For years, designer Bria Hammel’s clients had escaped the harsh winters of Minnesota for Naples, where they owned a condominium. Eventually, though, the couple felt it was time to expand their footprint in the Sunshine State so they could host friends and extended family for their regular sojourns. The gracious four-bedroom home they acquired was certainly large enough for the gatherings they envisioned, but its dark finishes didn’t portray the calm, casual atmosphere they desired. “We had to shift the meaning of the house by taking out the formality to make it more approachable,” Hammel explains, adding that the style needed to lean more Southern than tropical. “They wanted this to feel like a retreat—somewhere they could come and relax.”
Although modifications were in order, the structure did offer plenty of advantages. The layout was largely suited to the clients’ intergenerational needs, and the kitchen had been renovated with high-quality finishes and appliances. So, working with general contractor Joe Smallwood, Hammel made impactful gestures such as transforming the formal dining room at the front of the residence into a cozy media room, a more apt use for the family. “We wanted the space to feel playful for the grandchildren but sophisticated enough for it to be seen right off the foyer,” she says. Down came the bold wallpaper and up went a light-blue, striped linen wallcovering, which the designer installed horizontally for a unique effect. Here and in other spaces, she repurposed the owners’ condo furnishings, rounding them out with fresh acquisitions. “We started with those existing pieces and then worked around them,” she explains, pointing out how her clients’ sectional coexists with the media room’s new game table, chairs and toy storage.
To help lighten the interior framework, Hammel replaced the high-sheen flooring throughout the residence with wide oak planks in a natural finish, then established a color palette of soft blues, sage greens and pale yellows. “Although it’s playful, it’s still very calm,” she observes. Punches of whimsy also come from select wallcoverings, particularly in bathrooms, such as a cheeky flamingo print in a powder room. “We didn’t want it to feel overly tropical, but this is the clients’ Florida home,” the designer acknowledges. “So we encouraged them to have some fun.”
Still, most spaces called for restraint. In the double-height great room, for instance, a light- blue sofa joins delicately adorned armchairs and benches against a white backdrop. Bedroom walls also eschew pattern and color in favor of layered fabrics and artwork, particularly pieces by local artists as a way of honoring the surroundings. Jute rugs and touches of rattan, like the great room’s coffee table and the primary bedroom’s nightstands, add a dimension of texture while incorporating neutral tones. And light fixtures, too, impart a casual feel, including the breakfast nook’s woven beaded fixture, the primary bedroom’s bamboo chandelier and the brass sconces found around the house.
These natural materials help emphasize the property’s indoor-outdoor sensibility. The great room’s large stacking glass doors open fully to the lanai, home to a well-used seating area overlooking the pool. Echoing the interiors, Hammel outfitted this space with similar textures and tones—wicker, blue, white—so it appears as one cohesive gathering area when the great room’s doors erase the boundaries. “They are open and complementary to each other,” she says, adding how both furnishing arrangements allow for a seamless flow. Near the lanai, a grill station and large table support the family’s alfresco dining preferences. But when not enjoying a meal amid the lush grounds, the owners have another cozy place to savor the warm climate at the front of the house. Making a hospitable first impression, the designer endowed the generous porch with pineapple- shaped lanterns, a quartet of rocking chairs, and a blue ceiling and shutters against a clean-white exterior. “We wanted it to feel fresh, with a mix of Southern and coastal details,” she says.
From the front door to the upstairs bedrooms, the owners’ new winter outpost offers the breezy, carefree feeling they crave when eager to warm up from their home state’s colder weather. As Hammel perfectly summarizes: “It’s playful, happy and inviting.”
