Photo via Dezeen

At first glance, this modest, abandoned stable certainly doesn’t look like much of a holiday getaway spot, despite its location on the beautiful—and vacation home-packed— island of Tinos, Greece. Inside, though, Athens-based architect Ioannis Exarchou meticulously renovated the so-called Retreat to provide everything a couple on holiday might need, without any frivolous extras. “My main objective was to retain and preserve the cavernous unique feeling of the space,” says the architect. True enough, the building team focused on maintenance over changing the actual look of the stone dwelling, plastering only the interior walls, putting in new flooring, and patching up the dark (unwittingly trendy) exterior stonework.