Magazines: Florida Design
(Volume 4 Number 3)

Southern Comfort

TEXT Diane Benson Harrington
PHOTOGRAPHY Kim Sargent, Juno Beach

Florida Design Travels: The back of this sprawling Atlanta home puts on a more contemporary face than the front-door facade. The entire rear of the home is connected by a series of wood decking, rambling patios and terraces with a view of the Chatahoochee River. It speaks volumes in the softest hush and oozes sophistication with the simplest of touches. This 12,000 square foot mansion makes you want to curl up inside and call it home. It belongs to an Atlanta CEO and his wife, who do double-duty in Boca Raton. They love their new Georgia home so much, they're having their 10,000-square-foot Florida home designed with a similar flair. What's the secret of this sprawling mansion that feels more like a favorite sitting room at Grandma's? Creative architecture and classic design. In a neighborhood of gracious, Georgian-style columned mansions, this one breaks the stereotype. It borrows elements from Santa Fé, California and the Mediterranean for an architectural style all its own. "It's a very warm and welcoming house, " says designer Louis Shuster of Fort Lauderdale. "There's nothing that says, 'Don't sit on me.' There's a definite lack of formality, and that's intentional." The tone is set from the first step inside. Twin stairways rimmed in bleached oak sweep up to the second level of the home, where the eye meets arched windows and ceilings. Mexican tile covers the floor. Only a simple table and two potted ficuses hold court in the foyer letting the architecture and the view to the living room command all the attention. Full of slopes and arches, wood and stone and other earthly qualities, the home is at its simplest, yet most dramatic, in the foyer. While the living area was a challenge to decorate - it measures about 30 by 30 feet and has little wall space - it fits together with graceful ease. "I designed the room like a puzzle," says Shuster, who started with a sectional sofa grouping in the middle and let the rest of the furnishings emanate from there. "It really needed separate seating areas. So the sectionals in the center of the room are back-to-back," he says. Other chairs allow for a multitude of conversation groups. A variety of textures and materials play a huge role in this home. The creamy sofas are done in an exaggerated fuzzy chenille - piped with copper welting. The oversize dowel chairs to the left of the fireplace are fitted with fabric woven of leather and suede. The room features a snakeskin and lacquer card table, as well as weathered copper end tables on cement bases. "Those tables are a sort of end to the puzzle They wrap and shape the sofas," Shuster says. The bar chairs tucked under the tiled countertop pick up the color scheme of the home - coppers, golds, teals, seafoams. In front of the open kitchen, the breakfast nook is composed of two leggy love seats, a couple of matching chairs and a triangular glass tabletop, all positioned banquette style in the crook of two window walls. Designing the living room was like putting a puzzle together. With 900 square feet, walls of windows, an enormous fire place and bar to contend with, the designer created several conversation groups that emanate from the center of the room. A vaulted tongue and groove wood ceiling adds more dimension. Adjacent to the nook, the home sports a family room/wife's office. Rich clay-colored leather adorns the sink-into-it sectional. Bleached wood dowels - the same used for all the kitchen cabinetry - form a divider between rooms, flowing into a workspace. A large-screen TV and other entertainment equipment are situated in full view from the sofa. Just beyond the family area, fully visible through a wall of windows, the home has an indoor grilling area. Complete with table and chairs, the room is a mini-kitchen unto itself. In both big and little kitchens, the granite countertops and backsplashes are Georgian granite. "The clients insisted that all the stonework be indigenous to the state," Shuster says. When company numbers more than just a few, guests head to the dining room which is straight from Santa Fé. The enormous dining table is a bleached ash plank on a weathered iron base with brass fittings. Carved, Southwestern-style chairs have leather cushions and jumbo tassels for added elegance. The set sits on a custom-designed area rug that calls upon all the colors of the home. The designer angled the table and chairs to highlight the rug's pattern. Working with the architect to alter the clean square of a room, Shuster designed the buffet area to be built in as part of the house instead of an accessory to it. Behind the woven-copper doors are customized slots, shelves and drawers for the couple's many china, crystal and flatware ensembles, not to mention tablecloths and placemats. "She has a fabulous eye for table-setting items and loves collecting beautiful things like that," Shuster remarks. The surface between the two columns is actually a built-in warming tray, especially convenient for entertaining. Business meets pleasure in the home's movie theater, where the couple can invite friends for private screenings - or where the boss can view commercials from his company's latest advertising campaign. The interior of the screening room combines big-screen enjoyment with home-style comfort. Leather swivel chairs and ottomans make viewing relaxing. Shuster designed tri-level tables which swivel out to provide a surface for each guest. The movie theater is not alone on the lower level. The house also includes an indoor putting green for the two avid golfers. Also down below, garage doors large enough for an industrial park allow delivery trucks to back right in, emptying themselves of extra tables and chairs, refrigeration systems, etc., for entertainment forays. From business to charity to civic affiliations, the couple keeps astoundingly busy. Once slated to be a closet, the built-in entertainment center became a perfect place to introduce the softness of wood into the master suite. The adobe-style fireplace creates additional warmth, as does the layered-effect rug, which has tufts of color peeking out from the squares When the guests go home, a luxurious bedroom suite awaits. Its plush carpet has a double-layer effect with tufts of color peeking out from squares cut in the cream top layer. Taupe leather furnishings adorn the seating area next to the adobe-style, floor-to-ceiling fireplace. Deco doors open (automatically, via motion-control sensors) to a private spa with a bridge that spans the indoor, 10-by-50 foot lap pool. The temperature-controlled area also features a sauna, full exercise area, cabana bath and sitting room. Deco-colored, gym-room-style lockers house a big-screen TV, workout tapes and free weights, among other equipment. Spanning the length of the pool, a domed skylight lets sun shine in to highlight the custom color in the turquoise tiles. Mosaic tile work adds another Deco touch. Such details go beyond the interior of the home. Outside, the owners wanted a special ambiance. For evenings, down-lighting is used on the plants instead of up-lighting, so everything looks touched by the Southern moon.

"It's a very warm and welcoming house, There's nothing that says, 'Don't sit on me.' There's a definite lack of formality, and that's intentional."

LOUIS SHUSTER