Yes. I’m back. And yes, I do wish that I was still on holiday alas all good things come to an end (and some things you really really hope don’t) – and this holiday was one of them!
And in particular…
The Delano
To say that it’s better in reality than the pictures in an understatement. As “better than pictures” just doesn’t quite cut it where The Delano is concerned. When I first walked into the hotel on Miami’s South Beach I truly thought that I had died and gone to heaven. It was my very idea of perfection from a dream that I didn’t know I’d had. Though we were actually staying in the beautiful SLS Hotel next door Ian had booked a table in their Italian restaurant Bianca for our anniversary dinner and when we walked in there we were immediately reminded just how well the American’s do luxury. Americans do luxury very well indeed.
The interior design of this hotel combined all kinds of exceptional: It was exceptionally glamorous, exceptionally minimalist and exceptionally elegant all at once. All of these things I seek in Interior Design and yet hardly if ever have I seen it executed as well or as effortlessly as it had been done here.
The entrance hall had triple height ceilings where floaty white chiffon drapery hung and swayed gently in the breeze on either side of a very wide and long entrance. Thick white pillars and dark varnished wood floors completed the feeling of space and light.
Though it was extremely minimalist (with only a few selected items of designer furniture and a transparent grand piano), it was undoubtedly stylish and extremely sophisticated. Large ornate mirrors and flickering lanterns placed on the floor completed the feeling of exclusivity, mystery, luxury and intimacy. In addition to this there was a most hauntingly beautiful citrus scent permeating the air which had clearly been designed especially for the hotel. I was completely in lust.
Walking out to restaurant on the terrace I was again struck by the carefully executed design. It is so hard to get minimalism right without making a place look scarce or feel cold and this designer had done an excellent job at proving that it can be done. And so it was.
Large potted plant pots adorned the wide stone staircase leading to what I like to call “the magical night garden” below. Tall palm trees lined up either side of the very large pool area with cosy private cabana’s and a manicured lawn that occupied a white four poster bed and large canopy. Fairy lights twinkle in the trees and bushes giving it a wonderful feeling of warmth and a rare, special kind of magic.
So impressed with the design of this hotel was I (and the fun and fashionable SLS hotel that we were staying in which was designed by the renowned French designer Philippe Starck), that I was intrigued to know who had designed it. Indeed I felt that I needed to know. So I done a quick Google search and found out that the person who designed The Delano was infact Mr Philippe Starck himself! Which would of course explain the cool, effortless Mediterranean chic that was prominent in the design of this hotel. Phillippe, I salute you. #ISaluteYou
Look See:
What say you bloggees and bloggette’s? – Have you ever stayed at or been to The Delano? What did you think of it? Were you as impressed as I?
The Life and Times of Miss Jackson 