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Vero Beach Magazine (Heart of the House, Jan 2019)
Fits To A Tee
The Gallagher Family’s John’s Island House Felt Like Home Before It Was Home
For over 40 years Janet and Dave Gallagher and their children enjoyed spending time with her parents in John’s Island. For the Atlanta couple and their three offspring, school vacations and holiday time translated to Vero Beach time. There were hugs to be shared, gifts to be exchanged, tales to be told, and above all, moments spent together to be cherished.
When Janet’s parents passed away, the house they had built in 1985 became hers — no strings attached. They had made it clear their daughter and her husband could do whatever they wanted: They could renovate, sell, or tear it down and rebuild; it was up to them.
Before making their decision Janet and Dave looked at homes for sale in other barrier island communities, but at the end of the day they always found themselves coming back to John’s Island.
Read MoreVero Beach Magazine (Living the Dream, March 2019)
From Never To Forever
Marion De Vogel’s Sand Castle Helped Make Her Husband, Willem, A Believer In The Vero Beach Lifestyle
If ever there was a perfect time of the year for Marion de Vogel to introduce her husband, Willem, to Vero Beach, it was in March, the beginning of “mud season” up North — a time when frost comes out of the ground, snow starts melting and spring rains combine to create a mucky mess.
For Marion, whose great-grandfather, Arthur G. McKee, co-founded McKee Botanical Garden, and whose father, Arthur McKee Latta, managed the grounds, it was like coming home. For Willem, who had made it clear from the beginning that he wanted nothing to do with the Sunshine State, it was grin-and-bear-it time
However, after experiencing the Vero Beach version of the Florida lifestyle, Willem began to have a change of heart, and last summer the de Vogels moved into their new two-story, four-bedroom home on the barrier island. In contrast to their traditional residence in New York state, their Vero abode has a more contemporary feel that celebrates their new life together.
Read MoreVero Beach Magazine
Little Jewel On The Ocean, When Necessity Opens The Door To Opportunities
The problem was simple. Orchid Island Beach Club’s walls were bursting at the seams as over the past several years more and more activities and special events had been added to the monthly calendar. The dining room was the designated go-to place, and on days when as many as three events were scheduled at different times, members and staff found themselves bumping into each other as they arranged tables and chairs to suit the situation’s needs.
The solution seemed equally simple, but costly. Construct a new multi-purpose building designed to accommodate special interest clubs, meetings, speakers, presentations—and don’t forget family celebrations. Call it the Sandpiper Room and make sure it’s in keeping with the club’s West Indies architecture. Add tropical landscaping and it will look as though it’s always been there.
Read MoreArchitectural Digest
Classical Epiphany, New Life For A Once-Abandoned Medieval Property in Italy
In their serene detachment from the momenta of the modern world, Tuscany’s hill towns today maintain all that exquisite simplicity so beloved of Florence’s and Siena’s Renaissance masters, who regularly depicted them in the backgrounds of their paintings of the holy and the heroic.
Artists and designers have long been drawn to the tranquil beauty of these villages’ clean lines, plain geometrical forms and graceful proportions situated in hilly landscapes of vineyard and olive groves punctuated by cypress and live oak trees. Indeed, between 1503 and 1506, Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, which likely was set at the Villa Vignamaggio, in the Chianti region, some 20 miles south of Florence. In 2005 Vero Beach, Florida, designer Susan Schuyler Smith began the restoration of a historically significant property in Le Convertoie, only three kilometers away.
Read MoreBoat USA
Silver Cloud
There must be a thousand and one reasons for building a new yacht, but the thinking behind one of the most technically interesting motor yachts to be launched for many years is a touchingly simple and personal one: the owner’s wife gets seasick. The 135ft Abeking & Rasmüssen expedition yacht Silver Cloud tackles that problem using SWATH technology and is believed to be the first substantial yacht of this type. The initial experience, including trials in the North Sea and an Atlantic crossing, has been very promising and has encourage the owner to plan a world cruise.
Alex Dreyfoos has been an enthusiastic yachtsman for many years while his wife, Renate, has been a slightly reluctant one because of her long-standing problem with motion sickness.
Read MoreFlorida Design
Harmonizing Styles, This Vero Beach Home Masterfully Balances Southern Elegance And Livability With A Creative Blend of Old and New
The peaceful southern charm of Winsdor, a Vero Beach community conceived by urban planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, impressed Dr. Richard Franco, wife Kim and their three young children. With its resort village amenities and its stunning location on the barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River, the community was the ideal location for their new year-round residence.
To create the family environment they sought, the Francos assembled designer Susan Schuyler Smith, architect Scott Layne and builder David Croom—all of whom had worked with the owners on other projects. “They love to build homes, and they knew what they wanted—an understated, elegant home. Also they love to collect antiques, art and furniture, so they wanted the design to incorporate old and new,” Smith says.
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