Plantation House on Mustique

Interior designer Emma Burns renovated a client’s house that had originally been designed by the island’s leading architect, Arne Hasselqvist, of Sweden. This plantation house is on Mustique which is a small private island in the West Indies. Almost everything for the house was made in England, then brought in by sea. The owner wanted the house to be a completely relaxing place to be in, a total escape from London.

The formality of its front elevation, anchored by a central pediment, echoes Swedish classicism

In the expansive living room, furnishings such as the buffet, console table, mirror and stool have elaborate carvings and the Swedish style’s calming foggy-gray finish.

Also in the living room, below a pickled-wood ceiling, are custom-made oversize sofas and chairs, each with an off-white cotton slipcover. All the furniture is low so that you can look out. Nothing clutters the view of the ocean.


The living room’s veranda, an area made for entertaining amid the site’s cooling Atlantic breezes, has sconces by Hasselqvist and an ensemble of wicker sofas and chairs.


Beautiful table setting in blues.


The master suite’s carved and turned canopy bed, stool and bedside tables, all with a foggy-gray finish and placed atop a handmade off-white cotton rug, occupy one corner of a high-ceilinged space that interconnects with an anteroom, two dressing rooms and a bath.

From the anteroom, with its custom-made demilune table, lamp and carved mirror, another corner of the master bedroom—where the secretary is situated—can be seen.


The children’s bedroom. The peach fabric on the lampshade and on the beds is from Manuel Canovas.

A short walk downhill from the main house is a balustraded terrace, an ideal setting from which to take in the beauty of the lagoon below. Because storms are not uncommon, its furnishings are portable—wicker armchairs and a table with a wicker base and a glass top.


From the living room’s veranda, there are uninterrupted views of the property’s infinity-edge swimming pool—sited and designed to blend into the seascape—and its unfilled-coral-stone terrace. As throughout, the plantings are by landscape architect Guy Walker.

Hope you enjoyed this tour. Come back tomorrow!

Photography by Luke White.

All images from Architectural Digest.

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