A Pink Pool in the Sky Buoys a Surprising Bali Home

Growing up in Georgia and spending my adulthood in California, I never—truly never—imagined I’d raise my family in a rose-colored villa in Bali, designed by my husband and my father, with an assist from me. But here I am with my spouse and two kids in a home near Uluwatu, where the view progresses from our pink swimming pool to emerald treetops, sapphire sea, and silhouettes of volcanoes to the north.

Originally, this house was supposed to be my dad’s. I had my own next door. A decade ago, freshly laid off from my magazine editor job in Los Angeles and emotionally depleted from a breakup, I piggybacked on a girlfriend’s trip to the Indonesian island. I swooned over the relaxed lifestyle and within a couple years decided to build myself a home that I could rent out part-time. I found a quiet piece of land with an ocean view, leased it from a Balinese family for 30 years (the only legal option for foreigners), and with my savings and freelance income built a home. My father, Steve Romeyn, an Atlanta home builder and designer, leased the smaller parcel of land beside mine.

A year later, back in L.A., where I was still primarily living, I met Keith Marks, who would eventually become my husband. He is a designer and snow fanatic who had no intention of ever living on a tropical isle, but he visited me in Bali and afterward had a long discussion with my dad about what to do with the plot next to mine. Recently retired and looking to be pushed out of his comfort zone, my father asked his future son-in-law to help design a two-bedroom house for the site. They approached it like an experiment.