This Mallorcan Villa Is Filled With Pieces From the Vinterior Founder's Own Collection — "We Wanted It to Feel Like Ours"

Look through the browser history of any vintage design obsessive, and you're bound to find a few bookmarked Vinterior tabs. It's the go-to spot for unique, one-of-a-kind finds, a digital treasure trove of iconic pieces and hidden gems. So, it should come as no surprise that the brand's founder, Sandrine Zhang Ferron, has curated a treasure trove of her own, and it's every bit as chic as you would hope it would be.

Tucked into the mountainous region of Mallorca, this modern home has perfected the laid-back elegance and Mediterranean design style that the Balearic Islands are known for. Light, breezy fabrics and natural materials drape across the whitewashed architecture, and the whole home follows a natural flow, connecting interior and exterior spaces with ease. And, as you'd expect from the founder of one of the biggest digital vintage marketplaces, the property is suitably stuffed with drool-worthy vintage finds.

"I wanted a warm family home where people would feel comfortable sitting down and staying a while, rather than being careful around everything," explains Sandrine Zhang Ferron. By blending authentic Mallorcan influences with design elements that felt true to her personal style, Sandrine was able to create a space that felt like a true home away from home, celebrating the beauty and power of vintage designs, in true Vinterior fashion. "We kept the character of the house, brought in furniture we already loved, and let some decisions develop as we lived there. Older pieces help create that feeling because they already have texture and a history."

The Vision

Set in a small village in the Serra de Tramuntana, the striking mountain range that forms the northern backbone of Mallorca, there's no shortage of beauty around this property. Sandrine bought it from an architect, who had converted a traditional stone house and orange grove into a luxurious villa, complete with a glass extension on one end.

This combination of modernity and tradition is exactly what made this home so attractive to Sandrine. Not only does it capture the spirit of her brand, encouraging a seamless blend of past and present to create one cohesive visual language, but, practically speaking, the newly built single-storey extension allowed for a brighter, more practical design than you'd find with a truly untouched period home. As Sandrine explains, "That was part of what attracted us: some rooms have larger windows and much more light than other old houses we saw, which often felt quite dark behind their thick walls."

With the added extension, the home satisfied current architectural trends, with a focus on maximizing natural light and indoor-outdoor living, something you seldom find in older homes. So, finding this property, with its unique blend of modern benefits and traditional charm, in such a beautiful location, meant that inspiration was not hard to find.

Just the home itself, with its gorgeous stone facade and whitewashed interiors, provided a rich starting point for Sandrine. Walking around the property, she found the interaction between the home and nature to be one of the richest points of inspiration, saying, "The light and the way life moves between the house and garden influenced us just as much". She let this lead her through the design process, making decisions based on how she envisioned using the space: "We thought about where we’d want to sit at different times of day, especially how to make the most of the evening light at the back of the garden."

Because the home was already so rich with inspiration for the plucking, there was practically no need to hunt for interior design trends or take note of the best design hotels for ideas; everything she needed was already all around her. "The house itself was our first reference," she says, explaining, "I didn’t have one hotel or home I wanted to recreate."

Instead, Sandrine found herself drawn to specific pieces, bringing over iconic furniture designs from her London home, including the slouchy Togo sofa and Safari Chairs. She let the pieces lead the way and shape the room's style, adding art to punctuate the design. The Malene Birger paintings, for example, "helped give that sitting room its more graphic direction."

In terms of a general design direction, Sandrine found herself referring back to Durietz Design, the Mallorca-based Swedish design studio, known for their restorative approach to traditional Mallorcan properties.

Though much of the inspiration arrived organically, even Sandrine is not completely immune to the allure of our favorite digital moodboard.

As she explains, "For the garden, I spent a lot of time looking at coastal and herb-filled gardens on Pinterest, and I particularly liked the work of Madrid-based landscape designer Fernando Martos."

Blending beauty and practicality for a kitchen garden filled with herbs and usable produce, the vision for this outdoor space was led by a relaxed, messy gardening approach rather than a highly manicured finish.

It was inspired by what was already there, too, while also ensuring the design stayed true to the family's unique needs. "Our landscaper turned several large cacti we’d bought before our daughter was born into a small cactus garden out of her reach. I’m allergic to bees and wasps, so the garden had to work for our family as well as look beautiful," explains Sandrine.

The Process

From the outset, Sandrine knew there were certain limitations around what she could do with this renovation. "There are strict local requirements for the pale salmon walls and green shutters, so the house already belongs to its setting," she explains.

But instead of taking this as a setback, they embraced it, allowing it to shape the rest of their design decisions. "We followed that lead, using the irregular broken stone typical of the island outdoors and working with the stone, plaster and beams inside," she says. When it came to the interiors, however, they were able to get a bit more creative with the space.

"One of the biggest changes was in the primary bedroom," says Sandrine. The most personal space in the home, Sandrine set out to rework it, using the room's proportions in a way the existing layout hadn't. "Beside the ensuite was a large, windowless storage room that wasn’t being used well. We changed the orientation of the bed, moved the doorway, and divided that space into an open walk-in wardrobe and a separate area for bikes, outdoor cushions, and DIY supplies behind a pocket door."

With one simple change, Sandrine created a huge amount of home storage in the property, adding to its functionality while also creating a more luxurious, open primary bedroom.

Some changes were more aesthetic, such as the metal staircase, which was swapped for rounded, white plaster for a more cohesive effect.

In the garden, the upgrades again blended function with aesthetics. The pool, for example, was changed to a saltwater system, for a natural pool of sorts: "We wanted easier maintenance, and we’ve found there are fewer wasps around it," explains Sandrine.

The Design

When designing a property that will function as a family home, it can be very easy for the design to slip into a caricature of what you imagine the space should look like, following the same Mediterranean style you see in every holiday villa. This was exactly what Sandrine was hoping to avoid in this design. She wanted the space to still feel true to herself, while also paying respect to the Mallorcan setting.

To do this, Sandrine found herself blending various interior design styles, creating something new and eclectic. The foundation is undeniably Mediterranean, but it's interspersed with touches of rustic design and mid-century modern furniture pieces, making for a more layered, complex effect.

"The thick stone walls and exposed dark wooden beams are unmistakably Mallorcan, but I didn’t want every room to follow the same version of Mediterranean style," explains Sandrine.

It was important that the home still felt true to her own style, rather than that typical of a holiday villa, which can become so expected. It needed to have that rich, collected feel. "I didn’t want the house to look like a version of Mallorca you could buy all at once," she explains.

This was why Sandrine was committed to sending over pieces from her own collection from back home. It's these pieces that add personality and identity to the home. As she says, "The London pieces came with memories attached; the green bench was found in Consell and adapted for this house. They don’t share a period or a style, but each has a reason to be here. That’s what gives the house character. We weren’t trying to make everything match; we wanted it to feel like ours."

What makes this home so special is how every element was designed with family life in mind, making sure it felt like a true home away from home.

Take the outdoor seating area, for example, with its giant cushions that Sandrine says are "perfect for a siesta when my daughter allows it, or for an apéritif with friends." The fire pit, too, was added with the vision of cozy winter nights in mind, providing function for the outdoor area that stretches beyond the summer months.

Finding ways to repurpose existing furniture from the family's London home also helped when building the beautiful, cozy living room. "I love the second sitting room because the Togo sofa and Safari chairs followed us from London and found a completely new context here," says Sandrine.

But this room doesn't just look good; it also makes the perfect setting for cozy family nights in. "We have a projector there, and the Togo is perfect for movie nights. I’m also fond of the green bench we found in an antiques shop in Consell. A local upholsterer made its cushion in striped Colours of Arley fabric, which we also used for the outdoor cushions."

Shop the Style

If, like me, this home has inspired you to build up your own collection of vintage finds, make sure you check out our guide on how to thrift first; we've got all the expert tips for finding the best buys.

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