ATYPICAL ANGLE
AN AXIAL WALL CREATES UNIQUE SPACES AND VISUAL INTEREST IN THIS CUSTOM ROYAL HARBOR HOME
Family Room: Lynn Gretz, the homeowner, envisioned a welcoming space that felt lived-in rather than museum-like. She chose plush, overstuffed seating for the open-concept family room to achieve this. While coastal blue accents are present, the overall aesthetic leans towards contemporary design. The ceiling is a standout feature, departing from the traditional tongue-and-groove often found in coastal homes. Mayotte describes it as “a little more refined — a less is more look.” “The floating coffer design incorporates multiple angles and subtle shadowing, creating visual interest through framing and drywall work rather than ornate trim molding,” Mayotte says. Grounding the space is Villa Caprisi wide plank oak flooring from Hadinger Flooring, which adds warmth and comfort to the contemporary coastal atmosphere.
Bar: The homeowners love their bevvy, as they call it. “My husband never really wanted a bar,” Lynn Gretz says. “He doesn’t like to get stuck behind a bar, so we created a space that’s part of the house, but it’s kind of hidden.” Despite its incognito status, the space offers high style with sleek, grainmatched wood cabinetry from SOHO Kitchens & Design, gold and glass floating shelves, and Sub-Zero appliances from Fuse Specialty Appliances.
AA mere 10-degree shift in angle can transform a space entirely. In this Royal Harbor custom home, it’s not about temperature but rather the strategic tilt of a wall – an axis — that runs through the entire structure. According to Architect Brandt Henning, his firm embraces angular design not just for aesthetic diversity but also to craft ideal living spaces. “The idea was one big strong move that really slices through the entire house and provides that bit of uniqueness,” he says. From an aerial perspective, this line originates at the street, cuts through the auto court, leads directly to the front entrance, and then extends out the back of the home, guiding the eye across the bay.
While accustomed to intricate customizations, Brian Mayotte, Vice President of BUILD, says the project was nonetheless challenging. “It was unique to set up site lines and the angle of this home with surrounding landscapes,” he says. “The challenge was creating custom-fabricated products to work with this unique design.” u
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Not having an interior designer to create cabinet and tile drawings put some of the onus on the builder, but Mayotte says it’s nothing they aren’t accustomed to. “It’s not uncommon to have an owner who makes all their selections,” he says. “There are no drawings from a designer, so we’re working with the homeowners to do the layouts, make sure that it fits in the space, reviewing pictures that they’ve collected from magazines. We take those and convert them into reality that fits their space planning.” SOHO Kitchens & Design provided the striking mix of white perimeter and stained wood island cabinetry.
Primary Bedroom: Situated on the first floor, the primary bedroom offers beautiful bay views and wide-open access to the outdoor living area. “The primary bedroom has a ninety-degree slider, and it opens up right into the pool area,” Mayotte says. “With the way the bed is positioned, when you open that up, you see straight out into Naples Bay with the pool in between. Because of the elevation of the house, it feels like you’re on a yacht. It’s a very cool detail.”
Primary Bathroom: With nearly 20 years in the market, BUILD is adept at creating and designing custom details on the fly, and this primary bathroom presented an opportunity. The team designed and field-assembled an Ipe bench that wraps around a corner and flows into the shower. “It’s a natural product that can get wet. It’s exterior rated, but it’s nice enough to be stained and polished to look like furniture,” Mayotte says. “We designed it ourselves and incorporated it into the master bath and shower.” A matching Ipe ceiling and the large expanse of marble-look porcelain tile on the wall create a warm yet dramatic effect.
For Lynn and Kenlyn Gretz, homeowners with five adult daughters, the unique feature provided the perfect dimension to the house that acts as a guidepost leading everyone outdoors. “We wanted a home that had enough room for everybody,” Lynn Gretz says. “We want to live outside. That was our goal for this home.” The Midwestern couple are not strangers to building and remodeling, and Lynn Gretz acted as the designer for the project, making material selections and doing much of the shopping for finishes and furnishings.
She had a strong vision for the home. It embraced uniqueness — neither too conventional nor too coastal — infused with contemporary style. She was determined to avoid anything resembling a cookie-cutter approach. “I bought items from all over the place,” Lynn Gretz says. “I bought from local artists, local furniture stores, and some of the things are from Restoration Hardware. I mixed and matched to my taste.” The result is an appealing design tailored for comfortable living, complemented by a fully integrated smart home system that ensures efficient functionality.
The couple spent a lot of time thinking about how they wanted the 5-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom home to live.
“We envisioned ourselves sitting in different areas of the house and how we would utilize it. And so we had a lot of conversations over glasses of wine,” Kenlyn Gretz explains. “The house is for us, but we also designed it for when we’d have guests here, too.” u
“We wanted a home that had enough room for everybody,” Lynn Gretz says. “We want to live outside. That was our goal for this home.”
The guest bedrooms — each with an en suite — are on the second floor, with a guest laundry and a lounge area. Since the primary bedroom is on the first floor with its own laundry area, when the homeowners are there alone, they live on the first floor and outdoors. It’s precisely how they’d dreamed of it, one glass of wine at a time. n
Guest Bedroom & En Suite: Although the homeowners designed this home for themselves, they also wanted to create comfortable guest spaces that are both private and luxurious. “We have four bedrooms upstairs that all have en suites. We made sure people have their own spaces,” Lynn Gretz says. Each suite is comfortably furnished, and the bathrooms are fully stocked with ample space for extended stays. Lynn Gretz added touches of blue in the bedroom to coordinate with the hexagonal mosaic floor tile and a modern take on traditional subway tile in the shower.
Staircase: The axial plane is especially evident inside the front door at the foot of the contemporary mono-stringer staircase. “As you ascend the stairs, it’s more open at the base — wider, more inviting — encouraging you to go up and not feel as if you’re going to a tight second floor,” Henning explains. “The idea was to make it feel inviting and open.” The space floods with natural light thanks to the immense and numerous windows plus the glass stair rail, which allows the light to flow through.
Lounge: “My favorite room is upstairs — we call it the lounge,” Lynn Gretz says. “I don’t spend much time there, but I absolutely love it. It’s comforting. It’s a nice view up and down the bay, and we have a huge patio up there. It’s very tranquil.” The lounge is one of the few spaces in the home with a coastal-style natural wood ceiling treatment — it adds warmth while keeping the space bright and airy. Comfortable seating and hints of blue encourage guests to relax while the views lure them outdoors.
Rear Elevation: Standing on the upper open sundeck and looking down brings clarity to the angular design. “It’s a unique thing to look down from the sundeck and say, ‘Hey, why is this wall running this direction?’ And then you get the ‘aha’ moment,” Mayotte says. The overhead view reveals the angled edges of the pool and spa, as well as the angled floating walkway between them that leads to stairs down to the yard and dock — all of which draws the eye to the water.
Lanai: The exterior wall of the lanai is part of the axial design element, so it’s at an angle to the fireplace wall, but they’re joined at the end of the covered outdoor living area by a picture framing wall. “It creates this psychological effect to make you want to look west, which is obviously where the sun is,” Henning says. “The covered outdoor area looks out on the beautiful sunsets.” The linear outdoor fireplace mirrors the one at the edge of the pool.
Written
by
Heather Shoning
Photography
by
Blaine Johnathan Photography
Luxury Home Builder: BUILD
950 1st Avenue North, Suite 200 Naples, FL 34102
239.594.9984
www.build-gh.com
Resources:
California Closets
2367 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 810
Naples, FL 34109
239.694.8100
www.californiaclosets.com
Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery
38 Goodlette-Frank Road South Naples, FL 34102
239.963.0087
www.build.com/ferguson
Fuse Specialty Appliances
990 3rd Avenue North Naples, FL 34102
239.529.5976
www.fusespecialtyappliances.com
Hadinger Flooring
6401 Airport-Pulling Road North Naples, FL 34109
239.566.7100
www.hadingerflooring.com
SOHO Kitchens & Design
1610 Trade Center Way, Suite 1-3 Naples, FL 34109
239.992.7646
www.sohokitchensanddesign.com
