A Bahamas beach house designed by John McCall and inspired by Valentino's yacht

When a story begins with 'we'd been invited for drinks on Valentino's yacht one summer...', one might reasonably expect to be regaled with tales of glamour and of decadence, and with any luck a little indiscreet name-dropping. But those are not the details that stood out when the interior designer John McCall boarded the fashion designer's boat in Majorca eight years ago. Rather, he recalls how appealing he found the combination of mahogany and the colour blue on the 46-metre superyacht. 'It's not reinventing the wheel, but it really stuck in my mind and I wanted to be able to use that in a project one day,' he says.

That opportunity arose a few years ago, when a long-standing client bought a plot of land on a tiny island in the Bahamas. The owners, who have four children, had previously hired John to decorate their houses and flats in England, so they trusted him to devise an interior style for a beach house that did not feel 'too beachy'. Designed by the Miami-based architects de la Guardia Victoria, it is on a beachfront site of nearly two acres and is reminiscent of the eighteenth-century plantation houses more commonly found elsewhere in the Caribbean.

The U-shape building creates a courtyard through which the house is entered, a little like a Palladian villa. The wings comprise bedrooms and service areas, leaving the main body of the house dedicated to places where the family can congregate. The first of these is a large loggia, pillared and pleasantly shaded, and used as an outdoor sitting and dining space that overlooks the courtyard. Here is the first glimpse ofhow John made use of the combination he noted on Valentino's boat, as wood and cane furniture has been teamed with cushions in blue and white.

While the architects made good use of the neoclassical symmetry and formality, John's design has softened the edges. Enter the 'great room' from the loggia and you encounter a large and handsomely decorated space where loose-covered George Smith sofas and armchairs seem inviting, while patterned textiles and decorative access-ories draw the eye across the room. 'It's understated,' John says. 'I hate it when you're upstaged by soft furnishings.'

That is not to say there is not a sense of drama. The high walls are made from a creamy white coral stone quarried in the Dominican Republic, a material pleasingly textured due to its fossilised inclusions. These are further enlivened on the interior of the great room by three of six painted panels commissioned from the internationally renowned muralist Graham Rust - the other three hang elsewhere in the house. They depict scenes from the The Tempest, the owner's favourite Shakespeare play, and hint at the severe weather to which this idyllic island can be subjected. John recounts a storm the night before the final installation of furniture: 'We woke up to find dozens of beach chairs from another island washed up in front of the house.'

Delicate fabrics are not a wise choice for a house where the boundaries of indoor and outdoor are constantly blurred. With this in mind, John and Olivia Stirling, an interior designer he brought in to help, specified upholstery and soft furnishings that could handle the heat, humidity and salty air, not to mention the casual lounging of children in wet bathing suits. This laid-back attitude is reflected in not only the style of the kitchen and dining area, but also its position. Rather than being a behind-the-scenes area, it is to one side of the great room and very much a part of the home. It is also a buffer between the great room and the less formal television room.

On the other side of the great room are six bedrooms decorated with a light touch. Printed textiles add subtle flourishes to these all-white spaces, while artwork and accessories give a nod to the seaside location. Most of the furnishings in the house were shipped from England, with crates filled with finds from John's favourite sources, including Soane, Charles Edwards and Christie's.

Knowing the clients well meant John was able to make many decisions without sign-off. It is one of the reasons the project took a relatively short period of time: from the initial meeting with the architects to their first night in a fully furnished home, it took just two years. 'The neighbours couldn't believe it,' John says. 'It usually takes three to five years to complete such a project.' The neighbours are also intrigued by the interior style of the house. 'They think it looks so British,' John says with a smile.

John McCall: 01635-578007; mccalldesign.co.uk