A villa built into a sweeping hillside in Pointe milou, st Barthomoley, FWI.

From afar, the ten pyramid-shaped rooves reach up into the sun at Los Leones, the villa Catherine and Pero Feric built in Pointe Milou on the island of St Barth's. "The setting was so beautiful, we didn't want to touch anything", Pero recalls. "We took great care building the house so that we could preserve the natural vegetation as much as possible." The result is a house which is more an homage to the landscape than a conquest of it. Looking out from your chaise lounge, only a white strip of stucco seperates the bright teal pool from the mottled blues and vivid greens of the ocean far below. Closer to the edge, you can see where the bluffs rise, red and toffee-colored, to ring a small cove. An umberella on the rocky beach casts a shadow near soft blue mats.

Because the cove is surrounded by cliffs and water too shallow for boats, it achieves the impossible- a totally private, inaccessible beach. Los Leones has a simple elegance, with each piece of furniture carefully chosen on one of the Ferics' many travels. Wonderful details abound: an extensive collection of West Indian art is displayed in nooks; in a cozy alcove, bright colors zigzag over tiled banquettes; Fortuny and Hermes pillows are tossed in comfortable disarray. Each of the four bedrooms has a separate terrace, where you can hear the slap of the surf and see rocky islands jutting out from the sea while sugar birds sing and pelicans fly overhead.

Cross breezes and terracotta tiles underfoot keep the interior cool. One wall of the long living room is huge square windows, allowing an expansive view of the ocean, framed by white columns. Nine brass lanterns from Marakesh line a shelf above, waiting to be illuminated at twilight. As night falls, everyone flocks from different sundecks to the dining room, which is lit only by flickering candles.