The Workshop That Became a House
Most villas in Crete are built to be villas. This one was not. Villa Asteri was our family home and my father’s carpentry workshop, in Asteri Village near Rethymno, long before anyone slept here as a guest.
When it became a villa, I did not clear the workshop out. I kept it, and I kept working in it. This is what is still in the house, and what I made for it.
By Argyris Skordilis, owner and host · Updated
Half a House, Half a Workshop
My father built and worked in this house. One side was where we lived: the kitchen, the table, the everyday noise of a family. The other side was the workshop, where he cut, planed and joined wood for the village. The walls between them are stone, about half a metre thick. You did not hear the saw through them; you walked round the corner and you were in it.
I grew up moving between the two. That is not a marketing story. It is the reason this house is different from the other three we look after.
What Stayed
The sideboard in the kitchen is his. He made it more than six decades ago and it has never left the house. It has been painted, used, filled and emptied a thousand times, and it is still exactly where it belongs.
Most of the tools on the walls were his too: planes, chisels, squares, the things a carpenter reaches for without looking. The collection had gaps, so over the years I went looking for the missing pieces, one at a time, until the walls made sense again. They are not decoration bought by the metre. Each one was used, by him or by someone like him.
What I Made
Some of the house is my own work, made in the same rooms where he worked.
- The dining table and the living-room sofas, in cypress wood.
- Two bathroom basins that rest on carpenter’s workbenches I built in his honour.
- Bedside lamps made from old hand planes I found and reworked.
- The outdoor BBQ table, built on the pattern of his workbench.
Nothing here was chosen from a catalogue because it looked rustic. It was made, or kept, because it belongs to the house.
Why I Kept It
It would have been easier to empty the rooms, paint everything white and add another villa to the market. Guests would still have come for the pool.
But a house that has been lived in gives you something a new build cannot: the feeling that people were here before you, and that they cared. That is what I wanted our guests to walk into.
What It Is Like to Stay Here
It is a working family house, not a museum. You cook at the green sideboard, eat at the cypress table, and light the fireplace when the evening turns cool. The tools stay on the walls; the children look at them, ask what they are, and usually want to try the vice.
Outside there is the garden, the main pool and a separate children’s pool, and the village a short walk away. Villa Kitron and Villa Myrrini are close by, which is how families often end up taking two or three houses together.
Come and See It
The photographs on the villa page show the rooms as they are. If you are coming with your family and this kind of house matters to you, tell me who is travelling and when, and I will tell you honestly whether Villa Asteri is the right one for your group.
People ask if the tools are real. They are. Most were my father’s, the rest I hunted down one by one. If you stay here and want to know what a piece was for, ask me — I grew up watching him use it.
Argyris Skordilis · Owner and host, Amazing Villas in Crete · usually replies within 12 hours
Facts checked against our four villa pages · Last reviewed by Argyris Skordilis, owner of Amazing Villas in Crete.
Frequently asked questions
Can guests stay in The Carpenter’s House?
Yes. Villa Asteri is a private villa for up to 8 guests, with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a main pool and a separate children’s pool in Asteri Village, near Rethymno.
Are the tools on the walls real?
Yes. Most belonged to Argyris’s father and were used in the workshop that was part of this house. The rest were found one by one over the years to complete the collection.
Which furniture is handmade?
The sideboard in the kitchen was made by Argyris’s father more than six decades ago. The dining table, the living-room sofas, two bathroom basins on carpenter’s workbenches, the bedside lamps made from old hand planes and the outdoor BBQ table were made by Argyris.
Is the house suitable for families with children?
Yes. Villa Asteri has a main pool and a separate children’s pool, an enclosed garden and bedrooms on two floors. Children must be supervised by an adult around the pools at all times.
Can we book Villa Asteri together with the other villas?
Yes, when they are free. Villa Asteri, Villa Kitron and Villa Myrrini stand close together in Asteri Village and can be booked together as MAZI, for up to 20 guests.
Stay in the House, Not in the Story
Tell Argyris your dates and who is travelling. He will tell you whether Villa Asteri fits your group, and whether one of the other three houses might suit you better.
Where to go next
- Meet Argyris: four houses, one family, no reception desk
- Asteri Village Guide
- The Carpenter’s House in photographs
- How to Choose the Right Villa in Crete
- Villa AsteriThe Carpenter’s House · 8 guests · children’s pool · Asteri Village
- Villa Kitron6 guests · every bedroom en-suite · Asteri Village
- Villa Myrrini6 guests · children’s pool · Asteri Village
- Villa Argiris8 guests · one level, sea views · Stavromenos
- Compare the villasAll the facts side by side
