Nandana Villa featured in Maco Caribbean Living Magazine
Nandana Rises on the far Western Shore of Old Bahama Bay. You see it the moment you enter the gates and every other building around it seems to fade into the distance. Nandana. It means paradise in Sanskrit and it is.
Vaulted copper roofs nestle into each other, send rivers of green down the limestone walls of the outdoor showers, and make Nandana look like it has been here forever. A towering pair of Balinese doors, intricately carved, opens to the main living area and, once inside, you meet the main character of the house, the teak. The honey-coloured teak-panelled walls rise up to meet exposed beams of the same wood and the eye is drawn across a 40-foot ceiling. Teak is central to Nandana. It is everywhere.
Purchased in India at Anuradha Timber, Nandana’s 200 massive teak logs were cause for celebration. Their entire shipment of teak was blessed before being packed into eight 40-foot containers and sent on its journey to the Bahamas. Each room in the home contains at least one piece of the blessed wood, and the feeling of that blessing within the walls of Nandana is almost tangible.
From the living area, the western view of the Atlantic Ocean is spectacular. Nandana is designed to keep the eye traveling along surfaces, through doorways and always, always, out towards that magnificent view. An infinity pool stretches the full length of the house and creates delineation between the house and the sea. The pool becomes an extension of the sun-drenched patio.
It is February in the Bahamas and the weather is perfect, sunny but crisp. The sounds of the waves mingle with the subtle music that is piped into all rooms, the melodies complementing each other. Through the kitchen and out to the pool deck, and again the view. sturdy yet delicate stepping stones through the pool take us to the master bedroom where glass floor-to-ceiling pocket doors disappear into the walls, taking the division between indoors and out with them.
The 10,000-square -foot home never appears too large. spaces are intimate and instantly familiar. The teak is everywhere, the smoothness and softness combined with fantastic touches of brilliant stones, tiles, and marble. The textures are perfectly balanced, teak gives way to stone and water and silk. large- scale artwork and artifacts collected from many trips add punches of colour and interest. The detail in the woodwork in unsurpassed. The Burmese logs that eventually made it all the way to the Bahamas were all milled on site and each piece fits precisely within the puzzle of all that teak. And yet, it never seems overwhelming.
The heart of Nandana is the pool deck, and you always end up there, the view pulls you towards it. The home’s four main bedrooms all focus your attention to the view. And each of these well-appointed rooms has been designed to deliver a casual but highly luxurious experience.
The main house at Nandana is peaceful. An Indian tent sits adjacent to the main house. Nearly 2,000 square feet of surprise from the moment you step through its flap door and into a room that makes you think you are on safari. Cream- coloured canvas creates a private oasis that is so unexpected. Complete with a luxurious bed, expansive overstuffed couches in possibly the world’s most comfortable sitting area, and views of the canal at Old Bahama Bay and the sound of wind in the coconut palms just outside. Each breath of chilly air makes the walls move ever so slightly and the gentle flap of canvas in the wind is rhythmic. The fully collapsible tent (and it has been dismantled for hurricanes in the past) has all of the modern conveniences you expect, including plumping and electricity, television, Internet and air-conditioning but these are all well balanced with safari-styled furnishings. It is a secret hideaway. I’m sure this is the room that everyone argues over. After a stay at Aman resorts in Rajasthan, India, they knew that a tent was the perfect fifth bedroom. The tent was an afterthought but such a good one.
Nandana blurs the line between indoors and out. Each room flows naturally to the outside and the outside laps just as naturally at the threshold of each room. The quiet is staggering: the sounds of wind, waves, materials, and leaves, and nothing else. Impressive carved teak desk in the business centre to the delicate Iranian rugs in hues of silver, blue and rose in the living and dining rooms and the Thai silk dining room chair cushions.
Scale is important in this house. Each space offers its own impact when you enter but they are also comfortable and inviting. The house welcomes you. It does not intimidate. Nandana also balances modern technology with Asian serenity. Intricate lighting and sound systems highlight the house but do not overpower it.
The peacefulness is poignant. Nandana is this kind of place where you forget what day of the week it is, and where you become so aware of your surroundings and the beauty that is this house. Time stands still, thank goodness.
Source: Maco Caribbean Living