For a family of four from Manhattan, the lure of true indoor-outdoor living proved too much to resist during the pandemic, and they found exactly that lifestyle in Palm Beach, Florida, in a beautiful home located just steps from the ocean.

“They literally are across the street from the beach,” says Jennifer Mehditash, principal and owner of the New York- and Newport Beach, California-based Mehditash Design.

The house presented some initial challenges in the form of its layout, with features like a too-large entryway with lots of unusable space and a small living room that was cut off from the kitchen. So the clients tapped Mehditash, along with Jupiter, Florida-based architecture and construction firm Thomas Melhorn and Palm Beach-based landscape architect Environment Design Group, to reimagine the home inside and out. 

Clever transformations

The team transformed the front entryway and stairwell from a space that was “sort of empty and not very welcoming” into one that not only made an architectural statement with the reconfigured stairs, but also added storage and functionality with vestibule-style laundry room and powder room and did so with incredible style.

Mehditash loves the powder room’s geometric, black, white, and gray tiles that cover the floor and the bottom half of the walls, as well as the “surprise” of custom glitter grout. Those same black-and-white geometric materials repeat in the family room on the coffee table and the marble sideboard that was custom made in Portugal.

Throughout the downstairs Venetian plaster on the walls gives a beautiful, textured finish. A too-small TV and fireplace wall and oddly configured entryway from the living room to the main bedroom were reworked by creating vestibules on either side of the TV and fireplace that are camouflaged with wide, shiplap-planked doors.

When the doors are closed, it gives the feeling of a single, wide wall, but each door opens to something different: the main bedroom on one side with a more private entrance, and a pretty, “jewel box” home office on the other.

Maximize Space 

In addition to maximizing space in the entryway and living room, the team also opened up the space between the kitchen and living room areas, allowing for a customized kitchen island and bar area, as well as a custom built-in banquette wall dining space.

The kitchen is bright and clean, with a large, custom walnut and marble island and cabinetry that extends to the ceiling, along with pops of interest from large gold-accented globe pendants hanging over the island; a coffee bar in a black metal finish; bursts of color from vintage Murano glass pieces; and a zinc table that’s not only beautiful but sturdy, letting the family’s kids “live their best life on it,” Mehditash says.

Throughout the house, more color and visual interest come from pieces from artists like James Perkins, Sarah Meyohas, Paul Kneale, and Rachel Lee Hovnanian from Voltz Clarke Gallery in New York and County Gallery in Palm Beach.

Indoor-outdoor living 

Part of Palm Beach’s appeal is its indoor-outdoor lifestyle, and the team wanted to create those moments wherever they could throughout the house. “We really wanted there to be that indoor-outdoor living experience,” Mehditash says.

In addition to enlarging the pool and making improvements to the outdoor lounge and loggia dining space, the team used large, windowed doors from the company Brombal that swing wide open onto the pool from the living room, kitchen, and main bedroom and that Mehditash calls a “key feature.”

“The most important thing was opening up the windows and having those windows be stackable,” Mehditash says. “All those back sliding doors open up and stack and so you really do feel like you’re in the outside when you’re in the living room.”

Those touches of the outdoors are echoed in other ways, too, from the natural, cool-toned European oak flooring; to the main bathroom’s rainfall shower; to wallpaper in the bedrooms (think green palm fronds and blue-and-white wave pattern); to the surfboards that not only stand in as décor but that the family really uses; to the performance fabrics that won’t be ruined if someone sits down with a damp bathing suit. “It’s definitely a put-your-feet-up kind of house, while still looking very chic and elevated,” Mehditash says.

Brad Ramsey, principal designer of Nashville-based Brad Ramsey Interiors, had just started working on a newly constructed, 5,157-square-foot home in Alys Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida when the homeowner reached out to him while she was browsing in an antiques shop. “She sent me a photo, and she was like, ‘Do you think we could work this in anywhere at the new beach house?’” he says. 

The photo was of a warm, wooden bench that was for sale in the shop. “I hadn’t even put a concept to where we were going with furnishing, but I could tell that she loved it,” Ramsey says. So he told her, “We’ll figure something out.” With that endorsement, the homeowner purchased the bench, and Ramsey remembered it as he worked on the house and its design. “It was stored for at least a year, but it was always in my mind as we were making decisions,” he says. “We wanted that to feel cohesive but also special.”

He ended up using the bench in the foyer and incorporating other touches of warm wood throughout the house, including to the interior doors. “I feel like when you walk in, it’s unexpected. I feel like most people that do a beach house would never put a piece like that in there,” he says.

A warmly cohesive surprise of a beach house is exactly the right way to describe this entire project, which Ramsey created for a Nashville-based music manager’s family, which includes grandchildren, after they’d outgrown their previous Alys Beach retreat. The new house consists of four bedrooms and four and a half baths, as well as several outdoor spaces that flow beautifully with the home’s interior, giving it a true indoor-outdoor aesthetic.

The antique wooden bench that the homeowner fell in love with wasn’t the only way that Ramsey drew on the family’s personal style. They also own a collection of African tribal pieces, including masks, necklaces, and textiles, that Ramsey thoughtfully incorporated into the design. The result is a home that’s welcoming and stylistically cohesive, with a neutral color palette that reflects the natural world, along with the cozy warmth of the family’s life.

For instance, stained oak, raised-panel doors lend character and warmth, while white oak floors and accents, in spots like the railings in the main stairwell, tie the rest of the décor and furnishings together. In addition, the walls in the house’s main level and primary bedroom are covered in a shiny plaster, lending a lovely glow to the space when natural light hits it. “With all the warm textures and colors that we put in the house, I think it feels really special,” Ramsey says.

That feeling is reflected in every room. For instance, the kitchen is bright and clean: The marble countertops and a backsplash balance with warmer touches like the oak island and oak detail on the oven hood vent. Armless counter stools allow four people to sit together at the island, while indoor-outdoor fabric gives the look of linen, but with easy cleaning for possibly messy grandkids. The kitchen pendants tie it all together, with linen shades that emit a soft, diffused light and wood links connecting them to the ceiling. 

“They bring in some of that interesting, tribal, geometric [style] that we were trying to do touches of throughout the house,” Ramsey says. The rest of the house also reflects that comfortable, livable space where the family could all be together. The living and dining room area has plenty of seating, while four bedrooms allow children, grandchildren, and other guests to stay comfortably. The colors and textures of the main living spaces are also repeated in the bedrooms.

The primary bedroom features a beautiful, raised ceiling with shiplap detail. Additional texture and visual interest come from light oaks mixed with a black bedside table; a chandelier and bedside lamps with rustic burlap shades; and an Old World–inspired rug with shapes that nod to the home’s tribal details while also including soft blue-green tones that are repeated in the pillows on the bed. 

The home’s three outdoor spaces are all just as special. One of them is a large, covered patio off the primary suite upstairs, where a large hanging bed allows lots of room for snuggling and enjoying the sunset. Also upstairs is a patio with a stained pergola and two outdoor swings that face each other. The patio overlooks the pool and courtyard and is just off the bar, allowing people to fix a drink and watch the sunset. 

Downstairs, there’s an outdoor area with a little dip pool, two large, cozy loungers, and a small outdoor dining area. Two sofas, with an oversized coffee table in between, face each other below an under-balcony to create another gathering area. It all adds up to cozy, warm spaces where the entire family can enjoy one another’s company, inside and out. “The mantra here is togetherness,” Ramsey says.

When your home is within walking distance of an idyllic stretch of Rhode Island beach just outside Newport, you can expect a flurry of visitors all summer. That’s exactly the case for a Middletown, Rhode Island couple who wanted their home to be a comfortable and welcoming summertime gathering place for friends and family.

“When summer comes, the house is pretty much booked every week and weekend from our friends from childhood, high school, college, and our family coming through from all over,” the homeowner says. 

That’s why, when they redesigned the house, they did it with an eye toward entertaining. Both the upstairs and downstairs have full kitchens and living areas, so the homeowners created their home’s lower level with guests in mind. 

Working with designer Justine Sterling of Massachusetts-based Justine Sterling Design and the Rhode Island-based contractor Innovative Design Concepts, the couple reimagined their home by eliminating unneeded storage areas, maximizing ocean views, and creating bright, open spaces for people to comfortably gather, whether it’s playing games in the kitchen or having dinner in the more formal dining room.

“Whatever it may be, we can all get together now,” the homeowner says. “The space has been maximized in a way that it hadn’t before.” 

A beachy welcome

The home’s welcoming, beachy vibes start immediately in the front entryway, thanks to details like a textured hemp wallcovering in ombre hues of soft, sandy browns, a jute runner, and an organic-looing chandelier woven from strands of ecru-toned wooden beads. Pops of color and coastal Rhode Island flair come thanks to prints of aerial photos of two local beaches—Gooseberry and Second—by photographer Gray Malin.

“You’re looking at the beaches that you can go visit while you’re here,” the homeowner says. “They come in and feel like they’re in an ocean house.”

Sterling says she wanted to “create continuity between all the spaces from the minute that you walk in the front door,” and that’s evident even in transitional spaces like the stair hallway, where a surfboard and a nearly floor-to-ceiling photo of bright, rippling, cerulean water by photographer Wendy Concannon make a seaside statement.

A “come hang out” kitchen

Sterling did “a lot of space planning” when redesigning the house, and that’s especially evident in the kitchen, which the team took down to the studs to open up and maximize the space. Now, everything about the bright and beachy kitchen says, “come hang out,” from the white island surrounded by rattan and woven white counter stools, to the “beautiful, fully kitted out bar” tucked into one corner and painted a soft, greenish blue grey using Benjamin Moore’s Wedgewood Grey. 

An open closet with stacks of bright orange-and-white-striped towels on wooden shelves adds a fun pop of color and invites lazy afternoons by the pool or on the beach, while an oversized sliding door between the kitchen and the stairway quiets kitchen sounds for other guests, whether it’s late-night card games or early-morning coffee brewing.

An easy, breezy living space

Layered textures and easy, welcoming warmth make the combined sitting and dining areas a place where guests love to unwind, relax, and connect in front of the fire or around the table.

The sitting area’s deep-cushioned, raffia-colored sofa is flanked by two blue swivel chairs and topped with beige and light orange throw pillows. The oversized, organically shaped coffee table’s polished top is made of fossilized clams, while side tables and a sideboard with white caning add even more translucent texture and visual interest to the room. More lively layers come courtesy of the contemporary, pale verdigris rug; textured sand-colored wallpaper; dark brown rope mirror; and woven roman shades.  

“Texture and layering always make a space feel alive,” Sterling says. 

Texture and jolts of color enliven the dining area, too. While the tabletop’s finish is natural, its apron and legs are painted a poppy light teal, and instead of just one kind of dining chair, there are two: white, fabric-draped chairs that sit at either end of the table and rattan and white-weave chairs that echo the kitchen’s counter stools.

The end result is an easygoing and comfortable seaside home that’s always ready to welcome family and friends, without the old-fashioned stodginess that predominates in a lot of traditional New England coastal décor. 

“I wanted something that reflected more of my personality, which is just a little bit more relaxed but chic, and bright and modern,” the homeowner says. 

For more information, visit justinesterling.com