Inside A Florida Getaway Inspired By Easy-Breezy California Style

Designer Alex Thies considers herself an aesthetic chameleon, but she admits to a particular affinity for the laid-back ease of California style—thanks to time spent living and attending graduate school in the Golden State. It was kismet, then, that her Michigan-based clients wished for their new Bonita Springs vacation home to capture a West Coast spirit. “That resonated with us,” says Thies, who teamed with her associate, designer Emily Heibner, on the project. “Instead of the typical Florida beach house, they wanted something easy-breezy yet elevated with a neutral background, natural materials and fun pops of accessories and art.”

The property was already something of a unicorn for the area, boasting water views at both the front and back with unusually wide but shallow dimensions. “It was overgrown with exotic invasive plants,” general contractor Tom Potter recalls, “but as soon as we cleared it, I said to myself, ‘We can do something really unique.’ ” His longtime collaborator, residential designer Jake Irwin, was up for the task. “We wanted to get as much exposure on the east and west,” Irwin explains. As such, he pushed the structure farther to the eastern side of the lot to ensure space for the pool on the west. “We had to maximize the pool within a tight envelope,” landscape architect Scott Windham adds. The solution, he says, “is simple and clean, with an elegant look that doesn’t take away from the wonderful water view.”