Gray was invited to visit the Netherlands by the De Stijl group, who had first admired her design for Boudoir de Monte Carlo at the 14th Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in 1923. The kitchen at E-1027 recalls the Dutch movement’s advocacy of pure abstraction and the reduction of forms to horizontals and verticals, in monochrome or primary colours.

Gray used strong planes of colour throughout E-1027 and did not believe in hanging paintings. ‘Architecture must be its own decoration,’ she wrote. ‘The play of lines and colours should respond so precisely to the needs of the interior atmosphere that all detached paintings or pictures would seem not only useless, but detrimental to the overall harmony.’ Here Gray’s iconic adjustable E1027 side tables in position to do exactly what it was designed for: enable breakfast in bed without getting toast crumbs in the sheets.

Gray selected coloured bedsheets ‘so that the mess is unnoticed when the bed is unmade.’ The linen cupboard below the window was installed at hand height so that the bottom can be reached without bending over and the tiled floor underneath can be easily swept.

Coloured lights and textiles transform the atmosphere of the bedroom for night time. The bed is cloaked by ‘mosquito netting in transparent celluloid, the fabric of which extends along an extremely thin steel cable with a guy rope, which eliminates the heavy weight and inelegance of ordinary mosquito netting.’ Two lights are built into the headboard, both dimmable and one in blue to serve as a nightlight.

Gray did not subscribe to the sterile aesthetics of Modernist hygiene theories, believing that cleanliness should exclude ‘neither comfort nor activity.’ The bath is clad in aluminium, described by Gray as ‘a beautiful material providing an agreeable coolness in hot climates’. A bright orange bidet is labelled with stencilled lettering to avoid any doubt as to its purpose.

Gray thought carefully about the role of colour and textiles in her schemes: ‘the furnishings, chairs, screens and pile carpets, the warm leather colours, low metallic lustre and depth of the cushions all contribute to an atmosphere of intimacy.’ She was a master at subtlety and manipulating the perception of the small rooms. The low wall at the end of the room allows for the entire ceiling to be seen in one, increasing the sense of space while concealing a dressing area and shower room.

To maximise the space Gray designed ‘camping style’ furniture. A fixed cabinet with pivoting drawers provided essential storage space and facilitates the efficiency that was fundamental to Gray’s vision of luxury. She wrote that ‘sometimes all that is required is the choice of a beautiful material worked with sincere simplicity´.

For Gray, the exterior of a building was secondary: ‘The interior plan should not be the incidental result of the façade; it should lead a complete, harmonious and logical life. Rather than being subordinated to the external volume, it should on the contrary control it.’ The ultramarine colour of the canvas awnings that shade the sea-facing terrace picks up on the theme of nautical blue that runs throughout the interiors and contributes to the overall impression of the villa as an Art Deco yacht.