A Grande Small Place

To most buyers scouting Boca Grande property, a Ruth Richmond ranch house built for the budget-conscious in the 1960s would not inspire lofty dreams. (Richmond was a fashion designer who also built more than 1,000 Southwest Florida homes, which were modestly priced but prized for their style, from 1958-1978. See "Ruth Richmond Homes," p. 94.) This one didn't even have Gulf views, and its 1,200 square feet made it seem like a cabana compared to most of the homes being built on Boca Grande lately.

But to Joe and Dana Robinette of Bristol, Tenn., the corner property in the historic district, with its sheltering stucco wall, was just the thing: within walking distance of a condominium the family already owns to accommodate visiting friends and convenient to another Robinette beachfront condo on the island.

The low ceilings and small rooms challenged the new owners and their decorator, Matt Overstreet. But the possibility of sculpting this compact dwelling into an exquisite European garden cottage was intriguing. "It was actually the pond in the garden that sold me on the house," says Dana, who has been vacationing on Boca Grande with her family for 35 years. "I thought how lovely it would be to sit at the dining room table and have that view."

Overstreet says, "The first thing we did was expand the garden to completely encircle the house, and then we added French doors to every room so that when they're flung open the garden becomes part of the living space. Suddenly a little house gets bigger, and you can have luncheon parties for 25 with ease."

The garden replicates a French-country design with white gravel paths, conversation and eating areas, the pond, fountain, lush foliage and bright flowers. To create the backdrop against the tall white stucco wall that gives the dwelling complete privacy, 120 specimen palms were brought in.

Vivid hibiscus, ginger, ferns and bromeliads fan out beneath mango trees, sea grape bushes and climbing pink bougainvillea. Crisp white metal outdoor furniture came from Curtis Bros. second-hand furniture store in Sarasota and from island tag sales. Overstreet had it painted a uniform shade of white. "Dana is an unstoppable shopper," says the designer. "She buys paintings and antiques in Sarasota. The front-door knocker she found in Spain, and she spied a ceramic rooster in France and carried it back with her on the plane to make sure it stayed in one piece. The black wrought-iron garden gate came from a junk shop in Bristol, Tenn. This whole property is a travelogue of places where Dana and Joe have shopped." The house is painted yellow, and the shutters and custom front door add to the French-cottage feel.

The detached guesthouse was originally the studio of an artist who owned the property prior to the Robinettes. "We lengthened it 15 feet to further enclose the back garden and increase storage space," says Overstreet. The one-bedroom structure has high ceilings, exposed beams painted white and accommodates a large 18th-century French armoire.

Inside the main house, faux-finish painter Aaron Crussemeyer sheathed the walls in a subtle yellow and cream vertical-stripe paint to trick the eye into seeing higher ceilings. Polished terra-cotta floor tiles replaced the original terrazzo. All decked out in hues of coral, the living room flows into a sunny dining room that was once a screened porch. Joe's antique clock collection, which numbers about 200, is on display throughout the house.

Overstreet says the furniture and accessories scheme is a mix of high and low. "The 18th-century yellow chairs in the living room and the bookcases are French and costly," he says. "But the straw rug is from Lowe's home improvement store, and the sofa is one the family already owned. We just changed it from blue leather to luscious coral silk. We got the dining room table and chairs from Curtis Bros., and all I did was recover the chair seats. The easy and eclectic blend of expensive French antiques and locally acquired objects makes the home fashionable, unpretentious and interesting at the same time. And, of course, there's all that color."

Overstreet says the kitchen was a quick fix. "We repositioned and updated some of the appliances and added white tile to the counters. Everything in the kitchen is white to visually expand the space. We converted the laundry room into a full bath and put a stacked washer-and-dryer unit behind louvered doors in the back hall."

The new bath is just off Joe's new home-office/library, originally an awkward one-car garage. Cars now park in a gravel motor court concealed at the side of the property. The motor court also houses the family's favorite vehicle, a Jolly, which is an Italian beach buggy Joe purchased in Sarasota. The grandchildren love it, and when the Robinettes' youngest daughter, Catherine, married Hayden Phillips a little over a year ago at Our Lady of Mercy church in Boca Grande, the Jolly was the couple's limo to the reception at the Beach Club.

"It's wonderful that the Jolly is coral," says Overstreet, "because it matches the interior of the house. We stayed with coral and yellow throughout the whole project, because that's about as Boca Grande as you can get."