Decorating & Design
June 23, 2016
12 Palm Beach Interiors That Are Bursting With Color
Florida may be known for its sprawling white sand beaches, but it’s the lush tropical interiors that are really warming our hearts. Palm Beach in particular has enough pattern and color to woo even monochromatics at heart, and if there’s one person who’s seen the best decorating the city has to offer it’s author Jennifer Ash Rudick. As a longtime Palm Beach resident herself, Jennifer has stepped inside some of the area’s most sought-after abodes, which she offers us a glimpse of in her latest book Palm Beach Chic (The Vendome Press).
Terry Allen Kramer — a famed Broadway producer — calls this 43,000-square-foot abode home. When she first moved here it was an empty overgrown lot, but 22 months later it was transformed into the mansion of her dreams. In the ‘Morning Room’ Palladian-style arched doors open up to the gusty Atlantic Ocean. Trellised walls command attention, while a rug filled with monkeys and tropical blooms adds a quirky note underfoot.
The home’s exterior walls, columns and archways are clad in white coquina that yellows gracefully with age. In the west terrace Terry enjoys having her lunch amongst the blue and white chinoiserie plates from the eighteenth-century. She loved them so much she had them permanently cemented to the wall!
The courtyard and pool can both be seen from the west terrace, not to mention a glimpse of Palm Beach’s Intercoastal Waterway in the distance. Hans, Terry’s trusted German shorthaired pointer can’t get enough of all the outdoor space.
Fashion designer Lisa Perry‘s Regency-style home lies in one of Palm Beach’s ritziest oceanfront neighborhoods. One might wonder why anyone would need a pool when they’ve got 145 feet of Atlantic Ocean beachfront, but this area is known as Billionaires’ Row after all.
Amongst the sprawling mansions of Palm Beach lies an intimate grouping of six cottages known as Major Alley. Built in the mid-1920s by renowned architect Howard Major, the cottages have a Caribbean-Colonial style. Here we peak into an office adorned with Rose Cumming’s lush (and very on-trend) banana leaf wallpaper. Bright pink bougainvillea frames the doorway beautifully.
Interior designer Lillian Fernandez was the brains behind this oceanside charmer. “Palm Beach design is casual elegance, slightly more formal than the Bahamas, but less fussy than a Northeastern beach house,” she explains. In this dining area overlooking a pool, Lillian chose to use Dodie Thayer’s iconic Lettuce Ware china for the tabletop.
One of Palm Beach’s most iconic architects, Marion Sims Wyeth, designed this home along with over a hundred others in the area. In this tented loggia, nineteenth-century side tables from a Paris auction house are tucked between wicker furniture from Bielecky Brothers. Duck cloth curtains can be drawn if a spontaneous sun shower comes rolling through.
It’s no surprise that the owners of this house are devout modernists and art collectors. In their entrance hall a brass sculpture by Harry Bertoia and life-sized sheep by Claude Lalanne greet guests upon arrival. The home was designed in the 1950s by notable architect Howard Chilton, known in Palm Beach for his boundary-pushing S-shaped homes.
When these artsy homeowners host parties their vintage Airstream draws guests to the backyard. Artist Randy Polumbo decked out the Airstream’s interior — the homeowners liked it so much they now call it their ‘Lovestream’.
Interior designer Meg Braff went bold with saturated hues like sherbert and aqua in her West Palm Beach apartment. “In Florida, I use bright colors. Anything else can get lost,” she says. In her home office — where she works on her fabric, wallpaper and furniture lines — tropical printed wallpaper is offset with a quieter Lucite coffee table.
This home was originally owned by magazine heiress Janet Annenberg Hooker and designed in Regency-Revival style by Swiss-born architect Maurice Fatio. Maurice was known for his elaborate entrance halls and this one — with its grandiose coffered ceiling and intricate railings — was no exception. Interior designer Jeff Lincoln made sure the furnishings were as impressive as the architecture itself.
At first glance one might assume this breezy Palm Beach entryway is wrapped with wallpaper, but it’s actually a painted mural. The whimsical foliage casts a cheerful note and compliments the floor’s green marble border.
Courtesy of Palm Beach Chic, The Vendome Press