Among leafy streets that shade sprawling villas and breezy estates, designer Jennifer Bunsa’s clients discovered something of an anomaly: a 1970s town house, rising five stories. It was an ideal dwelling for Joana Benjamin and Frank Wooten, a globe-trotting couple with young children who settled in South Florida after stints in New York and California.
“It feels more like something you’d find in the Northeast,” observes their residential designer, Robert Kerr. Indeed, New York’s classic townhomes inspired the team’s direction for this Coconut Grove residence: a sophisticated interior with soft colors and natural materials, especially wood. But unlike its northern influences, with spaces clearly laid out, this structure “had no definition,” Bunsa adds. “Every room bled into the next.”
For Bunsa and Kerr, the first order of business was to rework the layout to suit the family’s lifestyle. The ground level now hosts a playroom and a gym, while the bedrooms are on the third story. Just above, the fourth floor displays a summer kitchen and dining terrace. “It feels like you’re going on a little vacation when you’re there,” muses the designer, who grounded the space with terra-cotta tiles inspired by ones the clients found in Italy. Crowning the structure is a rooftop terrace, offering stunning views of Biscayne Bay.
The public areas are housed on the second story, where the team most obviously took cues from New York townhomes, fashioning spaces comfortable for a young family yet stylish enough for sophisticated entertaining. In the dining area, for instance, the paneled walls are plastered, bestowing a luminous quality and a layer of formality. To mark transitions between rooms, they used painted wood thresholds at the openings and relied on flooring, particularly honey-toned white oak in a herringbone pattern—another nod to New York.
Bunsa repeated white oak details elsewhere on the main floor, lending consistency and warmth. She carried the material into the living room, using it to cover the fireplace wall, where a sliding panel craftily conceals the television. “We didn’t want a blank panel,” the designer explains, “so we came up with this grid pattern and floating shelves on brass supports to make it feel lighter.” White oak also appears on the island and lower cabinets in the kitchen, which Bunsa and Kerr—working with architect of record Michael C. Noll of M3 Design + Development—doubled in size to maximize storage and functionality. “It was segmented,” Kerr says, “but we made it feel grand, open and modern, with classic details.”
Home Details
Architecture:
Robert Kerr, Kerr-Tek Design, Inc.
Interior Design:
Jennifer Bunsa, Bunsa Studio
Sune Christiansen artwork hangs against the dining area’s plaster walls, painted a custom Benjamin Moore shade. Carl Hansen & Søn’s CH36 chairs surround Ruemmler’s No. 341 table beneath a Lindsey Adelman Studio chandelier. Nordic Knots’ All Hands rug flows underfoot.
De La Espada stools line the kitchen’s island of Calacatta Trento marble from Primestones. Armac Martin hardware decorates cabinetry by EVM Woodwork. Lumfardo flush mounts and Workstead sconces offer a soft glow. The range and hood are from Ferguson Home.
South Florida Faux treated the powder room’s plaster walls, complementing marble from Opustone. An Allied Maker fixture suspends alongside a vintage Italian brass-framed mirror from 1stdibs. The Vola faucet and handle are from Designer’s Plumbing & Hardware.
Underneath the primary bathroom’s skylight, walls of Riad Tile zellige and Marmol’s Travertino Navona stone meet flooring of clé’s zellige. The Vola fixtures, from Designer’s Plumbing & Hardware, add a dose of shine.
Pierre Frey’s Katsu fabric wraps the headboard of the primary bedroom’s white oak bed, which partners with a vintage bench on Beni’s Frame II rug. A Naomi Paul pendant oversees the nightstand from Galerie Glustin.
In the children’s bedroom, The Expert’s Paddington beds bookend a Solbackens Svarveri lamp from PRB. Vaughan’s Medway reading light and Fermoie’s Flag linen on the drapery and cushion are from John Rosselli & Associates. Revival’s Caden rug provides a color contrast.
Gubi’s 1972 pendants from Design Within Reach pair with Shoppe Amber Interiors’ Dara Rush stools in the summer kitchen, where Marmol’s Travertino Navona stone reappears as a backdrop to clé’s Lapidary tiles on the island. Bert & May terra-cotta flooring and a Waterworks faucet complete the scene.
A Glustin Luminaries flush mount brightens the living room’s white oak built-in and Ceppo stone-slab plinth. Fronting Dedar draperies, an Egg Collective sofa and coffee table join nesting tables from PRB and a Kalmar Werkstätten floor lamp.
Sune Christiansen artwork hangs against the dining area’s plaster walls, painted a custom Benjamin Moore shade. Carl Hansen & Søn’s CH36 chairs surround Ruemmler’s No. 341 table beneath a Lindsey Adelman Studio chandelier. Nordic Knots’ All Hands rug flows underfoot.
In the office, Roman and Williams Guild’s Oscar light playfully fills the space above De La Espada’s Twenty-Five desk from The Future Perfect. The nearby white oak shelving is accented with a cane insert.
Although Bunsa is known for a bold approach to color, for this project she went quieter, taking inspiration from the muted tones of a tapestry she had spotted by Madeleine Colaço, an artist from Brazil—a nod to Joana’s heritage. The piece’s earthy palette of pinks, greens and blues pop up around the home—notably in the living room, where one of the sofas and the chandelier, composed of individual pieces of Murano glass, are in soft rose shades, and the rug boasts greens and blues in a checkerboard pattern.
A certain softness extends to other furnishings, in part driven by the presence of small children. The living room features a coffee table bearing a curving top set on rounded legs, a vintage Danish armchair with a sinuous silhouette and a sconce in the shape of a yarumo leaf. Elsewhere, the dining room’s chandelier, sourced with Joana on a shopping trip to New York, consists of glass bubbles and fringe.
Ultimately, the design strikes a balance between a northern cosmopolitan aesthetic and a family-friendly Miami home, imbuing life through materials. “When you can’t bring in color, you think about texture in a different way,” Bunsa says. “This was a fun exercise in restraint.”
In the office, Roman and Williams Guild’s Oscar light playfully fills the space above De La Espada’s Twenty-Five desk from The Future Perfect. The nearby white oak shelving is accented with a cane insert.