Wood

Wood is kept for the places where the house meets the hand and the sun: the front doors; the pergola over the entrance and the covered parking; and the slatted screens that temper the light.

Arriving, the first thing the hand finds is wood. It feels warm where stone feels cool, and a door of timber gives the moment of coming home its welcome.

Under a Cypriot sky the slats do real work. They break the midday sun into bars of light and shade that cross the floor and move with the hours, so that the shade is part of the architecture rather than an accessory to it.

Its tone is dark and its grain smooth, chosen for contrast. Against the pale honey limestone and the quiet render it draws a firm, warm line — around a door, along a pergola, across a screen — the way a dark frame sets off a light picture.

To keep that depth of colour under the Cypriot sun, outdoor wood is oiled rather than left to bleach: cared for, it stays as rich as the day it was fitted.