Homes of the island

Where Sri Lanka lives

An independent journal about houses across the island — the veranda on the south coast, the planter’s bungalow in the hills, the courtyard house in Jaffna. How people build, shade and inhabit Sri Lanka.

38
Homes visited
9
Provinces
4
Issues / year

Featured houses

All stories →
South · Galle

Fort house with a deep veranda

Lime-washed walls, jackwood beams, and a courtyard that holds the afternoon shade.

Central · Nuwara Eliya

Planter’s bungalow above the mist

A teak floor, a fireplace, and the tea slopes starting at the garden wall.

North · Jaffna

Courtyard house by the lagoon

Thick walls, a central well, and rooms that open onto a quiet square of light.

Living on the southern shore

From Mirissa to Tangalle, houses turn their backs to the road and open to the Indian Ocean. Coconut thatch, laterite walls, and kitchens that smell of curry leaves and sea air.

We visit the builders who still cut jackwood by hand, and the families who have kept the same veranda for three generations.

Read the coast series →

Hill-country living

More →
Hills · Ella

Stone cottage on the ridge

Cool mornings, a wood stove, and the train line below the garden.

Hills · Haputale

Tea-estate quarters restored

Narrow rooms opened into one long hall; the mist still arrives at four.

West · Colombo

Urban courtyard in Wellawatte

A pocket of green between two walls — shade, rainwater, and quiet.

Island craft, four times a year

Long features on builders, carpenters and the houses they leave behind. Photographed on location, printed without ads, posted from Colombo.

Issues / year
4
Pages
~96
Since
2022