Classic Florida Style

Description

The Miami Beach-based architecture and interior design firm presents luxurious private residences from Orlando to Key West, reinterpreting Florida styles from Mediterranean to Art Deco. Though the husband-and-wife team of Taylor & Taylor travel widely to find design inspiration in the U.S., Europe, South and Central America, and the Caribbean - they always retain their first love: the historic architecture of Florida itself and its blend of rustic and romantic, from Italianate palazzos to Art Deco hotels and Key West's bungalows. Classic Florida Style presents ten coastal residences in resplendent photography to match the tropical hues and lush natural surroundings of the sunshine state. Design lovers will see not only homes that integrate orange groves and sunsets reflecting off Biscayne Bay, but also gorgeous interiors that take full advantage of Florida's crystalline light - superbly crafted spaces in which the ocean breezes can almost be felt ruffling the curtains. Locales range from a private island near Key West, to Coral Gables, Fisher Island, and Lake Thonotosassa, northeast of Tampa - even the South Carolina home of one Florida-minded football giant, a former quarterback for the Miami Dolphins. Whether drawing on the architecture of British Colonial Bermuda, or the Spanish-inspired designs of George Washington Smith and Wallace Neff in California, each home takes full advantage of glamorous indoor-outdoor living and a seamless blend of native Florida materials and singular antiques.

William and Phyllis Taylor formed the Taylor & Taylor Partnership in 1983. Their work has been published in Coastal Living, Florida Architecture, Florida Design, the Miami Herald, and the Robb Report. Beth Dunlop is the editor of Modern Magazine and the longtime architectural critic for the Miami Herald. She is the author of numerous books on Florida's architecture and design. She lives in Miami Beach. Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn is an award-winning photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is known for her work shooting interior design and lifestyle books, as well as for portraits.

Lime green upholstery, nautical striped rugs, and tangerine plaster walls will get you in the mood for freshening your own surroundings. In highlighting their work on ten private residences from across the state (and, in one case, Kiawah Island, Georgia), authors William and Phyllis Taylor show us all how to let the sunshine in. - Departures