lots of sliding glass openings summon the sun and water scenery – where outside and inside are at one with each other. A flat roof allows the building not to detract from its communion with nature. Paint colours on walls are of pure white, with grey emphasising a chosen few.

Other features include floors in large-size grey porcelain tiles and windows dressed by curtains and blinds.

The two restful bedrooms with en suite bathrooms share 3,000 square feet of space, with the living and dining room leading to balconies or verandahs below. The kitchen cabinets are of grey-coloured cedar wood in the good company of granite countertops. This represents the typical unit.

The apartments are furnished in local cedar and mahoe wood movables, with driftwood accent pieces.

Make a splash and rinse away your troubles and anxieties in the water at your doorstep — an unheard of private, 200-foot, serene white sand beach, neighbouring mangroves with white and blue egrets and pelican birds.

The beach lot is half of an acre in size. The structure was completed in 2019 on an extremely tight budget, which is why it took four years to complete. Job well done!

Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder. Email feedback to barry-rattray@hotmail.com and lifestyle@gleanerjm.com.