Name: Raelene and Jose
Location: Miami Beach
Size: 2200 sqft
Biggest Piece of Advice: Don't gut the original quality stuff in a house and replace it with cheap, trendy stuff. It will cause someone in the future to suffer greatly.
Favorite Element: The porch renovationit meets and greets us every time we enter the house.
Almost a year since our last house visit, Raelene and Jose are still at it. Since then, Raelene and Jose found time to tackle landscaping (most pleased with a ficus they planted); to expose and stain the beams on the porch; to add curtains to the porch; to fake stain the garage door to match the porch beams; to paint the exterior of the house all by themselves (in one weekend); and to refurbish both bathrooms with appropriately vintage toilets and sinks.
Do you have an idea for a house tour? Let me know! jill@apartmenttherapy.com
Their most important purchase was the shutters, and the biggest lesson they learned was to always spring for the extra money to hire a professional tiler.
Their plans for a new terrazzo floor in the living room are both prescient and bittersweet. Upon further review of the original 1936 house plans, they learned that the original floors were terrazzo. Since then, they had been covered with the shiny white tile that Raelene plans to cover once more with terrazzo. So, the living room will eventually have three layers of tile in all!
And the work doesnt stop there. For Raelene and Jose, the house will become home when the following tasks get off the to do list and onto the done list. Raelene says there is no timeline for these tasks, but knowing their perseverance and insatiable energy, it probably wont be long now.
Outside:
1. Add long rectangular coral rock tiles (largest we can find) on front porch and sidewalk (Separate them so grass grows in between each tile). Make existing step oversized and extend it from bedroom wall to garage wall.
2. Add a deco brushed aluminum front gate at the entryway
3. Hang outdoor pendant lamps from each pair of palm trees
4. Add arbor over garage
5. Add a long, narrow pool in front of the house as an extension from the master bedroom; tear down the wall in the front garden to accommodate pool
Inside:
1. Frame the 1939 ArtDeco Painting
2. Recessed lighting throughout
3. Terrazzo floors in place of white tile
4. Gut and rebuild kitchen with period elements to match the rest of house
5. Open up Florida room even more with 3 sets of french doors; extend it into an outdoor living area.
Raelene and Jose,
Your home is AMAZING!! I just love the style you have chosen The clean and crisp look you have made look and feel warm and cozy. Montana and Ndali are so adorable in the photos and give a fabulous tenderness to your world. Thanks for sending me this website and sharing your new home with me. I can't wait to visit!!
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Charming!I love all your colors. SOO clean, no clutter, I dunno how you do that. I'm going to have to dognap your pups cuz they're the cutest! How old are they?
Thanks for the pictures! Your home is wonderful.
What is the paint color used in the dining room? Love your place...
I just returned from a South Beach weekend. Had I known this lovely, lovely house was in the area I would have knocked on the door and given you my hotel money.
What a fresh and wonderful home. Excellent job.
this is beautiful and cohesive and you guys did a great job -- in a year -- wow! okay, i gotta know where you got the moroccan stool that your dog is perched on (photo 31)...i have been looking for one for ages!!
Great job! I love the colors used throughout. Would you tell me where you found your dining room table and chairs? I think they're great.
love the amenity duvet and the westelm pillows in br2.
-kellen
I LOVE this! As a former Florida girl, I'm very proud to see what you've done.
I'm also curious about the stool. I saw a silver version, and have been looking for that, but yours is even more lovely!
nice job! the colors fit each room's personality so perfectly.
Okay, clearly you guys are going to have to just tell us where everything in your place is from so we can replicate it! I want to know your bedroom wall color! I have some hot pink in my BR right now and love the way that complements the blue! Lovely! OH, and where is the bed from? Oh, and can I have your adorable dogs? :)
Wisteria currently has a similar stool (Abby).
http://www.wisteria.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=W770
The bed looks like West Elm.
Love everything! And french bulldogs are so adorable. I have a boston terrier that is almost all black and people think she's a frenchie. Great dogs!
I love this house so much! The colors, the furniture, the doggiesthe lack of stuff and dust. . . Sigh.
Bravo on your bathroom restorations! I love how you brought it back to it's orginal charming look with the vintage toilets and sinks. You're exactly right about not wanting to replace everything with trendy stuff. True style is timeless.
Beeeeeutiful.
All of a sudden I feel so relaxed!
oh my god, this place so reminds me of my brother and sister-in-law's house in deerfield beach - except for the fact that they have two small children instead of two small dogs!
i think it's a great job!
SO GREAT to get a second tour and design update! More "revisits," please, Jill!!
still love it, and i feel like either your place has grown into the more contemporary furniture or your contemporary furniture has grown into your more retro place... hehe. either way, you've managed to acheive something that incorporates beautiful design into a HOME, which is something not so many places acheive.
Great bed, and Great dogs.
Is there any chance at all that you could post a floor plan?
I lvoe your space, especially the gracious front porch. It's so elegant and simple.
Also, I'm intrigued by the different color floors - dark in some rooms, light in others...
thank you for the heads up szig!
... and I'll add to the list of requests. Where did you find the mailbox? I am looking for a sleek and simple design.
I love the bathrooms, and the fact that the colors used throughout the home relate to one another, without being in the same color group, or following a theme. It's Carribbean in feel, but in a restrained way, and it's vintage in color yet still feels modern. You used the pink extremely well. Just enough.
I have wanted to buy that Wisteria bench for some time (I don't have a place for it right now). Can you tell us whethter you are happy with the quality of the piece? Were you happy with Wisteria in general?
Bravo! I love the blue bathroom and the exterior paint job.
Great use of colors and think the 'fake stain' was the best way to go with the garage door. It gives it a good sense of solidity, expense, and keeps the lime green from overwhelming.
Small house but it even has its own allee of palm trees.
Your home is so beautiful. I can only hope that I'll be able to create such a calm and inviting space for myself some day!
Can you tell me where the pillows you have in the master bedroom are from? I love the plant motifs! Thanks - and great job!
pillows here:
http://ww1.westelm.com/cat/pip.cfm?template=8grid&pkey=cslerug&gids=p129&cid=slerug&area=shp
& here:
http://www.amenityhome.com/e-store/prod_details.asp?pid=461995713270&pcid=461984551799&img=4619100263928&cat=duvets
HELLO EVERYONE!!
Thanks for the words of encouragement, we love the process (albeit slow!) of making it our own. Real quick: House is 2200 sq ft actually, not 1500.
Colors in bedroom are actually 2 tones of cool grey (1wall+hallway dkr shade) Lowes rockybluffs + filtered shade.
Dining room is Behr TropicalBreeze.
Kellen has the pillows/coverlet right!
bed from CB2, a great buy, btr value than WElm I think.
the stool is Wisteria, right on Abby. Quality excellent.
got the mailbox at TARGET online Lori, can you believe?
And dogs-- Shra/Amber/Chris: Montana 7, Ndali 8mos.
rachael and Jennifer, will get back to you Re: plan and din. set.
Question: How did you finish the floors in the bedroom (white/pink)?
Hi there, where did you find your matching side tables in the bedroom. looking for similar ones. Please advise. Lovely place. You guys did a great job
I love all the colors -- everything is so clean looking and fresh -- very sunny and inviting. My favorite? The Frenchies of course! Darling! My brindle Frenchie Louis (also 8 months!) sends his love to your two cuties.
Hello MiniPanda--
The floor in our master bedroom/hallway is florida pine, the same wood floors as the other 2 bedrooms. But we wanted a white look, so it was first bleached, and then tinted with white (3 passes), and then coated with varnish.
Where did you get the light colored bed? I love it.
It's great to see people that appreciate art deco tiles and bath fixtures! I have them in my current apartment and really love them. My fiancé and I have been house-hunting and I can't tell you how many hideous "renovated" bathrooms we have seen. So sad!
Is there a picture of the 1939 painting you are planning to frame, or is it rolled up in a poster tube like half of my art?
Keep us updated on your progress :)
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