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When our Design Trends writer, Nanci Theoret joined Gulfshore Life back in 1999, I bet she thought she was safe at home. This after a newspaper career where a murder suspect awaiting his verdict (guilty) in court asked her out on a date that night ... where masquerading as a clown for a story made her unrecognizable to her daughter ... where dressing as a monster in a haunted house for another piece made her an object of horror.
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But consider this as the Canadian-born graduate of Central Michigan University worked to establish her home and design creds in Southwest Florida: To get one story, she found herself whipped by gusty winds as she rode a bucket elevator up seven floors on the outside of the building, and on another assignment to explore a new condo stepped off the elevator on the wrong floor into inky blackness with no electricity. “It was,” she says, “quite scary.”
Yet, Nanci has prevailed over these 17 years to establish herself as a recognized authority on what’s current and hot. She began as managing editor and writer for Home & Condo, a monthly magazine for our company that also included 40- to 50-page Dream Home sections on the ultra-luxe residences we’re so known for here. “The first one I did,” Nanci recalls, “was a multimillion-dollar home in Quail West, and I just marveled over all the marble from Italy, the his and her baths, the club room, cigar room, sitting room and more.” Lynne Groth, who had hired Nanci for the job, told me recently she always valued Nanci’s relentless reporting from her newspaper days and admires her flair in recreating what she finds for her readers.
What’s Hot
I asked Nanci, with all the wisdom accrued from putting together her monthly column and twice-weekly blog for us, what the current trends are in her field. Her verdict:
1. Coastal Contemporary—“This is a subtle feeling, with elements of the sea. The artwork may be shells and colors could include driftwood tones.”
2. Mid-Century Modern—“This is going for simple form, Frank Lloyd Wright, splayed legs, that sort of thing.”
3. Color—“I’d say subdued is in, with hues like cobalt blue and tangerine.”
I inquired about some of the most memorable things she’s seen, and a lot of them have to do with animals. There was the Cape Coral man building a special room for his dog, another providing a shower for his dog in the laundry room, seeing Judge Judy’s two dogs in a baby carriage and people matching the color of their animals to their wall colors.
Through emails and calls, Nanci says she’s in touch with 300 to 400 design people every month to give us the best of what’s out there. And how does she do her own place? “I have a lot of great pieces,” she says, “but need a designer to make some sense of it for me.” Isn’t that true for us all? And who better to sort out the eminent designers than hardworking Nanci? I’m sure she’d agree it beats monster suits and flirting murderers.