A little over a year ago, Sarah Wetenhall, the taste-making president and CEO of The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, reached out to Martina Mondadori to inquire if the founder and editor-in-chief of Cabana, the stunning Milan-based interiors and decorative arts publication with a corresponding lifestyle brand, was interested in designing the storied 1947 property’s newest residence.
“Martina was on our vision board,” Wetenhall tells AD. “How can you not be a fan of her brilliance and creativity and the world she has built with Cabana?” Luckily, Mondadori was as enthused by the prospect as Wetenhall.
The Cabana aesthetic, exemplified by pristine craftsmanship and lush palettes, is exactly what Wetenhall desired for The Colony’s commodious, sun-drenched bungalow, a contrasting atmosphere to the hotel’s existing collection of guest-designed villas, including Goop’s, which, Wetenhall points out, has a “restful and reserved” West Coast vibe, while the maximalist Chairish offering showcases “pattern upon pattern.” Additionally, “Aerin Lauder’s is quintessential Palm Beach and Mark D. Sikes did a classic blue and white.”
Debuting this week, the most expansive of the glamorous soft pink-hued hotel’s long-stay retreats flaunts the dual imprints of Mondadori and her life partner, British designer Ashley Hicks (the couple also joined forces on their art-filled Milan residence, as seen in AD). Wetenhall shared the same directive she gives all her collaborators (“your style, filtered through a Palm Beach lens”) and then was happy to step back. “The magic of the space comes from letting Martina and Ashley’s imaginations go wild,” she adds. “This is Cabana, this is Milan, this is Italian, but with the whimsy, the lightness, and the irreverence of South Florida.”
Mondadori has ambitiously grown the vivid Cabana universe beyond the magazine’s pages and by opening a complementary Milan shop in 2024 that teems with tableware, home decor, and vintage goods. Further translating that compelling lifestyle directly to a hospitality setting was “a dream come true,” she says. “The Colony has a distinctive visual identity and so does Cabana. This is a mix of our DNAs.”
Consider the warm, natural living room done up in raffia wallpaper that takes cues from the 1980s homes in Capri conceived by late Italian decorator Verde Visconti. Fabrics from Schumacher, a longtime partner of The Colony, dominate the trifecta of bedrooms as well as the Renzo Mongiardino–inspired den with its bright, decidedly Palm Beach textile pattern swathing the ceiling, too. “I live for upholstered walls,” gushes Wetenhall. Bathroom tiles exude a Spanish and Italian look, and the kitchen, separated from the dining room by elegant, tied-back curtains, nods to the one at Yves Saint Laurent’s onetime countryside abode in Normandy.
Incorporating The Colony’s signature pink into the bungalow was an essential move, and it makes a particularly bold impression as a series of porcelain Ginori 1735 plates emblazoned with florals that match the linens draping the dining table.
“The bungalow has this continental flair of old Europe that fits so well on the island because of Palm Beach’s architectural influences. Artisans were going to Europe, bringing back antiquities, and reconstructing them here,” explains Wetenhall. “Those design references were so strong in the 1920 and ’30s and you can sense it when you walk around the town.”
Unlike The Colony’s guest rooms, often checked into for a few nights at most, families spend large amounts of time holed up in the residences, “so we wanted every corner to feel like a home, making it a place where at the end of the day you want to cozy up,” says Mondadori. Weaving in one-of-a-kind pieces help cement that inviting atmosphere. “We placed an antique birdcage in the living room on top of the antique cabinet, and for me it’s the sort of element that gives the bungalow the Cabana mood, that quirkiness.”
