Infusing A New Naples Condo With Color + Bold Forms

It’s not every day an interior designer is given the chance to take a condo from empty shell to artfully appointed, but that was precisely the opportunity presented to Renée Gaddis. Her client, hailing from Los Angeles, tapped the interior designer to transform an unfinished high-rise into a vibrant Southwest Florida home base. For Gaddis, the construction timing was a dream come true: “Normally, I have to use the standard building selections,” she notes, “but here, we had an empty slate and could do whatever we wanted.”

From the start, the owner gave the interior designer a clear vision of her taste. She wanted her Naples residence to have a bright, bold color palette—akin to the red-and-yellow spectrum at Faena Miami Beach, a maximalist hotel with Art Deco flair—and a similar feel to a particular modernist Parisian apartment by legendary designer Peter Marino. As for the furnishings, the client wished to fill the spaces, in part, with midcentury modern rosewood and mahogany pieces sourced by her friend Brazilian curator and dealer Ulysses de Santi.

First, though, Gaddis needed to create the right backdrop with help from general contractor Autumn Jackson. “We wanted to capture a California-cool feel,” the interior designer explains, pointing to the creamy limewash finish of the walls and ceilings. She echoed the pale tones in the wide-plank cerused oak flooring as well as the millwork and cabinetry, which allowed her to flex her creative muscles. “We installed amazing interior doors throughout that are on pivot hinges with custom hardware—they look like they’re floating,” Gaddis shares. “They were the hardest part of the project and required a lot of engineering.” Fluted wall panels and cabinetry are another tour de force, providing an elegant through line that connects the kitchen, dining and living areas to the primary bathroom and a jewel-box powder room—where she rendered the fluted detail on the vanity’s stone top.

With a neutral yet inspiring background established, the interior designer focused on imbuing the home with flourishes of striking hues. “It was hard to whittle down the colors we ended up using,” Gaddis recalls. She landed on tones such as a citrine fabric for the living area armchairs, a red-orange velvet for the adjoining ottoman, and patterned green, red and yellow pillows topping the ivory sectional. The kitchen’s gold-veined backsplash and countertops get a hit of vibrancy from a bright blue range hood. And down the hallway, Gaddis pieced together unique palettes for the bedrooms to give them distinct personalities, like a 1970s edge for one—with an arched headboard in burnt orange—and boho chic for another, in terra cotta and dusty blue. Each is grounded by a different rug with geometric forms, from a tan linear pattern to a rainbow assortment of abstract ovals.

But perhaps the boldest expression of color is in the primary bathroom, which the client proposed decking out in an Italian terrazzo. “She brought me some inspiration photos,” Gaddis recalls, “and I said, ‘Oh, yes, we are using this.’ ” No light hand was applied here: The eye-catching stone—sporting flecks of teal, marigold and orange—covers the floor and envelops the shower.

Amid this spirited environment, the interior designer inserted exquisite furnishings that reiterate the home’s soulful energy. Treasures sourced by de Santi—such as midcentury armchairs and the living area’s slatted bench—mingle with “dynamic and unique pieces from makers I’ve been obsessed with,” Gaddis adds, pointing to the dining area’s circular chairs and the kitchen’s blue-leather stools. Form meets function in pieces like the dining area’s chain-link chandelier, the living area’s three-sided coffee tables and the kitchen’s saucer-shaped pendants.

In the end, the interior designer muses, the condo that began as a blank slate now stands as a testament to embracing aesthetic risks. “Don’t be afraid of making bold choices,” she advises. “Stay true to your taste—and run with it.”

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