“I always joked while working as CEO at Gymboree that I was going to leave someday and build a hotel on the beach in Mexico,” explains Lisa Harper. “After retiring and resting for a few months, I decided to make good on my ‘threats.’ I initially drew the design on a napkin and then proceeded to draw everything by hand to scale on graph paper before turning it over to an engineer who completed the final plans.” And voila, Rancho Pescadero in Baja, Mexico, was born.

The hotel opened just over a year ago with 12 rooms, and to celebrate its one year anniversary, this winter, Harper added 15 new rooms surrounding a new pool and bar, a yoga and Pilates pavilion, and a dining room in the garden.

For the design, “I drew on my travels to the Pacific Rim, specifically Bali and Thailand, my background of living in Northern Africa, and the locally available materials,” Harper explains. Concrete is found everywhere, softened with decorative fabrics, local artwork, a mix of Indonesian and Mexican furnishings, and traditional accessories such as Oaxacan pottery and handwoven rugs. For the walls, Harper used local dirt mixed with cement and other pigments for a pulido finish, a plaster technique that “glows during sunrise and sunset,” Harper says. Bathrooms feature mosaic showers and deep concrete vessel sinks. And floors in the reception and restaurant are hand-stamped concrete tiles made in Guadalajara.

“I was committed to a space that allowed for many places to have private escapes and a few areas for the guests to interact with each other,” Harper adds. “I also loved the feeling of lounging, so there are beds everywhere-in the pool, around the pool, on patios, on the beach, etc.”