A Modern Miami Retreat Subtly Conveys A Vibrant Spirit

Waves of possibilities crashed through Colette van den Thillart’s mind when she first glimpsed the newly built apartment her longtime clients imagined as their South Florida getaway. What the designer saw was essentially a bare-bones white box, but so strong was her sense of what might be that she convinced the owners to swap their stories-high unit for a lower-level space—one van den Thillart believed would feel more connected with the adjacent expanse of beach and boardwalk without compromising the enviable sea views. They took her advice. And from there, she worked her magic on every last inch.

Although there were some parameters of the Bal Harbour condo the designer opted not to alter, others were natural opportunities for customization. Right from the get-go, she recognized the open living, dining and kitchen areas “had to become one seamless envelope if the space was going to look elevated,” van den Thillart says. To achieve this cohesive design, she created a fluted white plaster finish for the walls, which bend gently toward a vaulted ceiling—a nod to the historic arched ceilings of Rome, a city the owners adore and where they maintain a residence. The curves and organic nature of the plaster, paired with the ceiling’s swoops, are a pleasing counterpoint to the boxy layout and act as an art element—particularly as the sun scatters shadows along the lines and arcs. “This home essentially becomes an immersive James Turrell installation at different times of the day, which is really moving,” the designer muses.

Those fluted walls are more than just a beautiful backdrop: A subtle gap between the plaster paneling and ceiling serves as the air conditioning vent, a clever solution implemented by general contractor Jerry Rowland. He also engineered a pocketing flush door for the den off the main living space—when shut, the entry is essentially invisible—and a similar seamless door that closes off the clients’ bedroom. “Most homes aren’t done up to the nines in every corner, but this one is,” Rowland observes. “No surface was left untouched.”

The treatments become more adventurous in the apartment’s smaller spaces, from a geometric patchwork of wood paneling that cocoons the den to the striking Arabescato marble that clads so much of the primary bathroom, it reads as a celebration of the material itself. Then there are moments like the foyer’s moody mix of marble and the primary bedroom’s pairing of verre églomisé mirror with walnut for the headboard wall. The latter felt like a risk, the designer admits, but it paid off richly, drawing in the broad expanse of the Atlantic and the sky with just the right amount of glamour.

Notably, and perhaps unexpectedly for a Miami residence, bold artwork isn’t the thrust of the unit’s design scheme. “These clients are coming here for escapism, and the wife specifically told me, ‘I don’t want powerful art; I just want serenity and the ocean,’ ” van den Thillart recalls. So as elegantly appointed as the interior architecture treatments are, they’re still subservient to the panoramic ocean vistas, framed by floor-to-ceiling swaths of glass. “The beauty is in the materials and their execution,” the designer says. “It had to be a little couture.” Bespoke furnishings also stand in as art pieces, she explains, pointing out the dining table’s sculptural base, beset with playful cutouts that pay homage to the city’s beloved midcentury modernist architecture style.

Despite the vibrancy of the neighborhood, there was an effort to create a relaxing home that references the locale in a subtler fashion. The result has “enough of a cool factor that it feels right in Miami, with none of the cliches,” van den Thillart remarks. “I’d like to think I captured the essence of the location and some sort of free zone between the past and future.” In the end, she—and her discerning clients—are incredibly pleased with the results, the designer affirms. “I think we did something here that is contemporary but also gentle, soulful, even poetic,” she says.