A Florida vacation home artfully bridges classic Southern elegance with casual beachfront comfort.
Designers are known for working magic, but Will Huff of Huff-Dewberry, Inc. had a Houdini-level task ahead of him when he was commissioned to reconfigure and redecorate this beachside cottage. His dual challenge: open up the cramped, awkward kitchen and dining area, and carve out three comfortable bedrooms and baths without expanding the home’s footprint. Will and his team gutted the entire structure, revamping the floor plan with an emphasis on seamless flow and multifunctional rooms.
The strong visual connections required Will to balance decorative elements that might otherwise compete. The result is a fresh take on classic Southern style, with beautiful textiles, antiques, and items that evoke the homeowners’ favorite memories. Most important of all, Will says, the new design puts comfort first, creating a relaxed, welcoming retreat for both the family and their guests.
Bright Idea
The painting over the living-room sofa touched off the blue-and-yellow palette. Designer Will Huff incorporated blues throughout the home for continuity, but mixed in other shades to prevent the décor from feeling overtly coastal.
“We didn’t want the house to feel like you were in a beach house, but at a house that happens to be at the beach,” he says.
Pretty in Pink
With two sons and no daughters, the wife “wanted a space that was more feminine than the rest of the home,” Will says. To give her the look she craved, Will enveloped the master bath in a stylized trellis wallpaper and hung a grid of antique pink-and-green botanical prints.
An acrylic chair, found at a local market and reupholstered in sizzling magenta, lends a mod top note. A bold print fabric for the master bedroom dust skirt and throw pillow carries through the palette, yet the neutral backdrop alleviates the sweetness.
Pattern Perfection
The remaining two bedrooms were designed to accommodate houseguests. “[The homeowner] really wanted to have guest bedrooms that were going to be pretty, so that when she had friends come spend the weekend she felt comfortable putting them in there,” Will says.
Will balanced dark-wood antiques and traditional jewel tones with softer elements—such as floral fabrics and scalloped coverlets—and plenty of white. Monograms on the upholstered headboards were custom-designed to suit the scale of the space. The spooled twin beds are family heirlooms.
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