“St. Pete is a smallish city with big personality,” says interior designer Brooke Eversoll. “It’s surrounded by beaches and inland waterways making it a desirable destination for visiting or living.” Brooke’s firm, Bee Studios, frequently works with clients relocating from colder northern states who fall in love with St. Pete’s community, atmosphere, and culture.. “I personally love how St. Pete is surrounded by water; the downtown waterfront is a rarity and makes St. Pete a unique waterfront community,” she tells us.
This particular home is in a neighborhood called Snell Isle. Her clients are outdoor enthusiasts, and one of their top priorities was finding a property that had great water access for boating without being directly on Tampa Bay. “They wanted to be on an inland canal for protected waters from storms,” she explains. “They found a 1970s home that had a great lot with a not-so-ideal home. The previous home was missing some of their top must haves: taller ceilings, a great private office, large expansive views of the water, a private space for guests to visit, and a pool that interacted with the large outdoor living and outdoor kitchen.” The only way to achieve their wish list and comply with current hurricane codes was to build new construction. Luckily, this allowed them to fully customize the design and include everything they desired.
Bee Studios assisted on the initial programming, introduced them to the architect, and helped interview contractors. “I worked closely with the architect and was involved heavily in the schematic planning,” Brooke shares. “As we continued to develop the design together, I was simultaneously designing the interiors. Some of the earliest meetings we were looking at interior finishes and renders–essentially designing the home from the inside out. My team designed the interior, including supplying most finish materials, along with full furnishings and styling of the home. We brought in a local gallery to provide missing art pieces for the custom gallery wall. It was a true labor of love and worked with the clients for about 3-1/2 years from start to finish.”
This was the second project Brooke completed for the clients, giving her an excellent understanding of their style. “I describe and deemed their style Global Modern,” she explains. “They love to travel all over the world and take frequent trips to Africa. They have built an amazing collection of objects and treasures from their travels. Global Modern is about displaying rich textures, geometric tiles, and bold colors on a modern and clean backdrop.”
The overarching architecture of the home includes white walls, a black metal roof, concrete floors, steel doors, and rich walnut woods. These architectural elements are layered to create a warm, enchanting vibe, and you never know what’s around the next corner. “When designing the interiors I focused on bringing in layers in a modern way,” Brooke tells us. “Such as faucet finishes in gunmetal, concrete finishes, beautiful natural stones, patterned tiles, modern geometric textiles, mixed in with antique rugs and a unique art collection of pieces from their travels, new, and vintage original pieces.”
When it came time for the big reveal, the design studio’s personal chef greeted the clients at the door with champagne. “While the chef prepared bites, we gave them a tour of their finished home,” Brooke smiles. “There is something magical about that moment where the builder hands us the keys and we transform it from construction site to finished home. We ask our clients to stay away that week while our team hangs drapery, art, install furniture and rugs, and styles the spaces. There is nothing more satisfying that walking into your new home after a 3-year build process to see all the things you love in your new home.”
She says it was a magical partnership from beginning to end. “It was the best client-designer relationship any professional could hope for. One where they trusted us completely and gave us the go ahead and ‘to create.’ They never held back on us and allowed us to be truly creative along the way. Sometimes designs become muddy when there are so many edits along the way. But with them, I knew they would trust and approve what we presented–so it really forced me to step up and present the best of the best of what we could do. We wanted to design them something they hadn’t seen or thought of and honored and incorporated their lifestyle and all the things they love most.”
Take a tour in the slideshow.