Vacation homes offer a relaxing getaway, but finding the right floor plan, furniture and overall design can be stressful.
Decisions range from what couches can be flopped on while wet and sandy to how much of a bear motif should fill a cabin. Designers, owners and builders offer tips, whether you are decorating a home on the water or in the mountains — for yourself or to rent — or a bit of both.
Sizing furniture right
A living room in an Atlanta couple’s vacation home in St. Petersburg, Fla., presented bay views and design challenges. The furniture needed to fill the spacious room, which offered views of the bay on one side and a fireplace and TV on a limestone wall on the opposite side. Cantoni design consultant Kohl Sudnikovich selected an upholstered sectional that could be used to see both sides of the room.
“It was a fairly large piece I centralized in the room,” he said.
Two mirrors on the limestone wall reflect the water. The removal of wood paneling opened a wall to showcase four large pieces of original art.
Other furniture can serve a purpose, such as storage pieces to hide games or a bar cabinet, said interior designer Jay Jeffers, author of “Jay Jeffers: Collected Cool,” in an interview at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center during the annual Design ADAC series of events. Using large rugs also can encourage people to gather.
"Chances are the kids are going to bring friends along with them or you've got people coming and visiting, so I love to sit on the floor and sit around the coffee table on the floor and play games," said Jeffers, who owns San Francisco-based design store Cavalier by Jay Jeffers (cavaliergoods.com) and is launching a home accessories line with Arteriors.
Planning the location, features
Patriot Home Builders has included features such as arched windows, covered porches and natural stone accents in a new three-bedroom model home at Lake Oconee’s Harbor Club. The 3,000-square-foot home has an extra 800 square feet of unfinished terrace-level space that can be converted to a media room or to store grills, lawn furniture and recreational equipment such as kayaks.
Lot layout is important, since homes, trees and other elements affect mountain or lake views and accessibility to the property, said Steve Lewis, who has owned vacation rentals in the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge, Tenn., area for 17 years, including three homes he designed and built.
Lewis, who owns Clearvue Glass and Mirror Co. in Atlanta, says that people buying or building a vacation home should consider access to water (well or public), paved roads and utilities. When choosing the exterior materials, he and his wife, Rochelle, have used pine for the rustic look that renters want in the mountains.
Setting the scene with color
In a beach home, Jeffers recommends hues such as sky blue and mint green. In the mountains he uses richer tones such as terra cotta oranges, gray blue and hunter green.
To create a beachy look that wasn’t too theatrical in the Florida waterfront home, Sudnikovich selected artwork and pillows with ocean hues such as sea foam, sand, greens and blues.
For his Tennessee mountain rental homes, Lewis has used colors such as moss green, sweet currant and dark sage to fit with the pine tongue-and-groove walls, hickory floors and log furniture.
Avoiding kitsch
Excessive use of seashell mirrors in a coastal home or bear sculptures throughout a mountain lodge can take the focus off the scenery.
In designing the penthouses for the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Lake Tahoe, Jeffers used reclaimed wood on the walls to bring in a rustic feel, paired with a chandelier made of glass orbs, instead of using an antler chandelier. He also suggests using wool blankets with texture or sea grass and seashells, in small doses.
“Design things that are clean and easy to live in, then add those little pieces that really accentuate the geographic location,” Jeffers said.
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