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Dream House | Simply dazzling!

Published:Sunday | July 21, 2019 | 12:00 AMBarry Rattray/Contributor
A stunning, modernistic home.
Take a dip in the saltwater infinity swimming pool.
Master kitchen with wet bar
The magnificent, double-storey living room with wraparound indoor balcony.
One of five lovely bedrooms.
How about enjoying this outdoor shower and be at one with nature?
Another huge bedroom.
A modernistic design on the shoreline
For all the comfort and relaxation.
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The shoreline illuminates with the beacon of modernistic design, leaving onlookers transfixed with its clean, simplified, geometric shapes of concrete and large swathes of glazing (glass), accentuated by the mesmerising vastness of its turquoise water environs.

This stunning dream house is jointly owned by Yvonne Anderson, a home engineer, and her brother, Alva Anderson, former chairman of the National Housing Trust and current president of the Kingston Cricket Club.

The interior spaces open up to each other, conveying a feeling of utter spaciousness throughout. The entrance (with water fountain) allows entry to the centrepiece of the structure, an atrium, if you will – the living room– with its magnificent, double-height ceiling and towering walls of glass. A wraparound indoor balcony overlooks said living room below. Look up, and be totally blown away by the amount and size of the distinctive glass skylights in the ceiling, welcoming natural light within. A spellbinding waterfall cascades down a pebbled wall into a glass-faced fish tank in full view.

We now must (I insist!) take a seat and a deep breath. It’s just too much! Because what we are seeing is not only the dazzling inside, but also, literally, all of the seafront at the very same time.

Downstairs also contains a powder room, a TV room and dining area, opening to patios, and a kitchen. Did I say ‘a kitchen?’ – make that two of them. A secondary working one and a master (with built-in bar, including wine cooler).

There are five huge bedrooms (with their sitting areas) between both floors, with equally luxurious ensuite bathrooms; some enjoying balconies (back and front) upstairs, and patios downstairs. Surprisingly, the upstairs front balconies have concealed outdoor showers. There is also a main balcony upstairs, above the main entertainment patio, off the living room. A sitting room also affords socialising on the upper level.

Interior colour scheme has lots of fun with shades of yellow, green, peach, etc. Finishes, fixtures and fitting are of the highest quality available anywhere. On the outside, in the shadows of the sea, take a dip in the saltwater infinity swimming pool. Have your favourite drink at that building housing a bar in the garden, and relax and de-stress under the thatch-roofed gazebo at water’s edge. You can also enjoy succulent treats at the adjacent barbecue pit.

A concrete walkway transports you over water-spraying, rocky areas by the sea, to diving platforms for the fearless. Palm trees define the landscaping on the one-third acre property on the south coast in Whitehouse, Westmoreland. The home was built in 2017 in an exclusive, gated community which most Jamaicans do not know exists, except that the area is normally covered in bush.

It is a house that serves as a navigational aid, guiding us to an architectural awareness and experience that we are only too happy to follow.

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