Living Vibrantly

- Eleanor Joslin

The bright, eclectic home of the Dumonceau family is an inspiration to tenants across the region, highlighting how a rental property can still be a versatile canvas from which to create a characterful home. Their villa in Dubai’s popular residential community The Meadows is home to Kaltoum, her husband Arnaud and their two sons, Adam and Gabriel, and mixes designer buys from their home city Paris, locally-bought accessories and a carefully curated mix of contemporary Arabic accents, influenced by Kaltoum’s Moroccan roots.

Moving from their native France to the UAE in 2016 for Arnaud’s job in finance with Procter & Gamble, the family had a few requirements in mind: a private pool, a safe community where their boys could play outside, and a hint of greenery amidst Dubai’s famous skyscrapers.

Driving through The Meadows, Kaltoum spotted a family moving out of a villa and saw its potential immediately. ‘The house was a mess, and when I called my husband over to look at it he went from one room to another and asked, ‘what’s wrong with you, why would you want to choose this house?’ laughs Kaltoum. ‘Even though it was dirty and unkempt, I could see the large windows and spacious rooms had lots of potential and I could picture us living there.’