Tour of Coastal Living's 2012 Ultimate Beach House

Monday mornings are always a bit rough but this one’s a little rougher than usual because we just got back from our annual family vacation in Rosemary Beach, Florida. Meaning… goodbye to reading in a lounge chair on the beach, mixed drinks by the pool, dinner after dinner than I don’t have to cook, ice cream & goodies from the “Sugar Shak”, and endless smiles and laughs from my girls and their cousins.  Of course, I took my share of pictures to remember the trip by and while I won’t bore you with the family shots, there’s a group of pics that I think know you’ll love seeing – they’re images from Coastal Living’s Ultimate Beach House 2012, which is in Rosemary Beach this year! The house. was. AMAZING! Before I take you on a tour, here's the info on the project team that put this spectacular house together:

Developer/Builder: Benecki Homes

Residential Designer: Lew Oliver Inc., Whole Town Solutions

Interior Designer: Urban Grace Interiors

Landscape Architect: Land Plus Associates Ltd.

Ready to start the tour? The house sits on a corner lot in a quiet area of Rosemary Beach with the front entry centered on the corner and one wing of the home extending to the left and another wing of the home extending to the right. By the way it is positioned on the lot and the lush landscaping surrounding the home, its exterior is fairly unassuming, giving you no idea of the enormity of space (about 5000 square feet!) that lies behind the front door:

The front entry is very simply but beautifully done. I love the color of the front door (Pratt & Lambert: Coos Bay 19-31) and the chrome entry door hardware:

As you enter the home, you walk into a simple, single-story foyer with curved walls that have a luminous white venetian plaster finish. Walking through the foyer to the hallway on the left, the first room you come to is a stunning bedroom.  The walls are painted in Pratt & Lambert's Moss Lake (19-30), the queen bed is from Lee Industries and is upholstered in Enchanted Baltic fabric, and the chandelier is Circa Lighting’s Marigot Six-Light Chandelier in Antique Brass with Seeded Glass Beads. 

The attached bathroom has gorgeous Calacatta Gold marble countertops, which you'll find in most of the bathrooms throughout the home. Given how much I love creative uses of nautical rope in home décor, it's no surprise that the the mirror hung with nautical rope is my favorite feature of this bathroom.

The shower is tiled in Snowflake Luxe Glass Pearl Mosaics by Medici Mosaics - another feature that is repeated in several bathrooms throughout the house.  The lavatory faucet and the shower head are from Kohler’s Pinstripe line.

Leaving this first bathroom and bedroom and continuing down the hall, there is a long, narrow laundry room on the left – it extends quite a bit further down than you can see in this image, with a sink and ample shelving & counter space.  

Continuing further down the hall, you come to the beautiful master bedroom with a pencil post bed with custom designed headboard by Reid Classics.

The bed is flanked by Somerset Bay Litchfield Chests in Vanilla Bean that are, of course, beautifully accessorized:

The chandelier is fabulous - it's Circa Lighting’s Millo Chandelier in Hand-Rubbed Antique Brass:

On the wall opposite the bed, an incredible mirror lined with green sea urchin shapes (Made Goods’ Agnes mirror in Sea Green) and two flanking table lamps (Circa Lighting's Simple Scallop Adjustable Table Lamps) sit upon a painted chest.

This close-up shows two of my favorite features of the room – the Agnes mirror and the beautiful textured wallpaper (Ralph Lauren's Erin Line Herringbone Wallpaper in Natural) that is hung throughout the room:

 The master bath has a simple, symmetrical layout with two sinks.

The sink faucets are very cool (Kohler’s Purist Lavatory Faucets), as are the sconces (Circa Lighting’s Wilton Double Sconces in Hand-Rubbed Antique Brass). 

Calacatta Gold tiles were used for the master bath shower – amazing!:

Leaving the master bath and bedroom and continuing back down the hall, through the foyer, and down the opposite hallway, you first come to a dining/living room area that is open to the kitchen.  The dining area has a custom reclaimed oak table and an upholstered dining bench and slipcovered dining chairs by Lee Industries. 

While it's not evident from the picture, the niche behind the dining bench is covered in a pretty, textured fabric (Warrick Eggshell by Sunbrella):

The living room includes two separate seating areas – to your right is a relaxed seating area centered on a fireplace, including slipcovered apartment sofas and chairs by Lee Industries, a pair of pharmacy floor lamps, and a unique ottoman:

To your left is a more formal seating area with a sofa flanked by two floor lamps (Circa Lighting’s Simple Floor Lamps in Bronze with Silk Scalloped Shades) and two swivel glider chairs.

They are centered around a coffee table with a gorgeous quatrefoil design:

There are several rooms off of the dining/living room, including the “study” that was staged as a family room. I love the vertical wood planked walls and the glamorous Lee Industries sectional with nailhead detail. 

On each side of the sectional is a wall-mounted reading light (Circa Lighting’s Boston Swing Arm Wall Lamps). As you may remember from my recent post on swing-arm lights, these are one of my current decorating obsessions...

The sectional faces a wood console holding a large flat-screen TV.

Another room off of the dining/living room area is an office space with a long, built-in desk (how I would LOVE to have this functional space in my home!):

Next to the office is an amazingly gorgeous powder room – I think it's my favorite ever. I was simply dying over the tile backsplash (Water Jet Calacatta White Marble by Medici Mosaics) and the custom made Seashell Encrusted Mirror (by Antiques on Holiday).  

I was also having a love fest with the faucet (Kohler’s Karbon Lavatory Faucet). Don’t tell me you aren’t dying over this bathroom too?!:

As I mentioned, the living/dining area is open to the kitchen. While kitchens are usually the show-stoppers in most model and designer homes, in this case the kitchen is fairly modest in comparison to the rest of the home.  The two huge lighting fixtures (Circa Lighting’s Goodman Hanging Lamps in Hand-Rubbed Antique Brass) were the highlight of the kitchen for me – gorgeous!!

The countertops and backsplash (Polished Bianco Griggio slabs) are also stunning.

Off of the kitchen is a long, narrow scullery with an unbelievable amount of storage for cookware and dishware:  

Continuing the tour, we’ll walk to the left of the kitchen, where you enter the back foyer, which has horizontal painted wood planking on the walls.  Hung on these walls are four woven tote bags with towels, all ready to be grabbed off their hooks and taken to the beach!:

Entering through the doorway flanked by the woven bags, you'll find yourself in a kids’ bunkroom.  It’s a very narrow space (so hard to photograph!) with two bunks on each side, each with their own reading light and curtain for privacy:

Next to the bunkroom is the last room on the first floor – another gorgeous bedroom. The paint color (Pratt & Lambert’s Ever Classic 32-24) and the choice of natural color upholstery fabrics made this a very soothing room. The table lamps are a stand-out (they are Circa Lighting's Medium Chunky Urn Table Lamps in Antique Burnished Brass)

but the overhead lighting fixture (Circa Lighting’s Crown Top Banded Globe in Hand-Rubbed Antique Brass) takes the cake – LOVE it!

Attached to this bedroom is yet another full bath (in case you've lost count, we're now up to three full baths and one half bath on the first floor alone!):

The tour doesn't end here - while you've seen all of the first floor, there's still a huge outdoor space and a second floor with some unbelievable rooms, including the most spectacular theater room I've seen. Check back later in the week for the second half of the house tour - until then, here's a little sneak peak of what's still to come:

Hope you have a great start to your week!

UPDATE: To continue to the second half of the house tour, click {here}!