Handsome entrance doors to the house are of costly variegated and thin marble. From the street the effect is of shop windows washed in soap, but you will be pleased to hear that from the inside the effect of the marble in the entrance vestibule is marvellously coloured!

A swirling base of Twilight Cinders is host to darker expressions of Mercury Bloom, and streaked with malachite peppered with Vert de Dublin. What colours! The floors are pale briquettes of ash, scrubbed to a cedar finish, and zoned by cement strips into room demarcations that startle the eye with their illusions ludiques. Greys, greys and yet more greys are used in the cement mix, in tones that oscillate between Surprise de Violette and Nordic Mud. Walls here and there are painted with a hint of cerise, but not too much.

A Noire de Truffe-coloured umbrella stand and an antique gothic boot-scraper à l’Anglais will add a touch. I also suggest a pair of long benches in giltwood upholstered in a watered-silk Eau de Nil, put against the wall and working a wonderful contrast to the cerise on the walls. A selection of dignified antique Piranesis or similar prints will go down well, and greet the visitor in the correct style.

For the salon, a different approach is needed given the arrangement of the windows overlooking the lawn. Here we have walls bravely clad in the most shocking of emerald wood. What a darling display awaits the eye on these walls once hung with paintings of hunting subjects. I also recommend a hearty peppering of wall-mounted Delftware interspersed with Chinese ceramics in famille rose. And as for lighting, appliques of the Goût Louis xv.

We should not expect a notable ébéniste for here, but rather a more casual arrangement of English Regency pieces, one or two bits of the less ostentatious Directoire, and a large, comfortable American-style couch done in a tropical print chintz to echo the green of the walls, and of course, to sit on with intimate friends. Gone are the days of stiff and formal functions. Now everybody relaxes over cocktails, so an array of occasional tables are considered useful for olives and finger food.

The large windows are fabulous during a late-summer evening, but for the winter months the frames will be hung with curtains of lilac cretonne in festooned pelmets, and tied at the waist in Or Brûlé tassel bunches. Briquettes do come off rather cold, so a rug or two are used to soften the look. And flowers everywhere in bright vases.

The washroom is a wicked surprise. The floor tiled in Rose Dust Minque, non-glossy, and everywhere else white, white, white! Taps of course in gold and Moderne in outline. Simply designed, but seductively finished, they are a delight. The door to the corridor is in a light café au lait polka-dot trellis and so matches the pink of the floor.

Not much is needed here, so I would concentrate on luxurious linen towels in a fun banana yellow, and a shower curtain in rhubarb and custard satin stripe. In bathrooms it is important to remember that your guests are there to judge your cleanliness, and so less clutter is advised as skin residue can cling to ornaments. If you must, a set of soberly (bamboo) framed prints of Audubon’s Birds of America can be hung.

Back through the salon and stepping out into the garden, the cement patio is where the outdoor entertainment will happen, and so here we will casually arrange a selection of matching wrought-iron and white-painted patio furniture. Parasols in deepest navy awning cloth, and a wheeled barbeque in bright orange will add a touch of piquant and contrast amusingly with the astonishing wall of green marble.

I personally cannot resist the petit courtyard with a tall lamp at its centre, painted in a sea-jade. This is perhaps where a set of prim little folding garden chairs would sit, and we mustn’t forget the cushions in a waterproof breezy honeydew cloth. Around the lawn, pergola-style cement columns scream “CLASSICAL” to us, and so we have our orders!

A flotilla of white pedestals should line the walls to waist height, each carrying a bust of a notable Roman. It doesn’t matter which. You can never have too much statuary in a garden of this sort, so don’t hold back. Augment the lawn itself with a potpourri of Roman goddesses and bird baths. Perhaps towards the rear we should lay a fountain, surmounted by a statue of either Ganymede or Diana, depending on what tickles the pickle. I suspect Ganymede in this case will do. Pablo Bronstein, artist