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Yes—an inland house can feel unmistakably Mediterranean without seashells, striped upholstery, or nautical signs. A weekend house in San Lorenzo del Escorial, at the foot of Mount Abantos outside Madrid, achieves that effect through a disciplined combination of white-painted stone, saturated blue, warm wood, and carefully exposed structure. Estudio Reciente retained the old exterior shell, then reorganized the interior around a double-height social room, a mezzanine studio, and a compact family wing. The result is a mountain retreat that borrows the relaxed color and light of 1950s summer houses in Cadaqués while remaining rooted in central Spain.
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The project at a glance
| Element | What the Architectural Digest home tour reports |
|---|---|
| Location | San Lorenzo del Escorial, at the foot of Mount Abantos, outside Madrid |
| Use | Weekend home for a young couple and their two children, with room for friends and regular artistic presentations |
| Size and form | One-story house of 1,292 square feet |
| Inspiration | 1950s summer houses in Cadaqués on Spain’s Costa Brava |
| Existing fabric retained | Exterior structure, solid stone walls and roof; the walls are reported as 31 inches thick |
| Interior arrangement | Double-height living-dining-kitchen space with a mezzanine studio, plus three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small open area |
| Signature colors and materials | Blue, white-painted stone, warm wood, maroon-lacquered steel, and colorful bathroom tile |
The project is described in an Architectural Digest home tour written by Gala Mora and photographed by Asier Rua. The page says the story was first published by AD Spain, but it does not give an exact publication date.
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Why a mountain setting can carry a coastal mood
The owners did not ask for a literal beach house. They wanted a welcoming weekend home that could accommodate family life, friends and recurring artistic presentations. Carlos Tomás, head of Estudio Reciente, describes the intention this way: “The goal was to create a warm and welcoming home where, in addition to recreating a subtle idea of what we understand as ‘Mediterranean,’ color would be the other protagonist.”
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That distinction matters. The design borrows the atmosphere associated with the Costa Brava—bright surfaces, clear blue, informal indoor-outdoor ease—without copying seaside imagery. Cadaqués is used as a cultural and architectural reference, specifically its 1950s summer houses, rather than as a theme to be decorated into the rooms. Color, daylight and tactile materials do the work that anchors or maritime accessories would otherwise do.
Tomás also explains the social brief: “The owners wanted a place both to host friends and also to host artistic presentations on a regular basis.” He adds, “And color would provide the common thread.” In a small house, that common thread is more effective than assigning a different decorative concept to every room. Blue links the kitchen, stair, shutters and exterior handrail; white gives the heavy masonry a brighter reading; maroon and timber keep the palette from becoming cold.
Keeping the historic shell while remaking the inside
Special regulations connected with the home’s proximity to El Escorial influenced the decision to preserve the exterior structure. Practical judgment supported it too: the solid stone walls and roof were in good condition. The reported wall thickness—31 inches—gives the envelope substantial visual and physical presence. Rather than erase that character, the renovation makes it a backdrop for a much more contemporary interior.
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| Retained or repaired | Reimagined |
|---|---|
| Exterior volume and roof | Interior circulation and room relationships |
| Solid stone walls | Floors, structural expression and finishes |
| Mountain-house presence | Open social room and mezzanine studio |
| Regulated outer appearance | Color-led interior identity |
This approach is useful beyond this particular address. When an old house has a sound shell but compromised interiors, preserving the masonry can provide continuity while a new plan solves modern requirements. The project does not pretend that every old element is worth saving; it keeps what is structurally and historically valuable, then replaces what no longer serves the occupants.
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A plan organized around one generous room
The new layout divides the main volume into two clear halves. One side is a double-height living-dining-kitchen area. A mezzanine studio sits above part of this space and is reached by a sculptural spiral staircase. The other half contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small open area that connects to the mezzanine and receives natural light.
This arrangement gives the family a strong shared center without sacrificing privacy. The tall room can absorb everyday cooking, meals, conversation and presentations; the bedroom side provides a quieter retreat. The mezzanine adds a separate work or creative zone without requiring another enclosed room at ground level. Because the open area communicates with the mezzanine, light and movement can travel between the two levels even though the home remains compact.
Tomás summarizes the spatial idea in the project description: “The double-height space includes the living-dining-kitchen area, and a studio on the mezzanine that is accessed via the sculptural spiral staircase.” The staircase is therefore more than circulation. It is a visual hinge between the social room and the creative workspace, and one of the places where the project’s color strategy becomes architectural.
Turning structure into a maroon interior landmark
The original wooden structure had complex joints. Instead of hiding that language behind a smooth ceiling, the team reproduced it in steel. Tomás says, “The original wooden structure, with its complex joints, was meticulously reproduced in steel.” Lacquering the structural elements an intense maroon makes the framework legible from across the room.
Three columns and their capitals help organize the double-height space. Their color gives the eye a vertical rhythm and prevents the large room from reading as an undifferentiated white box. The maroon also supplies a warmer counterpoint to the cooler blue used elsewhere. This is a useful painting lesson: a dark accent does not have to be reserved for a small feature wall. Applied to a real structural line, it can clarify proportion and make an existing or reconstructed frame feel intentional.
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The choice is especially effective because the steel is not pretending to be timber. The reproduced joints acknowledge the old construction while the material and lacquer announce the new intervention. Historic reference and contemporary finish remain visible at the same time.
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Blue is the project’s connecting thread
Blue appears in the kitchen, on the spiral staircase, on the exterior shutters and on the outside stair handrail. The kitchen and staircase share a blue selected to evoke the Mediterranean. Repeating one family of blue across interior and exterior helps the house feel continuous rather than split into an indoor scheme and an unrelated garden elevation.
| Where blue appears | Design role |
|---|---|
| Kitchen | Sets the main working room as a visual anchor |
| Spiral staircase | Turns circulation into a sculptural focal point |
| Exterior shutters | Extends the palette onto the preserved shell |
| Exterior handrail | Repeats the accent at a smaller, touchable scale |
| One child’s room | Introduces a lighter blue as a softer family variation |
The exact paint brand, shade code and sheen are not identified in the home tour. Blue should therefore be understood as a palette strategy, not a specification that can be copied from a named product. On a repainting project, sample several related blues in both daylight and artificial light; the right choice will depend on the room’s orientation, surrounding stone and the amount of warm wood.
How the supporting colors keep blue from feeling chilly
White-painted stone supplies brightness while preserving the texture of the masonry. Warm tones and wood in the kitchen counterbalance the blue cabinetry or surfaces described in the tour. In the bathrooms, green and maroon tiles provide a more varied accent language, while another bathroom uses a blue-and-white scheme. These rooms show that a single unifying color does not require every surface to match.
The palette can be read as a set of jobs rather than a list of isolated hues:
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- White: lifts the stone walls and reflects available daylight.
- Blue: carries the Mediterranean reference and links inside to outside.
- Warm wood and warm tones: add comfort to the kitchen and soften the harder masonry and steel.
- Maroon: marks the reconstructed structure and gives the tall room visual weight.
- Green, maroon, blue and white tile: allow the bathrooms to be expressive without changing the home’s overall language.
- Light blue: gives a child’s bedroom a gentler variation on the principal accent.
Tomás describes the broader effect as follows: “Throughout this delightful ensemble, color is an element used to give the home its unique character.” The family’s participation was part of the method too: “The process of choosing colors also allowed every member of the family to be involved in the design process.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What this project teaches about painting an old house
Start with the surfaces you cannot change
Stone, rooflines and existing openings establish the visual temperature of an old building. Test whites against the actual masonry instead of choosing a bright white in isolation. A slightly softened white can preserve texture and avoid making thick walls look flat, while still increasing reflected light.
Choose one repeatable accent
A strong blue can connect rooms that do not share a direct sightline. Repeat it on a major interior element and at least one exterior detail so the color reads as part of the architecture. Keep secondary rooms related through lighter or darker versions rather than introducing unrelated accent colors everywhere.
Use dark color to explain structure
Maroon works here because it follows columns, capitals and joints. On another house, a deep red, brown or charcoal could perform the same explanatory role, but it should be tied to a real architectural line. A random dark wall would not create the same clarity.
Let service rooms carry pattern
Bathrooms are a controlled place to use several tile colors. The project’s green-and-maroon combination and its blue-and-white bathroom show two different ways to expand the palette without competing with the main living space.
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Paint samples in context
View large sample boards beside stone, timber and metal at morning, midday and evening. The reported project does not identify exact formulations, and the same nominal blue can look dramatically different beside white masonry or warm wood. Confirm the finish as well as the color before ordering enough paint.
Coastal references without nautical decoration
The house demonstrates a useful boundary: Mediterranean atmosphere comes from proportion, light, material and color, not from literal seaside props. There is no need to add anchors, rope, shell displays or novelty marine motifs to reproduce the underlying idea. A blue stair, white masonry, warm timber and a relaxed shared room communicate the reference more quietly and more convincingly.
That restraint also allows the mountain context to remain present. The project does not disguise San Lorenzo del Escorial as Cadaqués. It translates qualities associated with the Costa Brava into a house shaped by Mount Abantos, local regulations and an existing stone envelope. The identity is hybrid by design.
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The Architectural Digest home tour documents the location, 1,292-square-foot size, 31-inch stone walls, revised plan, structural reproduction and visible color palette. It does not state a project budget, construction date, energy-performance figure or measured outcome. No exact paint, tile, furniture, fixture or staircase manufacturer is named, so those details should not be treated as specifications for the house.
The lasting idea
This renovation succeeds because its seaside spirit is architectural rather than decorative. A preserved stone shell gives the home memory; a reworked plan gives it usefulness; the double-height room and mezzanine create a place for family life and art; and a repeated blue, supported by white, wood, maroon and tile, gives every intervention a common language. For anyone painting an older house, the lesson is direct: choose a clear color idea, attach it to the building’s real structure, and let the original material remain visible enough to ground the transformation.
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