After receiving a poke fro Shawn Shakespeare, I was surprised to note that it has been over two years since our last visit to La Vie, the Homestead region held by Krys Vita and previously dressed by her and Arol Lightfoot. As such, following on Shawn’s suggestion, we hopped over to take a look at the region in its latest iteration.
This design is the work of Krys and her SL partner CarterNolan, and is beautifully minimalist in presentation, whilst offering an attractive and photogenic setting.
The easiest way to describe it is simply to say that given the current worldwide climate of uncertainty around SARS-COV-2 and so on, La Vie represents the kind of idyllic location many of us probably would like to run away to and spend time appreciating without the the pressures of the world intruding,
Sitting as a series of sand flats that poke their heads above an azure sea, the region has the feel of a place perhaps at high tide – at least on its western side, where wind breakers usually put out for sunbathers sit partially submerged in rippling waves, a pelican watching over them and possibly wondering why the silly humans didn’t move them before the water rose…
Raised board walks run across the sands and also connect them, their presence perhaps suggesting that at certain times in the year a lot more of the setting might be waterlogged – although for now there is enough sand and low dunes to make wandering well beyond the board walks easily manageable – not that the channels cutting through the landscape are particularly deep. At least not until you get to the east side of the region that is.
It is on the east side that the region places host to signs of civilisation: a tidy mesh of piers and moorings for boats and sail craft, most of the wharves stout and broad enough to carry wooden buildings on their backs. These are mostly commercial in nature and include workshops and sea-related places of business, although a couple of units offer the opportunity to work off the extra kilos that might be added to one’s weight following frequent visits to the Salty Dog Café.
There’s a strong sense of this all being a local, family-run centre given the frequent use of the “Saltwater” name. Perhaps the house at the centre of the piers and wharves being the base of operations for whoever runs things. It’s also something of a tour de force of building with AustinLiam’s designs as well, an approach that lends further authenticity to the feeling this really is a place put together by a single group of people working to create a unified presence, rather than a place that has grown over times with many different hands and views. I’ll also admit that seeing AustinLiam’s Captain’s Retreat in the region gave me a case of itchy fingers, as it is a design I’ve long wanted to fiddle around with and make into a cosy home.
With more marshy land off to the south sitting under the spread of a huge oak tree and a pair of monkeypod trees, and open sands to the north that carry the suggestion of strong winds sometimes visiting the land, this is a setting watched over by an old lighthouse to one side and an equally old forest-style look out tower on the other, both offering vantage points from which to suss out the best sunbathing spots on the sands below.
Completed by multiple places to sit and enjoy the setting – including a swing for watching the local sea turtles – and finished with a gentle sound scape, La Vie in this iteration really does offer a welcome sense of escape and freedom.
SLurl Details
- La Vie (La Vie, rated Adult)
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