“After searching for two years, we stumbled upon an online listing in the village of Sant Pere de Ribes, a place we knew nothing about,” she continues about the home she shares with her partner, Martin, who is a musician and the co-founder of a wine e-commerce and subscription website.

“Coincidentally, at the same time, our brother-in-law mentioned this village he had just discovered, which was very close to Barcelona and had charmed him. We had been looking more to the North, but this village was 40 minutes to the south, near Sitges.”

“Visiting this village, we were completely in love. The atmosphere here is very international and welcoming, the village itself is absolutely delightful, surrounded by vineyards and just a five-minute drive from the sea,” Ohannessian continues. “The house itself was nothing like what we were looking for. We wanted a large, old house to host many friends and family, with spacious rooms for parties. Instead, it was the complete opposite!”

“The rooms are rather small and low-ceilinged, the guest room is right next to ours, which isn’t very practical. But we feel wonderfully at home here because it’s so cozy, and the garden is large with immense tropical trees. It’s like yin and yang between the inside and outside. A perfect balance. There’s this patio with soft terracotta colors in between, a haven where we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at least eight or nine months of the year. It shields us from the summer heat and winter cold. We feel good here and can easily host parties,” Ohannessian describes.

“This old house had been somewhat renovated, and we made some improvements. We needed two key things: Caroline’s studio for work, and a real guest room. So we demolished the garage in the garden and built something new from scratch. I’m an interior decorator and knew exactly what I wanted,” she explains.

“First and foremost, it was crucial to respect the soul of the existing house, and then ecology played a big role. Solar panels, raw materials, we even found old floor tiles by chance from a neighbor who had extras from his project. All the furniture was second-hand. In the bathroom, we chose ceramics made in our region, reminiscent of traditional styles but revisited. We even found old beams for our ceiling. Outside, I wanted to create a built-in bench connecting the two French doors.”

• Almost everything is white, very Mediterranean
• We painted the beams in our bedroom brown and used an Elitis wallpaper as a headboard.
• Our daughter’s room has been painted with eco-friendly blue and terracotta paints.
• The entire new house is lime-plastered with just a hint of pigment to achieve an off-white color.

Thanks, Caroline!

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.

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