How A Boca Raton Home Blends Playful Colors + Curated Pieces

A New York couple’s love affair with South Florida began as many do: An extended sojourn proved so enchanting, they were inspired to put down roots. The pair acquired a 1990s residence and then turned to their longtime designers, Michael Cox and Zunilda Madera, to transform the house into a multigenerational retreat. “They wanted something playful, welcoming and relaxed,” Cox describes, “and to have fun with color.”

Updating the Boca Raton property required a gut renovation, so the designers collaborated with architects Randall Stofft—who had originally conceived the home—and Fredy Polania along with general contractor Michael Burzesi. “We dropped some of the ceilings, made doors taller, added glass, squared off corners in the office and dining area to increase the footprint, and removed level changes inside,” Polania reports. The result is an airy plan in tune with contemporary life and the comfortable aura the clients desired.

To keep the newly open public areas from feeling too connected, the designers devised what Cox calls “soft delineations of space.” For instance, the entry and dining area occupy the same zone, so the team gently separated the two using a substantial wood sculpture that resembles a quartet of sails. “They pivot, so you can make the room feel more closed or open,” Cox says. At other times, dramatic architectural detailing was used to define spaces—like in the living area, which is crowned with a barrel-vaulted ceiling wrapped in a natural woven material. “The lighting throughout the home is strong and sculptural, but we went quieter here because it’s more about the ceiling,” Madera notes. “We thought about what we wanted the star of the room to be.” They applied a similar strategy to the husband’s office with linen-wrapped panels that run up the walls and a complementary pattern across the ceiling, fitting lighting in the channels between them.

Thanks to the designers’ long working relationship with the couple, “We heard both clients’ voices in our heads as we made our decisions,” Cox explains. “The wife pushes us in terms of practicality and functionality, and the husband pushes us in terms of design and innovation.” To meet the wife’s brief, they chose new pieces with cozy silhouettes and durable performance fabrics to host guests comfortably and withstand rowdy grandchildren, such as the inviting club chairs in the living area and the generously scaled chairs in the dining area. For the husband, they wove in collectible modern items and vintage finds that introduce patina, including a Gio Ponti desk in his office and a blue Yves Klein table in the living area. “We wanted the house to feel like it evolved naturally,” Cox muses, “so it looks collected and eclectic.”

Pieces like the Klein table, the bright blue poufs in the entry and the color-blocked rug in the husband’s office answer the clients’ desire for a playful palette, echoed through the fine art. “The mural in the dining area is a David Gilbert photograph, which we installed almost as wallpaper,” Cox observes of the overscale piece. “It’s quite magical in the space.” Other eye-catching moments appear in the office, where they hung an abstract painting incorporating more vibrant blue and a collection of pieces devoted to yellow. The primary bedroom then takes a tranquil note with a blush headboard beneath a soft green ceiling that oversees wood, rattan and wicker furnishings.

The home’s interior spaces flow seamlessly to outside seating and dining areas—which can be protected by drop-down screens—and into the back garden. There, landscape architect Stephanie Portus “created a resort-like oasis with privacy, clean lines and lush foliage,” she describes. Even here, color was key in ways large and small. An outdoor sectional repeats the blue scheme, for example, but perhaps the boldest expression is at the bottom of the pool. “We thought: How can we take the pool to the next level and bring the art outside?” Cox recalls. Inspired by a trip he took to the Fornasetti house in Milan, the designer conceived an intricate floral tile mosaic in blues, pinks, greens and yellows, adorned with bumblebee motifs.

Their clients’ Florida home marks the fourth collaboration with the designers, a relationship that continues to grow and evolve. Not only have the couple’s own tastes changed, but also they, in turn, have inspired the duo’s creativity. “When you’re on the fourth project, you’ve already done this or that,” Cox points out. Madera adds, “It’s a fun challenge to do things that aren’t in their other homes.”