You can tell what most luxury Naples new builds are going to look like from the driveway—open, bright, built for the Gulf light and a quick sale. This Old Naples residence relies on classic silhouettes and time-tested materials for a home that looks as if it were built from memory, designed for someone who intends to stay.
For the past 20 years, regional interiors have cycled between two overcorrections: a Mediterranean era that buried proportion under ornament, and the minimalist swing that followed, stripping away material richness along with excess. Homes emerged cleaner, lighter and largely interchangeable. Hillary DiSabato and Chantal Warmoth, the Northeastern duo behind Knot + Tide Interiors, came to Naples and refused the memo. “We wanted to blend two worlds—the warm, heavy traditionalism that Naples left behind and the light, airy minimalism it ran toward,” Chantal says. “We wanted to find the space in between.”
In practice, that meant pulling each style back to its essentials, then letting them coexist without canceling each other out. Occupying a parcel on Seventh Avenue North, four houses from the Gulf, the 6,400-square-foot home keeps the arches, beams and mass that give older interiors their weight, then pares them back—clean lines, a tighter palette, nothing added for effect. Where much of the area’s transitional design splits coastal lightness and Old Florida nostalgia, this residence draws from a Northeastern precedent, with no drop-off in detail from room to room. The result reads more inherited than newly built.
MHK Architecture sets the frame, with a white board-and-batten facade, a standing-seam metal roof, and black windows and doors. A circular motor court anchors the approach to the five-bedroom, seven-bath build by T. Jerulle Construction. The language is familiar—the Americanized European vernacular, seen in the Hamptons or Connecticut, adjusted for the Gulf.
Photography by Matt Steeves
Photography by Matt Steeves
Photography by Matt Steeves
Photography by Matt Steeves
The plan inside stays open, but not loose. Ceiling shifts—coffered, then beamed—mark each zone as you move from entry to living room to kitchen. Each space is organized around a single point of gravity, so nothing competes.
In the great room, a Bianco Carrara marble fireplace claims the lead, its stepped surround classical but not ornate. Hillary calls their approach “texture-based,” relying on variation in surface and finish rather than color. The main living area exemplifies this: A plush Nordic white wool rug stretches beneath a toasted ash coffee table, an olive velvet sofa anchored by dark leather chairs with caning and a larger natural-toned slipcover sofa that pulls the arrangement back to earth. Ceilings reach 11.5 feet; baseboards run 8 inches, grounding the volume.
Between the great room and kitchen, the wet bar shifts the tone, providing a concentrated dose of Old World gravitas. Wrapped floor-to-ceiling in dark walnut, the bar provides a fixed center for the dining area and introduces a softer rhythm to the interior architecture—its arched form is echoed in the butler’s pantry doorway, hallway openings and great room shelving.
The kitchen, which Hillary calls “the spine of the house,” clarifies the rules. A dark walnut island holds the center; everything else pulls back. Full-height white shaker cabinetry runs to the ceiling, and narrow windows cut into the hood wall, breaking up the vertical run and pulling in light. The custom drapery bridges the shift from the island’s toasted ash and paper-cord stools to the tongue-and-groove oak ceiling. The system of controlled contrast carries through the rest of the house without escalation.
In the study, paneled walls and built-ins set a refined backdrop for the deep blue shelving, tufted leather sofa and sliding pocket doors that open to the pool. Overhead, a coffered ceiling with oak inset panels adds weight without closing the room in.
Photography by Matt Steeves
Photography by Matt Steeves
Photography by Matt Steeves
Photography by Matt Steeves
Materials do heavy lifting here. While the majority of the home has wide-plank European oak in a blonde tone, the laundry and bathrooms pair tile floors with hand-detailed stone countertops. “[Those required] a lot of planning and a lot of meetings,” Hillary says. The primary bath vanity’s countertop apron is precision-machined to match the depth of the drawer face below—not a flashy detail, but one that would register if off. Basket-weave tile in the shower echoes the stone, while a freestanding tub maintains a classical thread. The adjoined primary bedroom’s vaulted oak ceiling impresses without overselling.
Less-celebrated spaces received equal care. The first-floor laundry room features black-and-white checkered tile, paneled walls, and a central folding island beneath an oversized pendant light. The second-floor laundry shifts to brick-laid limestone, deep green cabinetry, walnut accents, and herringbone tile walls. Two rooms, distinct, yet in sync with the overarching design.
Florida homes often rely on steady indoor-outdoor flow. Here, the interior stands on its own. There’s easy movement when the pocket doors in the great room and kitchen are open. But wide, columned openings connect the main living areas to the terrace, holding the edges. The ceiling’s continuous tongue-and-groove and beam work carries the structure into the covered space.
The outdoor areas break into clear zones: a dining table set beneath a 54-inch woven pendant, a seating area gathered around a fireplace wall with a concealed television set to display art when not in use, and lounge chairs placed at either end of the long, rectangular pool with a square spa inset in the center. Underfoot, a leathered Nuvola Gray stone in a French pattern runs continuously across the lanai, tying the dining and seating areas to the pool’s edge, while softening the hard lines.
From the outdoor stonework to the hardwood and marble inside, the materials hold their weight against the Florida light. Here, the transient coastal aesthetic gives way to architectural permanence, less a seasonal backdrop than a place to settle in.
Architect: MHK Architecture
Interior design: Knot + Tide Interiors
Builder: T. Jerulle Construction
Developer: Limitless Development
Photography: Matt Steeves