TAMPA BAY SHOWHOUSE TOUR
Sarasota Susan G. Komen House for the Cure and the Florida Orchestra St. Petersburg Guild Showhouse | By Nichole L. Reber

Showcase houses like those of the Florida Orchestra Guild and the Susan G. Komen’s Build for the Cure make everyone a winner. It provides publicity and exhibits the talents of the participating interior designers and design consultants. The charities benefit by the funds raised and visitors not only gain the opportunity to peek into multi-million-dollar houses, but also capture new decorating ideas or find a designer for their own project.

Ticket sales and the sale of the house are the biggest sources of funds raised for these showcase houses. The Florida Orchestra Guild expects to raise about $50,000 from its St. Petersburg house, while the Florida Suncoast Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure (formerly the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) says it may raise up to $250,000 from its Sarasota house. However, unlike most years of its 33-year-history of designer Show Homes, the orchestra house is new construction and not for sale, though its owner says it would fetch about $3 million. The Sarasota Cure house, however, is a first for the organization’s Suncoast affiliate and is for sale at $8.9 million.

Villa Milagros or “Miracle House” benefits the
Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fund breast cancer research, education and early detection.
The 11,000 sq. ft. Mizner style home was designed by William T. Baker.

Villa Milagros
The Sarasota Cure House

Designed to honor the Mizner architectural era by William T. Baker, and built by Paradigm Development and Voigt Building and Design, Villa Milagros is an 11,000 square-foot house overlooking the water on Lido Key in Sarasota. Robb & Stucky’s designers and design consultants furnished the décor.

According to Lynn Rasys, executive director of the Florida Suncoast Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, this is the first Build for the Cure house locally, and only a few places around the nation have done it. The organization presented awareness and fund-raising events in the house, hoping to generate interest for a potential sale.

Guests can overlook the kitchen via a Romeo & Juliet balcony with a wrought iron railing. In the kitchen and adjoining living room, Pecky cypress wood adorns the floors, the cabinets and the ceilings with box beam detailing. Countertops on the breakfast bar, island and cooking areas are swathed in a rich green granite called Verde Fantastico. The room features two tiers of long rectangular, wood encased windows overlooking the water, two-story ceilings and arched doorways.

Views from the breakfast bar expand to the waterfront terraces, past a wet bar leading to the formal dining room and down a long corridor with a buttressed groin vault.

Left: Designers from Robb & Stucky created the comfortable living room with overstuffed seating to take advantage of the spectacular water views.

The breakfast room features an elegant chandelier and opens to the waterfront terrace.

Old World rectangular tile serve as a backsplash for the deep kitchen farm sink. Verde Fantastic granite counter tops add color and sophistication to one of two kitchens in the house.

Within the corridor is a two-story foyer, the walls of which are covered with a ripe papaya Venetian plaster. Numerous windows allow the natural light to complement the deep warmth of the wood floors and cypress wood beamed ceilings. Limestone wainscoting brightens the oversized and arched custom-made front doors of mahogany.

An authentic Italian fresco appears as realistic as trompe l’oeil of a scene called “Window in Florence.” Another fresco, “Terrace View” resides on the landing at the top of a semi-winding staircase with handcrafted staircase railings.

The staff accommodations, or private guest quarters, reside in a split-level area of the house. The kitchen, with an old-style A-frame ceiling, contains ivory cabinets with a pewter glaze finish and a diagonal tile backsplash. Flooring in the bathroom off the separate bedroom completes the flow between the two rooms.

Villa Milagros boasts 300 feet along the waterfront to accommodate a yacht. The house features an 875-bottle wine vault, a separate catering kitchen, a 1,700 square-foot master bedroom with morning kitchen, and a poker area off the billiard room. The house has six full baths and two half baths.

“We worked on this for two years,” Rasys said, adding that there is a possibility the organization would put on another Build for the Cure house every other year. “It’s a great awareness event— it’s not just a fundraiser.”


The Florida Orchestra Guild
St. Petersburg Designer Show House

Surrounded by 700 square feet of porches, the Florida Orchestra Guild designer showcase house is a 5,400 square-foot house designed by Hernan Molina in the Mediterranean Revival style. Larry Wallace, who will soon move into the house with his wife Precella, a realtor with Coldwell Banker, built it under his general contracting company, Classic LLC.

The decorating team worked with the Wallaces to choose the rich color scheme of Tuscan reds and golds, beige and teal green, chocolates and black. From major pieces of chenille upholstered furniture to small details like finials, the house reflects classic elegance indicative of an Old World home. The house presents perhaps a bit more continuity and flow than most showcase houses because the owners worked closely with licensed designer Susan Nice, who owns Lasting Impressions Home Gallery in St. Petersburg, and who supervised the design staff.

The open floor plan allows for easy entertaining with each room flowing to the next.

The breakfast area is nestled between the formal dining room and the kitchen.

Lasting Impression’s
Susan Nice used the
rich palette of Tuscany
to create warmth in the kitchen and great room.

The views and open floor plan are some of Precella’s favorite details, especially since the couple frequently entertains. “It’s open, and from every room you have a view across the water and over to Bird Island and the Bayou,” said Precella. “There’s a great theme of space to this house, without being cold or ostentatious. It has a lot of warmth.”

Nice collaborated with design consultant Scott Velez, to create the powder bath, foyer, great room, kitchen, and laundry room. “We wanted it to be elegant but also not over the top,” said Nice. “Usually design firms go in to show off what they can do (in showcases like this) but with this one, because the owners were purchasing things, it had to really flow. The designers were given some guidelines but they could pretty much do their own thing.”

Middle: Designer Holly Kriviski with A Point of You Interiors
created the seating area at the top of the stairwell landing.

Susan Taylor of Taylor Designs created the design for the guest rooms.

Homeowner Precella Wallaces’ office was designed by Susan Decker-Ross.

One of the Wallaces’ favorite rooms is the master bedroom. There, Robb & Stucky’s designer Jean Lozier incorporated yards of iridescent olive green taffeta that puddles at the floor, framing the large windows and doors that lead to a private balcony. To coordinate with the drapes, Lozier custom-made a rich tapestry bedding ensemble, accented with decorative pillows in a deep copper tone for the king-sized sleigh bed. The regal sitting area takes advantage of the room’s volume: two high-backed Marge Carson chairs, upholstered in gold chenille are accented with rich chocolate leather and feature deeply carved, gold-leaf finished wood trim. The chairs flank an oversized tufted, round ottoman. The room achieves a dramatically elegant ambiance with bronzed hardware that complements the cherry wood floors and custom-made mahogany doors.

Robb & Stucky designer Jean Lozier created the sanctuary of the master bedroom including the custom-made tapestry bedding ensemble for the king-size sleigh bed.

A cozy sitting area within the master bedroom includes two Marge Carson’s chairs covered in gold chenille and a tufted, round ottoman.

The expansively open living area features more red tones, which accent the abundant use of wood throughout the house. The formal dining area displays gold hues from a decorative circular mirror to heavy, luxurious drapery.

Some unique aspects of the house include an elevator, a spiral staircase with landing, media room, her parlor or office, his office, a double-sided fireplace, and balconies on the first and second floors. It also features two guest bedrooms and two and one-half bathrooms.


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