A 1958 midcentury modern home in Siesta Key, Florida has been reborn twice in the past eight years.
Today it’s a contemporary coastal home curated with a selection of eco-chic furnishings, lighting, and home décor. But when Claudia Briggs and her husband bought it back in 2014, she thought it was just an “old beach house from the 1950s.” She promptly hired Sarasota architectural designer J. King and general contractor Denny Yoder to take it down and reimagine it.
“It was a complete gut renovation, down to the bare framing,” Yoder says. “They wanted to capitalize on the space that was a carport and make it a living space, and redo the entire interior.”
King and Yoder designed and built an open stairway at the entry, past a pivoting front door. “You come into a landing, and you can go down half a level to the right – and to the left, you go up,” Yoder says. “Downstairs are the kitchen and living area and bath, and upstairs are two bedrooms, a bath, and the master suite.”
The Briggs wanted open-plan social areas to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces, and introduced wide windows that open fully in the sometimes-crowded kitchen. “We like parties, and over the years I realized that everyone loves standing in the kitchen,” Briggs says. “So, the kitchen is this house’s heart – I made sure there was room for counter stools all around so everybody could gather comfortably there.”
They also sought a clean, low-maintenance home that was energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. “I wanted a house free of contamination,” she says. So underfoot is a dark, air-purifying smart floor from Canada’s Lauzon Flooring, rendering the indoor air 85 percent cleaner.
They scouted the globe for products to place inside their new home. They bought made-in-the-USA cabinets, and German Miele appliances – some of the most energy-efficient on the market today. “The showers are also from Germany, and can help reduce your daily water consumption,” she says. “It’s a modern, energy-efficient European home.”
For pool paving, they imported a white quartzite from Brazil to match the Siesta Beach sand that’s 99 percent quartz. “It’s a very special stone that comes from one particular town in Brazil called Sao Tome das Letras,” she says. “So, we went after the materials that we wanted: pool stones, pivoting front door, and the big kitchen windows.”
That first renovation was finished in 2019. By 2020, the Briggs had sold the home to Sarit Marcus. She’s a Tampa-based interior designer, and founder of Minted Space, an online boutique. It specializes in well-crafted and sustainably sourced products from brands that implement fair trade practices and utilize non-toxic materials. Its website describes it as an industry leader in environmental stewardship.
Marcus made this home that’s one block from the ocean – the second for her family of four – a showcase for thoughtful interiors. “I wanted a complete, sustainable design,” she says. “The home is so beautiful, with a minimalistic aesthetic and it could be cold, so I infused it with warmth.”
She made the interiors modern, colorful, and inviting, but streamlined and elegant at the same time. “I played off the clean lines of the house with different textiles and materials that play off each other, in natural materials like rattan,” she says.
The first floor is open, with distinct living spaces like the staircase as a reading area, and underneath it, ottomans where children can play. “I’m always thinking about maximizing the space and creating little corners where people can retreat in a seaside oasis,” she says.
Her color palette is reminiscent of the beach, with emerald greens, blues, white and a hint of burnt orange. “I wanted to take risks with pops of colors to inject liveliness into the home and steer away from safe neutrals,” she says. “The colors in the foyer with the green chandelier made of recycled wine bottles reminded me of the Emerald Coast.”
The entire home is rooted in sustainability. “Aesthetically, I was excited to add warmth and coastal chic to the interior design by curating sustainable, ethical products from natural, reclaimed, and recycled materials,” she says.
And why not? After all, she owns an online boutique that’s chock-full of them.