Incollect Magazine - Issue 8

Incollect Magazine 93 LIFE ON THE LOGGIA An intergenerational compound on the Florida coast, with indoor/outdoor living spaces that are more outdoor than indoor, relaxed, comfortable, and low-key. An Arkansas couple who lost their family gathering spot in the Mississippi Delta to Hurricane Katrina looked not to recreate the past, but to create something new and different, with a look to the future. Gil and his team conceived of a house based on Jamaican cottage architecture, appearing as a series of elegant cottages, beginning with a breezeway-like entrance framing views to the garden and water beyond. Here, a view of one end of the living room, with its lofty arched ceiling supported by cypress trusses, and walls of mixed pecky and plain cypress. Portals leading to the kitchen, butler’s pantry, and bar are topped with transoms to let in more light. A wall of French doors to the adjoining 16-foot-long loggia can be fully opened to create a super-sized indoor/outdoor area. The color palette is soft and light, with greens, sandy tones, and blues drawn from the outdoors: the gardens, the beach, and the Intercoastal Waterway only a stroll away. The travertine top of a wrought iron coffee table mirrors the color and texture of beach sand, as well as the pecky cypress boards lining the walls. In a seating group next to the fireplace, a pair of Billy Baldwin-style slipper chairs in pale lime upholstery face across a honed white marble and wrought iron cocktail table, to a neutral-toned skirted sofa trimmed in the same hue. A pair of wrought iron floor lamps are positioned on either side of the fireplace, subdued in color but rich in material palette, with prominently grained bleached wood and beige marble filled with lively movement. Above the fireplace, a sensational work on paper depicting extreme close-ups of flowers and insects is by UK-based artist Sarah Graham. Photo by Eric Piasecki