Decorating guru Debbie Travis transforms a 100-acre Italian property into the perfect vacation home

Under the Tuscan sun

This ancient-guard-tower- cum-women’s-retreat sits on 100 acres of the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is the Val d’Orcia in Tuscany, Italy. on it, you’ll find a lavender field, a veggie garden, an olive orchard, a vineyard, multiple dining areas, an infinity pool, a bocce court, a yoga area, a firepit and 200-year-old pomegranate trees that yield enough juice to freeze for winter.

On the terrace

“We pick lemons here every morning,” says homeowner Debbie Travis of the potted trees on this terrace, which is outfitted with modern citrus-green- accented chairs to match.

Design guru Debbie Travis

From searching sprawling avant-garde design shows to trawling Europe’s biggest antiques markets, shopping for materials was a highlight for Debbie (pictured). “I’d drive to spots in France, Italy and England and load up my truck,” she says. One of her favourite sites is L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in France, where an entire town transforms into an antiques market twice annually. “I drove 11 hours to get there,” says Debbie. “When I saw it, it took my breath away.”

Antique market finds

Debbie found these cool director’s chairs at an antiques market. She echoed their simple sacking fabric on the headboard and toss cushions in one of the guest rooms.

Semi-industrial kitchen

The semi-industrial kitchen, where cooking classes take place, boasts two dishwashers and a range customized with eight elements, a grill and a pasta cooker. In addition to the oversized appliance, Debbie insisted on a 16.5-foot-long island countertop, despite being warned it would look ridiculous. But when it arrived, she hated it. So, amid curses from her kitchen designer, Debbie had it replaced with a 13-foot- long one. It took 20 people to carry in the second slab of volcanic rock, which, at the last minute, was dropped and smashed. As they say, third time’s the charm.

All in the details

Debbie considered absolutely everything, right down to the smallest details, from choosing the tiny air vent grates to opting for stone window lintels instead of wooden ones. “Even deciding on the thickness of the terracotta tiles for the windowsills – I nearly died,” she says with a laugh. Hits of pink brighten the vintage chair and bistro table. “I never touch a natural patina,” says Debbie of their distressed finishes. “Nobody can recreate that, not even me.”

The dramatic stairs

For the dramatic stairs, Debbie used the same hot-rolled steel as she did on the kitchen floor of her former home in Montreal. “It stays cool in the heat and has a lovely grey tone,” she says. Set two inches from the wall and lined with strip lighting, the contemporary staircase seems to hover by the original stone wall to stunning effect.

The guest rooms

The guest rooms are wrapped in a serene white and grey envelope, but each features a bold accent hue carried from the headboard to the bedding (here, it’s denim blue).

Guest ensuite

In one petite bathroom, a pair of ruffled sinks by Italian designer Paola Navone is set in a floating slab of live-edge olive wood. Each guest room and ensuite is totally different (“Visitors always have fun checking each other’s out,” says Debbie), but all the mirrors are the same: they look normal but have built-in defoggers and lights that, when turned on, create the perfect setting to apply makeup (“they’re so great, guests have even arranged to have them delivered to their own homes after visiting,” she says).

The master bathroom

In Debbie’s master bathroom, a sleek tub and faucet are paired with antique wood details and old-world-look cement tiles. “When each is used with restraint, old looks spectacular juxtaposed with new,” she says.

Ensuite bathrooms

Partial walls divide guest rooms from their ensuite bathrooms, lending the illusion of more space and allowing full views of the stunning ceilings. “They’re like art,” says Debbie. after visiting a ton of lighting shows, she worked with an expert to design her own modern, minimal touch lights, which are adhered to the bedroom walls as reading lamps.