Mercedes Lopez Coello | Mallorca, Spain
Mercedes Lopez Coello creates her dream family home, perched on the hills in Moscari, Mallorca, Spain.
Words: Natalie Walton | Photography: Chris Warnes
‘This home is a sanctuary where we come and connect, and not just with ourselves but with our family. It is the base for everything.’
When Mercedes Lopez Coello was living in Sweden, she would often dream of having a home in Tuscany. Her husband Mads said, “That’s because you haven’t been to Mallorca.” At the time, Mercedes considered the Balearic island to be mainly a charter holiday destination. However, Mads had seen a different side to Mallorca, having spent time there while working in film post production, and he encouraged Mercedes to experience the ‘real’ Mallorca. When she did, her response was immediate. “I was just in love,” she says. Four months later, the couple packed two suitcases and a dog and moved to the island permanently.‘
It was a fresh start to come here and rediscover myself,’ Mercedes says. Initially the couple rented a house in Sineu, about half an hour from the capital city, Palma. “We had to drive up a hill, and the road was bad. That was a good sign: secluded on a hill,” Mercedes says. They lived there for five years before buying a stone house in Llubí, where their sons Oliver, now twelve, and Felix, nine, were born. However, once the boys started school the family moved to Palma and remain based there. Oliver and Felix can walk to school through the woods, and now they’re both older, they enjoy being connected to friends. But since buying a country hideaway in Moscari, Mercedes sometimes finds herself asking why she doesn’t spend more time there. “It is really something else,” she says.
“I wanted to be very austere and use a lot of natural materials: wood, stone, ceramics, linen, rattan. And I wanted everything to feel that it was made by hand,” says Mercedes Lopez Coello. Photo - Chris Warnes.
“Nothing is straight – a lot of these details were in the house originally. Anything that was new followed the style of the imperfections,” says Mercedes Lopez Coello. Photo - Chris Warnes.
The decision to buy a place in the hills came about five years ago, and their stone finca – farmhouse – was one of the first places they saw. The agent didn’t have the key so they were only able to view the house from the outside, but they didn’t mind because they had only intended to get a general feeling for the house and location. ‘We just looked at each other. That was enough. We loved the area and the energy,’ Mercedes says. “We have lots of good memories of living in Llubí, and for me Moscari was a lot like that first love with Mallorca,” Mercedes says. “We wanted that same feeling.”
When Mercedes first arrived in Mallorca, she couldn’t understand why many chose to have second home on the island, often only thirty minutes away. But after moving to Palma, she has a new perspective. ‘Palma can be a stressful city,’ she says. “In the summer you don’t want to be there – that’s when all the tourists come, and it’s so hot. In the country you have the breeze and you can see the stars. You come to these villages and it’s so peaceful.” And while Mercedes enjoys the cafes, restaurants and cultural events in Palma during other times of the year, life in the country offers something else. “This is the Mallorca that I knew eighteen years ago,” she says.
“The younger helping the elderly, people in cafes having a morning coffee, the old men with their hats driving mopeds. There is still a sense of community here.”
“The house in Moscari previously belonged to an older German couple. They had maintained the 100-year-old building well. When we arrived here I felt the energy of the place was very soothing, and there was a lot of harmony in the area. Not just in the house but all around it,” Mercedes says. However, the kitchen was quite small and closed off, in part because of a guest toilet on the ground floor. At first Mercedes was only going to make a few changes.
“And then you start hammering and find areas that need fixing, and you think that because we’ve done that, we might as well finish off another area,” she says. The biggest change was to tear down one of the bathrooms, remove the guest toilet and enlarge the kitchen area. The project was Mercedes’ first renovation. “I had no idea where to start,” she says. “But in the back of my mind I was very clear – I wanted to be very austere and use a lot of natural materials: wood, stone, ceramics, linen, rattan. And I wanted everything to feel that it was made by hand. Nothing is straight – a lot of these details were in the house originally. Anything that was new followed the style of the imperfections. Instead of using straight corners for the edges, they feel organic and blend in.” The furniture and decor are a collection of pieces that Mercedes has slowly accumulated over the years – from her time living in Sweden, as well as during her travels.
The furniture and decor are a collection of pieces that Mercedes has slowly accumulated over the years – from her time living in Sweden, as well as during her travels. Photo - Chris Warnes.
“For me, it was super clear not to touch the outside,” says Mercedes of her decision to remain sensitive to the home’s history. Photo - Chris Warnes.
When it came to the exterior of the building, she didn’t want to make any major changes. “For me, it was super clear not to touch the outside,” Mercedes says. She freshened the paint on the timber shutters using the same colour as they had been previously, and they restored some of the stonework, but were careful to choose the right colour so the exterior appeared unchanged. ‘I wanted any changes to blend in and make it appear as if it had always been there,’ she says. The garden remained largely untouched, too. Anything that she has planted – lavender, sage, rosemary – blends in with the existing foliage and plants. “My garden is not polished,” she says. “I like it natural, so I try not to interfere too much.” The result is a place where Mercedes feels that she can relax. “It’s so soothing,” she says. ‘The house says, “come, embrace”.’ Living modestly also has benefits. “It’s small, so when we spend time together here we become closer,” Mercedes says. “I miss having that togetherness when we’re not here.”
The house in Moscari is where Mercedes is able to reconnect with nature and herself. “When I come here, I lay in the hammock for ten minutes and then there is a soft breeze and a sunbeam of light and butterflies,” she says. “You realise you can let go.”
This is an edited extract from Still, The Slow Home by Natalie Walton, published by Hardie Grant Books and is available in all good bookstores now.