Garden Villa - Saudi Arabia
A newly built garden villa designed from the ground up, from first concept to technical drawings.
Warm walnut, brushed brass and sun-baked earth tones combine in a home that is
grand in scale yet calm, tactile and deeply hospitable.
The Details
Who: A family building their new home
What: Full interior design of a newly built three-storey villa with an internal courtyard, private pool and roof garden
Where: Saudi Arabia
Designer: Claudia
Scope: Look & Feel concept, room-by-room design across three phases and a full technical drawing pack
The Brief
The villa arrived with us as a set of newly built architectural shells: three storeys arranged around an internal courtyard, with a private pool, a roof garden terrace and staff quarters. The client wanted a home that felt grand and generous for entertaining, yet calm and private for everyday family life. Every room was to be designed, from the formal majlis and dining room to the master and guest suites, the children’s rooms, a home office and seven bathrooms, with a cohesive language running through the whole house. The interiors needed to feel rooted in the region and its light, while remaining contemporary, tactile and easy to live in.
The Concept
Claudia began with a language rather than a shopping list. Her Look & Feel presentation set out four words to govern every decision that followed: serene, soulful, cultivated and, above all, elegant and grounded. From that came a material palette that balances raw texture with quiet sheen. Warm walnut and figured timber sit against limestone, travertine and mineral-effect plaster; brushed brass and antique bronze catch the light against velvet in olive, oxblood and deep navy; hand-glazed terracotta tile and patterned stone meet raw linen and sheer silk. It is a palette that gives the whole villa a sun-warmed, tactile character and responds beautifully to the strong natural light of the region.
How we achieved it
Our interior designer, Claudia, carried that language through more than a dozen very different rooms with real discipline. The entrance and courtyard are calm and architectural, with slatted timber screens, a marble inlay floor and sculptural olive trees. The ground-floor majlis is the richest room of the scheme: a walnut-panelled wall, a navy velvet sofa flanked by olive armchairs, a patterned rug in ochre and rust, and layered lighting in sculpted glass and brass. The dining room takes a softer path with an arched tapestry wall, a travertine and timber table and a cascading brass chandelier, while the guest bathroom pairs a deep sage mineral wall with twin oval basins on a bespoke black console beneath a decorative coffered ceiling. Upstairs, the master suite is anchored by a walnut headboard wall and a dressing room in dark-stained joinery, the guest and children’s rooms each have their own character, and the seven bathrooms share a family of fluted vanities, honed stone, arched mirrors and aged-bronze brassware without ever repeating themselves. The roof garden terrace extends the palette outdoors with rattan dining, a low fire pit and deep cushioned seating in olive and rust.
The design process
The project was delivered in phases, beginning with a Look & Feel presentation that established the concept, the colour and material palette and the mood for the whole villa. Phase 02 developed the ground floor room by room, with a moodboard, layout and full furniture, lighting and finishes specification for each space, and Phases 03 and 04 completed the upper floors, bathrooms, home office and roof terrace in the same way. The scheme was then drawn up as a full technical pack, with A1 layout and lighting plans for every floor locating each piece of furniture, joinery and light fitting, ready for procurement and installation on site. The entire process was run remotely from our London studio.
Garden Villa in Saudi Arabia shows what a complete interior design service looks like when a studio is trusted with a whole house from the very beginning. Rather than furnishing finished rooms, Studio Akiva designed every space of this newly built three-storey family villa from bare shells, giving the home a single, coherent identity from the entrance courtyard to the roof garden. It is a strong example of luxury villa interior design delivered remotely for an international client.
Working closely with the client, our designer Claudia developed a spatial strategy for each floor before a single finish was chosen. The ground floor is arranged for hospitality, with the majlis, dining room and family sitting room opening onto the internal courtyard and pool, while the upper floors are given over to the master and guest suites, the children’s rooms, a home office and a roof garden. Bespoke joinery, integrated storage and carefully placed lighting were planned into every room, so the villa works as well for daily family life as it does for entertaining.
The design language is rooted in the region without ever resorting to pastiche. Walnut panelling, travertine and limestone, brushed brass and aged bronze are layered with velvet in olive, oxblood and navy, patterned rugs, hand-glazed terracotta tile and sheer linen, so that every room feels warm, tactile and quietly luxurious. Arched forms, coffered ceilings, woven screens and decorative tilework nod to local tradition, while clean lines, integrated lighting and contemporary furniture keep the whole villa feeling fresh and current.
Garden Villa stands as one of the most complete projects in the Studio Akiva portfolio: a whole house designed as a single idea, resolved from concept boards down to A1 technical drawings, and delivered remotely from London to Saudi Arabia. It is a testament to Claudia’s rigour and eye, and to what our online interior design service can achieve for international clients building a new home from scratch.