“Art is everywhere—in writing, eating, drinking, enjoying life and decorating. I believe in creating a feast for the eyes,” says lauded, locally based artist Mally Khorasantchi. The creator spends months reading and researching before embarking on one of her towering, colorful abstracts.
Mally’s Bonita Springs home reflects the same thoughtful planning and confluence of ideas: Florida by way of Europe, an artist’s soul with innate German discipline. Here, Persian rugs imported by her late husband, Ali, play off her paintings. New furnishings bought simply because they evoke a smile sit comfortably beside beloved antiques.
The space—designed to her exacting specifications and built to exist within its wild, natural setting on the Imperial River—came about by accident. In 2019, Mally received poor medical care after a fall and used a small settlement to invest in real estate. Over the past 30 years, she’s lived all over Naples, from a charming house in historic Old Naples to five sleek abodes in Pelican Bay. Zillow led her to Bonita Springs. “I’ve always been a bit of a bumblebee, but I’d never been to this area or this kind of property,” she says. “This type of nature is disappearing all over. It feels good to have it around me.”
The star of her Imperial River-anchored neighborhood is the untamed flora and fauna, with manatees, dolphins, otters, alligators, turtles and giant iguanas in abundance. “Here, nature isn’t cut into forms or shapes. It’s beautiful and overwhelming. It’s like a little zoo,” she says.
When Mally found the half-acre property, the site housed a little fishing shed in poor repair. Her longtime builder, Mark Cotter of Cotter Construction in Naples, assessed the land and its underwhelming lean-to. “It was hanging over the water, had gone through termites and flooding, and everybody wanted it to be condemned,” project manager Brittany Nolan says, with a laugh. “But Mally thought it was charming, so we shored it up.” The Cotter team renovated the small shack, converting it into a studio, where Mally worked as she designed her home with architect and dear friend Oliver Weirich of Cologne, Germany.
When Oliver died in December 2022, just a few weeks after Mally’s husband passed away, she pressed on with completing her refuge and enlisted Mark and his team to spearhead the design. “She knew just what she wanted,” Brittany says.
The layout is designed to be simple, user-friendly and low-maintenance. “Turn left, turn right, you know where you are. I like things clean and straight and easy,” Mally adds. The single-story, two-bedroom space has an open-plan living and dining area, plus a pantry, a study and an art studio. Mally’s connection to nature was paramount from the project’s onset. To preserve the scenery, the team added a big window in her studio to allow for streams of sunlight and French doors along the back of the house, which open onto an expansive pool deck with tiling from Naples’ Hadinger Flooring, lofty screening and an uninhibited view of the surrounding vegetation. “Mally loves having those doors open,” Brittany says. “Even on 90-degree days, she’s on the lanai with the warm air flowing through the house.”
Photography Amber Frederiksen
Photography by Amber Frederiksen
Photography by Amber Frederiksen
Photography by Amber Frederiksen
Photography by Amber Frederiksen
Photography by Amber Frederiksen
Photography by Christina Bankson
Photography by Amber Frederiksen
Classic Florida exterior elements like white stucco-covered shiplap, navy doors and shutters, and a charcoal roof help the home blend into the neighborhood. “We kept the landscaping to a minimum,” Brittany says. “Mally wanted to keep the pine trees in the front, so we oriented the house around them.” The front door punches out for curb appeal.
Inside, the design reflects Mally’s penchant for history and art. “I want my space to feel a little elegant but not so styled that you don’t feel comfortable or as if you can’t sit down and get something dirty,” Mally says. “There’s this little bit of [free spirit] inside of me.” The decor is simple with European influences, infused with Persian antiques and an artist’s touch. In the study, an antique Middle Eastern trunk serves as a coffee table, with one of Ali’s Persian rugs beneath. “You can use these rugs for 100 years and never see any sign of wear,” she says. A collection of black and white photographs includes two by Clyde Butcher: one of Mally; another of the old Naples Pier.
The dining room has an antique cabinet holding a collection of German dishes, a banquette paired with a 200-year-old oak table, vintage chairs, and a family heirloom chandelier, originally designed for a castle in France. Through the kitchen, navy-blue French doors (Charcoal Blue by Sherwin-Williams) lead to the pantry/laundry room, which is wrapped in a moody, deep blue storm cloud wallpaper from Cole & Son (Nuvolette in Slate Blue). The doors stay open most days, displaying entertaining pieces collected over the years. “At my age, I’ve been given a lot of pieces and love to put beautiful things out,” she says.
Black-and-white Crossville Retro Active 2.0 porcelain tiles set the tone in the entryway (They’re “very European,” Mally says.) beside a lumbering RH mirror, an antique Persian rug and a sheep bench that gives the artist a laugh every time she walks through the door. “Everything has a meaning or a purpose—nothing was just bought to fill a space,” Brittany adds.
Throughout the home, 8-foot-tall doors are painted Caviar black (Sherwin-Williams), starkly contrasting the Ceiling White walls (Sherwin-Williams). Essence Coffee wood-like porcelain tiles provide additional drama. “It feels like a quaint hotel in the middle of the Alps,” Mark says.
Mally worked with her daughter, interior designer Sandra Drechsler, to supplement her antique furnishings with transitional upholstered pieces, like the living room’s matching duo of white custom sofas, designed by Sandra and paired with two navy chairs for a comfortable conversation spot. “I’m always having people over for drinks, so this is a welcoming area,” Mally, who loves to entertain, says.
Sandra also helped select whimsical wallpapers—like Cole & Son’s Macchine Volanti (in slate blue) in the powder room—which complement Mally’s artwork, a.k.a. her ‘girlfriends.’ The guest bedroom displays Mally’s Oasis X painting, which has been sold twice and returned for various reasons (“Sometimes my girlfriends just want to stay home,” Mally says). One of her favorites, And the Figs Started the Conversation, which recently returned from The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art in Lakeland, graces the living room.
Mally sees things differently since moving to her Bonita Springs oasis and her work to reflects the new space. “I’m surrounded by the colors, the spirit and rhythm of nature,” she says. “This home has been such a gift.”
Photography by Christina Bankson
Mally Khorasantchi bonita springs home
The intentionally wild Imperial River-backed property—which retains the half-acre lot’s preexisting old fishing shed—inspires Mally’s artwork. “This type of nature is disappearing all over,” she says. “It feels good to have it around me.”
Architect: Oliver Weirich
Builder: Cotter Construction
Interior Design: Sandra Drechsler
Photography: Amber Frederiksen