What if you had designed and built your ideal home, but then a buyer came along and made an offer you couldn’t refuse?  For one couple in South Sound, the answer was simple: build the same home again, just a quarter of a mile down the road.

Determined to remain in the neighbourhood they loved, the owners secured the only available waterfront parcel, boasting a magnificent stretch of pristine beach. With a nip here, a tuck there, and a flip of the layout, they adapted the designs for their original home to the new lot’s dimensions.

A replica, refined

The semi-open floor plan mirrors their previous home, but slightly smaller, with the same extra-wide doorways between the living room, dining room and office, that achieve the delicate balance between connection and separation that was critical for the owners.

With their children now grown, they opted for fewer but more spacious bedrooms upstairs. And throughout the home, wall-to-wall glass ensures the seascape remains the undisputed star of the show.

“We wanted the whole house to feel light and bright, contemporary yet comfortable, with nothing detracting from the views,” the owners explain. This philosophy manifests in every design choice – from the low-profile sofas and the delicate lines of the Cherner chairs to the fine mesh Moooi pendant lights above the kitchen island – everything allows one to see through to the outdoors. Perhaps the most striking example is in the foyer, where a sculptural piece of driftwood, mounted between two bookcases, offers tantalising glimpses of sky and sea through its twisted branches.

Art before all

After 25 years of collecting art – everything from Old Masters to Andy Warhol silkscreens and digital art by dready – the owners designed their space around these treasured pieces.

“We knew what we wanted to display and where,” they say. “We installed spotlights in strategic locations and even created niches to showcase some larger pieces.” Characterised by clean lines, airy spaces, and neutral palettes, the result feels like a private art gallery, where each piece has been meticulously placed.

By taking their existing furniture with them, they not only sidestepped the costs and complexities of shipping in new homewares but were able to map out each item’s dimensions on the new floors to ensure perfect flow throughout the space.

Ten years wiser

The decade between building their first Cayman home and creating their new residence gave the couple ample time to refine their vision. Although the double height living room in their first home had brought visual drama, the swathes of glass also created significant heat. For this iteration, the owners not only eliminated the two-storey space but also had a sun study conducted to ensure direct sunlight would not would not shine into the interior.

Other refinements abound: the Jack and Jill bathrooms that had worked when their children were young were no longer needed, so each bedroom now has its own luxurious en-suite. High-maintenance marble floors indoors were changed out for durable porcelain tile. Outside, to avoid the issues with pitting and mildew they had encountered with coral stone, they chose a limestone tile, and locally crafted silver thatch roofs – rather than the inexpensive but short-lived elephant grass – now crown the cabanas.

The Jewel Box Effect

“We both had the idea that we wanted the house to be like a jewel box, with a few dazzling details,” the owners reveal. Nowhere is this more evident than in the kitchen, where luxurious grey and white marble-look porcelain wraps the island, countertops and walls. Installed in five by ten foot slabs, carefully arranged so that the veining is continuous, the effect is both seamless and striking.

The same dramatic porcelain creates an architectural illusion in the master bathroom. Inspired by a magazine concept, the ‘invisible’ bathroom features walls and closet doors clad in matching porcelain, creating the appearance of an uninterrupted marble expanse. Sleek, somewhat masculine vanities sit opposite one another rather than side-by-side, perfectly balanced by the soft curves of a central soaker tub.

Guest bathrooms have their own distinctive flair: beautiful mother of pearl and thassos tile lends a subtle, luxurious shimmer to the walk-in showers, which blend with the warm neutrals of the bedrooms.

Designed for Living

The pool, too, sparkles, with iridescent mosaic tiles from top to bottom in varying shades of blue. But this pool boasts more than looks.

“Our previous pool had traditional shallow and deep ends, perfect for kids jumping around,” the owners explain. “This pool was designed around our current lifestyle and our friends.” With shallow steps running the length of each side of the pool, and only four and a half feet deep, it’s a pool for socialising: for sitting and sipping, rather than diving and splashing.

Below the pool deck, soft sand extends to the shoreline, dotted with perfect vignettes of island living: a dining table for starlit dinners, a timber daybed for lazy afternoon naps, clusters of chairs nestled in the shade of a palm tree. With undeveloped lots on either side, this private oasis is embraced by lush greenery, white sand and the brilliant blue sea.

While this wasn’t the couple’s first design-build project, it marked their first without a professional designer. It was a true joint project between husband and wife, and as a result has a lot more of them in it. More importantly perhaps, it was a rare chance to create their dream home again, informed by experience and adapted to their current lifestyle.