Many homes along the Gulf are designed to capture a water view. This Port Royal abode, by London Bay’s Private Label Living division, revolves around it. The design treats water as architecture, using pools, terraces and the bay to establish a sense of calm. “We wanted the water to come right up to the windows,” the husband says.
Past the double-height entry, the lofty foyer has no distracting furniture or architectural flourishes. Even the front door—made by Italian company Oikos in steel and charcoal porcelain and mounted on a pivot—avoids hardware, so your eye is drawn to the walls of windows overlooking a set of parallel reflection and swimming pools. Each surface—from the foyer rug, with its watery hues, to the pools to the bay view—is aligned on a single axis, so one reflects the next, collapsing the distance between interior and horizon. “It’s meant to make you feel relaxed and comfortable,” he adds.
Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
large windows water view HOME 2026
In this Port Royal abode, the intent is clear from the entryway: “We wanted the water to come right up to the windows,” the homeowner says. A deliberate lack of furniture or architectural flourishes allows the eye to go straight to the glass wall framing the parallel pools and the bay beyond.
A tight material palette reinforces the visual ease throughout. Rift-sawn white oak travels from floors to ceilings, wrapping various surfaces to erase thresholds; the wood pulls you from one room to the next. Leather and Venetian plaster show up strategically, introducing texture without disrupting the flow. It’s all clean lines, with no door trims or moldings in sight. “That’s a signature for our homes, but it means it’s got to be perfect all the way down—you can hide a lot with a baseboard,” the project’s lead, Steve Miller, says.
The focus on precision began long before construction. The couple spent nearly a decade searching for the right piece of land. “We wanted a larger-than-average lot, on the water, facing east toward the sunrise,” the homeowner says. Once the site was secured, they worked with London Bay’s in-house architects and interior designers to create a space where the structure, furnishings and plantings reinforce each other at every turn.
Built in a U-shape, the home wraps around a courtyard, where the reflection pool flanks a sunken fire pit area—a design born from FEMA standards that changed midway through planning. “We had to lift the house and raise the pools with the elevation change,” the husband says. By pulling the home around the courtyard pool, the team was able to visually ground the elevated footprint. What could have been a setback became the organizing principle that multiplied the water views from most rooms. At night, lighting transforms the pools into glowing channels that enhance the bay’s presence.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
oak and steel staircase and artwork by Marco Grassi HOME 2026
In the foyer, two paintings by Italian artist Marco Grassi—set opposite a mono-stringer oak-and-steel staircase with integrated lighting and glass handrails—visually link the ground floor to the mezzanine, introducing rhythm to the double-height space.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
open floor plan with neutral tones HOME 2026
Rift-sawn white oak wrapping the walls and ceilings creates continuity in the open floor plan. Contemporary artworks serve as visual waypoints through the clean-lined rooms.
Inside, contemporary artworks serve as waypoints through the open-plan space. Two paintings by Italian artist Marco Grassi hang above each other in the foyer (one at ground level, one on the mezzanine), creating rhythm in the double-height space. After spotting the artist’s work in a ski resort, the homeowners saw it again in a London gallery. “We ended up buying two pieces because we couldn’t decide between the silver or the gold, but they work really nicely together,” the wife says.
The paintings stand opposite mono-stringer stairs, crafted in black-painted steel and oak with integrated lighting strips and glass panel handrails. Next to the foyer, white oak wraps the walls of the dining room, which is illuminated by a chandelier composed of nearly 200 individually blown glass pendants. Inspired by a lighting installation they saw in a hotel in Switzerland, the homeowners commissioned the piece, with four shades of blue that echo the colors in the dining chair pillows. “It creates a mood no matter where you come from,” the husband says of the chandelier’s central location in the dining room, between the foyer and open living room and kitchen.
Behind the fixture, a 12-foot, dimensional painting from Chinese artist Zhuang Hong-Yi’s Flowerbed Series seems to shift color in the light. The artist folds hundreds of individual pieces of rice paper into tiny flowers, painted with acrylic, so they shimmer and shift from different angles. A companion piece hangs on the parallel wall in the kitchen—the two artworks bracketing the bar that divides the dining and cooking areas.
The home’s more public wing encompasses the kitchen, living room and an outdoor entertaining area for the couple to host their extensive clan. “We have quite a lot of family here in town, but we also have family that visits. So it was a must to have a nice, big kitchen where we could entertain everybody,” the wife says.
Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
luxury oversize tufted sectional HOME 2026
Next to the kitchen, an oversize tufted sectional sits atop a rug that Michael Scott, senior design director at London Bay’s Romanza Interior Design, designed to reflect the blue accents running through the home.
Two islands in quartzite (“I want to take a pan out of the oven and just plunk it straight on the counter,” the wife says) create different work triangles: one for baking with a single oven and sink, the other for cooking with two ovens, a steam oven, gas and induction burners, and an oversized sink with a built-in colander and drying rack. A third dishwasher hides in the pantry alongside an ice maker, warming drawer and wine coolers. Despite the scale—enough equipment to run a small restaurant—the space avoids feeling cluttered.
Above the work surfaces, white Venetian plaster appears to float below the rift-sawn white oak paneling, backlit by concealed cove lighting. “We call it a cloud ceiling,” says Michael Scott, senior design director at London Bay’s Romanza Interior Design.
Adjacent to the kitchen, an oversized, tufted white sectional, dark accent chairs and a low coffee table sit atop a rug that Scott designed to echo the blue accents seen throughout the home. “We want it to feel serene, but not sterile,” the wife says. The white upholstery matches the outdoor furniture visible beyond the glass. The spaces feel cohesive when the sliders are retracted, creating a single, expansive entertaining area complete with a full outdoor kitchen, as well as hibachi and regular grills. “It’s seamless when they’re entertaining,” Scott says.
Back inside, on the other side of the foyer, the intention shifts from entertaining to intimate living. Darker materials depart from the rest of the home’s openness and create a cocooning environment in the club room. Here, Nero Marquina marble extends from the fireplace up the wall behind an inset television, until it reaches the ceiling, where the surface transitions to black leather. “It’s a big visual departure from the rest of the home, but it makes the space feel comfortable and intimate,” Miller says. Integrated window treatments and drop-down shades cut glare for television watching. “When our nieces are here and they’re fed up with talking to the grownups, they can come in here and binge on popcorn and TV. We wanted it to be as friendly and warm as possible,” the wife says of the space that doubles as the husband’s office.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
luxury kitchen white and oak details HOME 2026
Two quartzite islands define separate work zones in a kitchen built for family gatherings. Above, white Venetian plaster appears to float beneath the backlit rift-sawn oak paneling, creating a ‘cloud ceiling.’
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
luxury kitchen with artwork by Zhuang Hong-Yi HOME 2026
Nearly 200 hand-blown glass pendants illuminate a 12-foot canvas from artist Zhuang Hong-Yi’s Flowerbed series—one of two companion works installed on opposite sides of the dividing wall between the dining area and kitchen.
A Minotti Carson Writing Desk faces the water, backed by a recessed niche wrapped in nutmeg Ultrasuede with illuminated glass shelving. White oak frames the entire composition, keeping the room grounded in the home’s aesthetic. The powder room echoes the club room’s edgier tone, with a smoked-glass mirror lending the compact space a more expansive feel and shadowed elegance.
The wing’s ground floor also holds a laundry area and a guest suite. “I always feel it’s good to have a guest suite on the ground floor for folks who don’t want to navigate the stairs or an elevator,” Miller says. Upholstered paneling, running wall to wall in teal and orange, softens the guest bedroom.
Thoughtful zoning shapes the entire home. Upstairs, a landing with seating overlooks the pools, marking the final layer: the VIP guest room and an office with a Murphy bed to one side, and the primary suite protected behind a doored hallway on the other.
Venetian plaster coats the walls leading to the couple’s bedroom, softening the architecture and denoting the shift toward the home’s inner sanctum with luminosity. The custom Paul Smith runner underfoot subtly ties back to the coastal hues outside. In the bedroom, Scott added mirrored panels to a wall to extend the view. “You can see all the way down the river to the preserves on the other side,” the husband says. Champagne-hued, silk bedding and a channel-tufted leather headboard play against pale wood ceilings and soft light filtering through layered drapery. Overhead, a circular chandelier of faceted glass rods adds a touch of glamour. “It’s supposed to look like a diamond, to give the room some bling,” Scott says.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
luxury bathroom glass shower HOME 2026
The primary shower is outfitted with multiple Fantini shower heads and opens to a covered terrace for an indoor-outdoor bathing experience.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
luxury bedroom neutral tones water view HOME 2026
In the couple’s bedroom, Champagne-hued silk bedding, a channel-tufted leather headboard and a faceted-glass chandelier, designed to resemble a diamond, add a touch of glam. Mirrored panels flank the bed, extending the water views.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
luxury hallway artwork HOME 2026
The primary bath continues the balance between openness and privacy. Long and narrow, the space has walnut cabinetry and a backlit mirror surrounded by copper glass tiles. A Thassos Marble tub sinks into the floor below a big window. “It was an engineering/construction challenge, but it was worth it to have an uninterrupted view of the pool and water,” Miller says. The tub is connected to the shower, which is outfitted with multiple Fantini shower heads in the wall and ceiling and extends toward a private terrace. “It feels like an indoor-outdoor shower, but it’s under a complete covering, so you’re not showing yourself off to the world,” the husband says.
Down the hall, a gym functions as a self-contained wellness suite, with Technogym equipment and a steam shower wrapped in blue-flecked granite. “It’s got all the noise control so one of them can get up to exercise or make a coffee without waking the other,” Miller says. Stepping back out into the hallway, the view extends across the landing to a grandfather clock inherited from the husband’s parents, a marker of continuity within a home defined by forward-looking design.
Outside, spaces unfold as a series of framed experiences. “There are really two fronts—what you see from the road, and what you see from the water,” Miller says. The landscape ties everything together through color, scent and texture. The team worked through the gardens in phases, first planting to establish structure, then letting the plants mature before refining details. Tall palms went in before construction began so they’d be settled by move-in.
Bamboo edges the property for privacy and sound absorption, while layered groundcover, vines and wildflowers create a lush, natural rhythm. “I wanted as much flowering as possible—a riot of color—and pots at every gate to draw people beyond,” the wife says. Small statues and tucked-away corners lend discovery along the way, including down the side walkway. “Most people just use this as a pathway, but we wanted a natural, meandering area,” she says. Now, the array of tropical plantings forms its own microclimate with plenty of shade.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
outdoor living pool Port Royal Home HOME 2026
The U-shaped configuration—born from FEMA elevation requirements that became an organizing principle—multiplies water views from most rooms. At night, integrated lighting transforms the parallel pools into glowing channels that enhance the bay’s presence, while layered tropical landscaping creates privacy and a lush, natural rhythm between the street and water frontages.
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Photography by Venjhamin Reyes
aerial view luxury backyard pool area HOME 2026
The integrative approach runs through the unseen layers that make the home hum. “It culminates with furnishings and fixtures, but we’re integrating all the different disciplines in a sequential manner,” Miller says, referring to the team of 10 or so consultants who collaborated on everything from layouts to paint colors to systems engineering. Lighting, security, cameras, garage doors, shutters and screens are all controllable through a Control4 hub. Sound system speakers hide throughout, even in the shower, while decorative and cove lighting appears in stair treads, under the fire pit and inside cabinets, with minimal buttons or control panels. “We really didn’t want any wall clutter,” Miller says. Topping it all off, Tesla solar roof tiles aim for energy self-sufficiency while looking like standard roofing. “It looks pretty, but it’s also doing the work,” the wife says.
That dual identity—beautiful and functional—could describe the entire design. “My first wish for this home was that your shoulders drop and you feel calm as soon as you walk through the door,” the wife says. “This team made it happen.”