By the time the wife set foot in their four-bedroom home in Lely Resort, her husband had toured dozens of others—none of which interested her. “I was perfectly fine renting, as we had for a long time,” she says. The couple spent a few months a year in Naples and liked having space to host their grown children and grandchildren when they came to visit, but she was picky: “I didn’t want something I wasn’t going to be comfortable in on Day One.”
This home sold her—perhaps because the previous owner had the same critical eye. “She was meticulous—what struck me was the quality of the furniture, how well the spaces were used, how clean and organized everything was,” she says. “Once I realized how comfortable the beds were, I knew we could live here.” The decorating was not quite to her taste, though. It was done in browns and tans, “a sort of Tommy Bahama look,” and the kitchen was dated. But the bones were there, and the couple had plenty of time. After living in the home for a few years and observing how they used the spaces, they got to work.
They enlisted builder Joshua Brown of D. Brown Construction to update the paint, redo some flooring and work on the kitchen; he, in turn, brought in Julia Hall Liegeois of Julia Hall Designs to help with the design and surface selections. Since the homeowner already liked the furnishings and layout, she and Julia worked mostly through paint and fabrics to brighten the space. “I had a vision of curtains blowing in the breeze,” the homeowner says. The first big change was to paint all the walls white. Initially, the homeowner was hesitant. “I was like, ‘What—white-white?’ And Julia said, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be great, I promise,’” the homeowner recalls. “And she was right, it is. The first time we walked through the door after it had been painted, I was just blown away. My husband, too; he just loved it.”
Throughout, the designer transcends coastal design tropes, with a fresh, understated elegance. The common area floors became shellstone-hued travertine, and Julia created matching vignettes on either side of the entryway using mirrors framed in faceted blue glass, hung above rattan-wrapped console tables. “The client just fell in love with these mirrors; they’re a little retro and bounce light in such a cool way,” Julia says. To refresh the furnishings, they chose upholstery in a blue-and-white scheme, layering energetic patterns in different scales. For the main sofa, in the sitting area just past the entrance, they used a white fabric with seemingly random horizontal lines for an oversized strié-like look. “We wanted to set the tone,” Julia says of the space, visible just past the entryway. On the walls, oblong, curvy mirrors resemble tide pools. “She just kept showing me beautiful things,” the homeowner laughs. “She’s very good at finding fresh-looking and unique things.”
Many existing pieces had rattan or wicker detailings, which warmed up the otherwise cool-toned new scheme while creating cohesion and adding a touch of modernity through the chairs’ clean-lined, tailored forms. “Sometimes that blue-and-white coastal modern look can feel cold or bare—this feels more balanced,” the designer adds.
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Cosmetic renovations included painting the bar cabinets, originally stained a honey brown, in bright white; adding blackened-navy hardware; and retiling the backsplash in Daltile Multitude in Modern Khaki. The kitchen’s cabinets were painted white and built up to the ceiling. (“It makes the kitchen feel much grander,” Joshua says.) The team swapped the dark, bilevel peninsula counter for a single-layer one in brilliant quartzite. They kept the wood-toned beams in the ceilings so the room wouldn’t feel too modern. Meanwhile, the guest bathroom received a deep navy paint job, arranged with pebble-shaped iridescent tiles climbing along one wall. “I just love textural art,” the homeowner says. “When Julia added those cool stone decor elements to the bathroom, it just tied everything together.”
The final touch came from layering a few new details, like statement lighting, wallpaper, textural art and cool hardware. In the dining room, Julia added twin palm sculptures on one wall and a trio of coral-inspired discs on the other. The homeowner fell in love with a chandelier with cascading crystal cylinders, which now serves as a glamorous moment over the breakfast nook, facing the open kitchen and living area. Orange accents in the family room draw in hues from sculptural elements outside and pick up the warm tones in the ceiling beams and coffee table. “They’re a nice break from some of the blue and white,” Julia says.
Ombré Phillip Jeffries Mirage wallpaper panels, set within trim in the dining and living areas, emphasize the soaring 12-foot ceilings and capture the light just so. “When the sun is setting and hits that wallpaper, it feels like you’re in a cloud,” Julia says. In the dining room, the wallpaper, which fades from deep navy to a misty blue-gray, is installed as a triptych, making for a showstopper space. (Nods to the trio echo through spaces, like a guest bedroom, where vertical photos of beachgoers set a playful tone.)
The dining room’s existing curved wood chandelier, rattan chairs, sisal rug, and planter (transformed with a bright white lacquer from its previous dark brown) were repurposed. Julia updated it all with fresh textiles—a striped ikat print on the chairs’ back cushions, watercolor ombré stripes in the curtains—for another updated take on coastal modern. The table’s mix of traditional and modern ginger jars makes a scaled centerpiece fit for the high-ceilinged room. Atop the Phillip Jeffries wallpaper, Julia added white, dimensional palm sculptures for an artful moment that doesn’t compete with the rest of the space. “I didn’t want to take away from the simplicity and the interplay of the patterns here,” she says.
With the main living areas up to date, the two haven’t stopped working together (the primary bedroom is a work in progress, and the homeowner has plans to redo the primary bathroom). But by taking it slow—and carrying through reimagined pieces from the past—Julia and her client have cultivated a design that feels at once fresh, collected and timeless. “You don’t have to redo everything to make a space feel modern,” Julia says.
BUILDER: D. Brown General Contractors
INTERIOR DESIGN: Julia Hall Designs
PHOTOGRAPHY: Dan Cutrona