Houzz Tour: Bold Modern Update to a Miami Mediterranean
This family’s 1990s Mediterranean-style home outside Miami was looking tired. After seeing what the design team at DKOR Interiors had done for friends in the same model house as theirs, the family hired the team to update their home. Of course, they didn’t want a carbon copy of their neighbors’ renovation; they had their own needs and style. In addition to wanting to transform their home into something more contemporary with cleaner lines, they needed to incorporate design elements relating to their faith and keeping their home kosher.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A married couple and their 5 children
Location: Aventura, Florida
Size: 4,500 square feet (418 square meters); 6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms
Before pencil hit paper, DKOR principal Ivonne Ronderos sat down with the couple to go over their requirements: lots of storage for the china and glassware needed to keep kosher, two sinks and two dishwashers and, tucked into the dining room, a small sink for washing their hands. “Both of these homeowners love bold design that’s simple and clean,” she says.
After studying how the clients needed their home to function, the DKOR team pulled together a unifying design concept that suited the space. By playing with large expanses of wenge wood, specialized lighting and clever recesses in the drywall, they emphasized architectural volumes. It takes a second or third glance to realize why ceilings appear to float, where some of the storage is hidden and why even with all of these clean lines, nothing seems flat.
“Designing the room was tricky because of the high ceilings,” says DKOR design team member Margaret Smith. The design challenge presented by the two-story ceilings in the living room inspired the idea of emphasizing architectural volumes and using them to delineate different areas. Large pieces of wenge wood stand up to the scale of the room.
The bottom piece of wenge here slides open to reveal a bar and glassware storage. “The homeowners wanted all of the storage to be very concealed and built-in,” Ronderos says.
With its white cabinetry and shelves and mirrored wall, the bar is unobtrusive even when the wenge wood door is open.
See this Bold Modern Update to a Miami Mediterranean
Houzz Tour: Bold Modern Update to a Miami Mediterranean
