This Palm Beach Home Channels Regency Style With Retro Flair
Mixing whimsy and glam, a Regency-style residence channels the verve of 1960s Palm Springs.
So much of South Florida unfolds like an architectural playground. Behind sculpted hedges stand varied settings, from grand Mediterranean estates to white Bermuda-style abodes. On the other side of one such living wall, a 1962 Regency-style home by influential developer Robert W. Gottfried enticed a New Jersey family searching for a holiday retreat. They adored the formal interior’s tall ceilings and abundant sunlight, while the backyard’s lush greenery and free-form pool “felt like stepping inside a Slim Aarons photograph,” the wife laughs. “All I needed was a caftan.”
Inspired by their first tour, the new owners imagined leaning into this unique combination of aesthetics. “They wanted to mix the architectural style with more contemporary furnishings,” describes interior designer Jenna Conte Olin, who was recruited to refresh the Palm Beach property. The goal: Regency elegance meets classic Palm Springs oasis.
Previous renovations had obscured the façade’s clean lines, adding elements such as an offset front door and a large portico. So residential designer Caroline Koons Forrest, with her firm’s Matthew Kragh as architect of record, went back to the drawing board—literally—by reviewing Gottfried’s original blueprints. Her plan included eliminating the portico, replacing the windows and doors, restoring the shutters and centering the entrance.
This march toward poetic symmetry continues inside. From the entry, a traditional hall serves as the home’s through line, with a library to one side and a lounge space on the other. The corridor then flows into the great and family rooms, all now visually aligned with uninterrupted views of the rear grounds. “We focused on finding those centerlines and axial moments,” Forrest explains, “so you can physically and visually proceed through the story of this house.” The structure’s classical conventions also loosened: Interior decorative columns were relocated to the façade, creating smooth thresholds between places such as the kitchen and breakfast room.
“WE FOCUSED ON FINDING THOSE CENTERLINES AND AXIAL MOMENTS , SO YOU CAN PHYSICALLY AND VISUALLY PROCEED THROUGH THE STORY OF THIS HOUSE.”
– CAROLINE KOONS FORREST
This dance between traditional and relaxed shaped the outdoor areas, too. “The front entry has more formality, with conical pleached trees,” observes landscape architect Dustin M. Mizell. “But the backyard becomes more casual and organic.” Amid the latter’s mature palm trees, for instance, are buoyant clusters of ornamental grass and tropical flowers.
Home Details
Architecture:
Caroline Koons Forrest, MHK Architecture
Interior Design:
Jenna Conte Olin, McCann Design Group
Home Builder:
Sean Counihan, Counihan Construction
Landscape Architecture:
Dustin M. Mizell, Environment Design Group
A high-gloss blue hue from Fine Paints of Europe envelops the foyer, where Ralph Lauren Home’s Langley lights illuminate artworks by Alexi Torres and eL Seed. A bench from 1stdibs adds a playful accent atop Hakwood planks from Absolute Hardwood Flooring.
In the great room, Apparatus sconces adorn walls in Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee. The space flows into the family room—home to The Future Perfect lounge chairs— and onto the rear grounds by landscape architect Dustin M. Mizell.
Holly Hunt mohair pillows top the great room’s sofa by O. Henry House, which cradles a coffee table from The Silver Fund on an L&M Custom Carpets rug. Leading to the kitchen are silver-leaf wood doors with gold-accented portholes.
Apparatus’ Cloud pendant crowns the great room. Framing the fireplace of tourmaline granite from Stone Gallery are Martin & Brockett consoles painted Benjamin Moore’s Majestic Blue and Sabine Marcelis mirrors. Vintage armchairs, a custom side table and art by Cayla Birk complete the look.
White quartzite defines the kitchen, outfitted with cabinetry by High End Cabinets and Liebherr appliances. Lawson-Fenning’s Cruz counter stools offer a dose of color beneath Studio Van den Akker’s Dexter chandelier. The Rohl faucet, Rejuvenation hardware and custom stainless-steel hood introduce shine.
Highland House’s Auten swivel chairs wear Pierre Frey’s Street Diptyque cotton in the family room. Another Alexi Torres artwork decorates an oak-paneled wall outlined with Farrow & Ball’s Vardo in the grooves. Avo’s Sunburst Dash double-cowhide rug complements the Cowtan & Tout sheers.
In the breakfast room, Tuleste Factory’s Ripple table partners with Artistic Frame’s Syrah chairs in Dualoy Leather’s metallic Bling-Bling textile. Osborne & Little sheers and Philippe Bertho art enliven the Phillip Jeffries wallcovering. The Urban Electric Co.’s Pop lights stud the ceiling.
Porter Teleo’s Floral Graffiti wallcovering acts as artwork in the primary bedroom, which is blanketed by a Rug & Kilim rug. Verellen stools and The Urban Electric Co. sconces accompany the bespoke bed and nightstands.
Catharine Warren artwork hangs above a Mario Bellini sofa in the daughter’s lounge. The Heir Looms rug cushions a Kelly Wearstler lamp and David Gaynor Design stool. The pillows are made of Annie Coop and Dedar textiles.
Wall tile by Allison Eden Studios brings a confetti of color to the daughter’s bathroom. The Glassos countertop coordinates with a vanity base by High End Cabinets. The faucet by California Faucets is from MH Fine Hardware.
The back terrace is a midcentury modern oasis, complete with a curvy pool and an allée of palm trees. Alongside, Mizell cultivated an “expansive palette of loose ornamental grasses, ginger and tropical flowering plants,” he says.
Taking the baton, Olin further blurred refinement and playfulness. The foyer introduces the residence’s formal side, with traditional wall paneling and oak parquet floors with brass inlays. But its sleeker details nod to the California modernism that unfolds. The space is enveloped in high-gloss teal paint, reminiscent of vintage cars, and flush molding makes a clean backdrop for displaying the couple’s contemporary artworks.
Deeper in the home, “things take on more curved, fluid shapes,” the interior designer says. Furnishings feature the rounded arms and sloped backs of midcentury modern silhouettes, such as the great room’s arched sofa and armchairs. Multiple circular forms in the space—from the bubble chandelier to the silver-leaf porthole doors that lead to the kitchen—“further reinforce the lines of the furniture,” she adds.
Channeling the couple’s vibrant paintings, accents in pop art-worthy hues—particularly the wife’s beloved signature teal—weave a prismatic continuum throughout. “We created these sneak peeks of the color that gain strength as you go farther into the house,” Olin explains. “This way, each space gives a glimpse of what comes next.” The foyer’s soft version of the shade seeps into the great room’s geometric consoles and reaches its full potency in the family room on the built-in and as a clever wall detail: “We incorporated the teal inside the 1-inch gap between the room’s veneer paneling,” shares general contractor Sean Counihan. Splashes of yellow and violet contribute to the color story, like the sunset ombre of the breakfast room’s resin table and the modular mauve sofa in the daughter’s purple-tinted lounge.
From upholstery to finishes, every surface became “an opportunity for art,” the interior designer says, pointing to the graffiti-like fabric on the family room armchairs and the geometric mosaic tiles in the daughter’s bathroom. In the couple’s bedroom, walls are covered with a floral pattern, and beadwork on the Roman shades “mimics the dripping of spray paint,” she adds.
Full of light and color, the renovated structure has become the family’s unique slice of paradise, where timeless proportions merge with retro-modern revelry. “To be able to see beyond what was there to create our vision was a dream come true,” the wife says. “We never want to leave.”