Resthouses are an old tradition in Ceylon. The roads are so dangerous that there is one every fifteen miles. You can drive in to relax, have a drink or lunch or get a room for the night. – Ondaatje

Ondaatje is wonderful at creating rich scenes with few sentences. For me, the passage about the resthouses his father visited evoked images of rattan chairs, beautiful fabrics, broad dark green plants all around, and mixed indoor/outdoor spaces.

Here is the design board I put together for my Ceylon resthouse!

The living room used to belong to David Bowie while the bedroom on the bottom row is from one of Calvin Klein’s houses. Find the outdoor shower along with others here, one bedroom along with more tropical ideas here, the table settings are here. The foyer is part of a pretty cool house in Mexico, and the space with the reflection pool is from a Moroccan house. I think they were pretty fun links to browse through, and I hope you will think so too 🙂