This Florida Condo Is Both A Weekend Retreat + A Vibrant Hub

It started by casually looking for a new house, thinking they’d sell their primary residence for a fresh start. But after viewing a spacious South Florida penthouse with sweeping east-to-west views, a couple with three teenage children had a change of heart. “We decided to keep our home and buy this as a weekend beach getaway instead,” the wife explains. “It’s the best of both worlds. It offered everything.”

Well, almost. “Although beautiful, the unit had a closed-off kitchen,” she recalls. “We decided we like to live in an open space where we can all be together.” Soon enough, they kicked off a whole-home makeover by designer Shannon Callahan and general contractor Eric Daly.

The owners desired a layout that allowed for private areas for the couple, space for their children and generous room for entertaining—all while maintaining unobstructed sight lines to the city and the ocean. “We like a California, indoor-outdoor feel,” the wife describes. To impart a beachy vibe, Callahan stripped the stained wood floors for a lighter, softer look. Then there was the reimagined flow. “We wanted to open the residence up,” she says. “It has interesting angles.” The one thing standing in the way were the floor-to-ceiling structural columns interrupting the floor plan. “We had to work around them and still make the space feel defined,” she describes. Rather than view them as obstacles, the designer allowed the elements to drive the project, turning them into a stunning feature.

Embracing the pillars as a way to delineate spaces without using walls, Callahan carved out storage in several and clad others in a blue-gray quartzite—a move that kicked off additional selections. “There is often one material we love so much, it dictates our other decisions,” she notes. “For us, it was that column slab.”

The reconfigured kitchen, for instance, boasts three quartzite-topped islands, ideal for homework after school as well as buffet stations during parties. The space opens to the bar, which is backed by a deep metallic granite and accented with dark bronze shelving. “That slab was a way to make the bar more of a formal space and looks great with the column cladding,” Callahan points out. It also came in handy when the grooved light oak wall paneling by the front door wasn’t quite aligning properly. “We took leftover pieces from that bar slab and added it to both sides of the door,” she shares. “It became a strong vertical accent and was an in-the-moment decision that worked out better than what was originally planned.”

The designer carried the abode’s approachable durability into the plethora of gathering areas, gravitating toward rounded furnishings in plush, easy-to-clean fabrics. “The clients wanted the home to be comfortable, soft and inviting—not too serious,” she says. Nowhere is this more evident than in the expansive living area, lined with floor-to-ceiling glass windows that flood the space in natural light. A pair of oversize lounge chairs can face two curvy sofas for conversation or swivel to the bar, where a television is installed on a hidden lift. When the couple is alone, twin rounded armchairs in front of the window wall offer an intimate spot. “There is more seating here than anywhere else I live,” the wife muses. Cozy rugs, metallic pillows and eye-catching fixtures in bronze and brass all balance each other out to offer a sense of contemporary comfort. “It’s a cohesive mix of materials that is so inviting and creates a lot of visual interest,” Callahan observes.

Playing off the ocean views throughout the residence, natural colors ground the palette, stemming once again from the columns’ blue-and-gray quartzite. “We wanted to intensify that tone,” the designer explains. “And just because we’re on the water doesn’t mean we have to use only blues—the ocean can be a neutral voice.” Amid charcoals and sandy hues, she sprinkled in touches such as emerald green in artwork, clay accents in accessories and a deep raisin in the primary bedroom.

These moments delicately punctuate the residence’s sophisticated subtleness, a balanced quality Callahan likens to its owners. “The home is not uncomfortably opulent—it’s quietly impressive,” she says. “That speaks to the people we were designing for.”