Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Celebrating and House Hunting

Robin Weiss - Traditional Home

My home in Alexandria, Virginia is under contract with all contingencies removed and is going to closing on June 12th and I am all ready to go forward with my next home purchase here. I had Champagne last night to celebrate!

House hunting update. I spoke with my painters who did an amazing job on my current home about the future move. He and his wife are German natives and have their own painting company here in Sarasota. They do beautiful work including faux painting - as a surprise he faux painted the column in the kitchen to match the Calacatta counters and it is fabulous. We have all become friends and I wanted to make sure they are available as I know I will want the new house painted by them before I move in. Luckily they are here and not in Germany and they are excited about my move. I feel that if you have all freshly painted walls and ceilings and woodwork everything feels fresh.

I found my stash of wallpaper - I hope to use my Brunschwig & Fils "Ironing Bored" in the laundry room - I love this paper!!!!

Brunschwig & Fils Ironing Bored

And this leftover wallpaper from my dining room I would love to use in a bathroom - Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque -

Clarence House Chinoiserie Baroque

This home on top is my idea of heaven - a pink house. The style in this area is more Tuscan with lots of brown and muddy colors inside and out and that is not my style at all.  I think if things ever get back to normal I would like to focus on helping people "De-Tuscanize" their homes here in a more bright and fun Coastal vibe.

But there are some Palm Beach/Bermuda style homes in Venice which I would prefer. Bermuda is a favorite place of mine and this pink Palm Beach home of interior designer Robin Weiss has such Bermuda style. The pink is Benjamin Moore Ballet Slippers.

Benjamin Moore Ballet Slippers #1331

I also love her landscaping - palms and what look like English boxwood although I know it does not like South Florida. I suspect it is Japanese Boxwood. I like the combination of the tropical palms with a more structured and formal English garden look. Blue and white Chinese porcelain outside would be insanely gorgeous against the pink.

The market is crazy hot in Venice so I am getting ready to pounce as soon as something amazing appears. So much for chilling. My realtor moves into her new Sarasota home she has been renovating tomorrow, so as soon as she is settled a bit we will start looking in person. This is not "in season" here but nobody told the real estate market apparently.

HomeGoods has reopened here. I am debating a trip there today although with mask and gloves it sounds a bit uninviting. I was desperate for sushi and ran into my Publix to carry out last night and it was wonderful. Sushi and Champagne in the lanai on a gorgeous evening. Life seemed almost normal.

19 comments:

  1. Beth,
    Congratulations on the sale of your Washington home and may you find your perfect new home soon! I look forward to following your adventure, enjoy!
    Michelle

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  2. It has to be a huge relief to sell your home. Just to have the sense of freedom to look and act when you see something you love.
    Do you have to sell your current Sarasota home as well or are you renting? Someone is going to be very lucky to move in there.

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    1. No not renting and we renovated the entire home and garden - oh well. It's a bit complicated, but Golf Guy is staying in this house. I love redoing houses, so no big deal.

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  3. I hope you find the perfect pink house! The one you pictured is fabulous. And I applaud your idea to "De-Tuscanize" houses. It was a trend that became dated in a hurry.

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    1. I might end up painting the exterior of wherever I buy - I would love some place that is not deeded so I can do as I wish. An interior designer could be very busy down here getting rid of the whole Tuscan thing which makes me nuts.

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  4. I have always wanted a pale pink house...why not make your dreams come true?

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  5. I can definitely see you in the pink. Hope the perfect one shows up just when you want it to. I wonder what the new owners will do to your Alexandria house. I hope they treasure it. And, yes, I think in a fresh world as normal as it can be, I do think your style would take Venice by a hurricane CC storm. I hope you bill Golf Guy for your design services!!!!!

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    1. You are too funny - I will fill in some blanks when the dust settles.

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  6. You've got to try The Star Thai and Sushi, across from the TJ Maxx Venice, The best spicy tuna rolls I've ever had.

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    1. I just Googled them - they get great reviews - thank you!

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  7. Wishing you luck with finding just the right house for pink! Will look beautiful.

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  8. I wanted to paint our house pink for the longest time, but my husband was totally against it, so we went with red! He was fine with that. Of course it is a dark colonial red and not bright red.

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    1. My late husband was great - he totally deferred to me on all design matters. But most guys would balk at pink. Since this will be my home, I get to do exactly as I wish. Very exciting. You don't see a lot of red homes here - very distinctive. I was in Casey Key on Sunday - are you near there?

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  9. Congrats on your sale going thru! We had an old Mizner influenced tri-level with real barrel tile roof just south of Boca and painted it Boca Pink. It was lovely, everyone loved it. it went well with brown-red brick fireplace & walkways. It was pre-Tuscan era. It would be wonderful for you to update the Tuscan trend in Venice. Our last home, a 1960s ranch, had 2 pink bathrooms. It was my 3rd go around with 50s/60s pink baths & since the tiny one was used for our grandaughter's visits I used Ben Moore Ballet Pink in a semi on the walls above the tile. It was a teeny 3piece bath and the paint was a perfect match to the tile so it enlarged it. Our young grangirl told everybody back home we'd built a pink bath just for her. I've used Ballet Pink in our new British West Indies style home to paint large candlesticks on our DR table and palm fronds placed in blue and white chinoiserie jars atop the hutch. I love the pink accent with the blue & white. Pamela

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  10. Beth, I too moved here from the Washington, DC area. We have a lot in common. I went to the HomeGoods on Bee Ridge this week and it was difficult to navigate. They do have "one way" traffic throughout the store and it is not set up very well. Hopefully the Venice HomeGoods/TJMaxx will be better. I would love to have a pink home.

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    1. Yes, Bee Ridge is 10 minutes from me, but that store was too tight and impossible to navigate even before the pandemic. UTC is really nice and convenient for me as well. I like the Venice store as well - more space. Nice to have options. I am right off of Clark.

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