Mango: Adorned with wooden lace

The white trim along Villa Mango’s eaves is called a lambrequin, or dentelle de bois (wooden lace). It was once standard across the French West Indies, and is still the mark of a classic island home.

Rust colored walls under a pale green roof, with white shutters throughout. From the terrace the wooden lace wraps around the roofline and frames the horizon behind it.

The island builds differently now. Glass, marble, straight lines. We like those too. But somebody sat down and cut this lace by hand.

Tile is everywhere you look. Terracotta underfoot, patterns in the bathrooms, small blue mosaic in the pool that changes color as the sun moves across it. More patterns in the fabrics, and small touches of ornate furniture.

The house descends three levels down the hillside. Kitchen, living and dining at the top, opening onto the terrace. Two bedrooms below. The third has a pavilion to itself in the garden, near the pool.

High in Colombier, the view takes in Gustavia and the harbor, along with the neighboring islands of St. Eustatius and St. Kitts.

Houses like this one are what we have always rented at Sibarth. Each one of them different, some of them a little eccentric.