Tropical Hideaway~ A home tour

                                                                        …Homes and gardens are a form of autobiography

Grab your coconut oil and flip flops…

and come visit another hidden oasis in our little town/city of Vero beach.

Tucked away on Tropical Ave of all places… it sings with birds, cicadas, trickling water.

And…Rex.

Iguana ask you a question? 

But it TRULY is a retreat for the soul

for the eyes

for all of the senses.

Carol and Bili have given a once empty and sad place some spice and warmth and soul.

They created a stunning jungle-garden filled with tropicals…

and plums,pineapple,lemons, mangos, avocados, starfruit, passion fruit, eggplants, peppers

yum

all hugged and protected by 300 year old live oak trees

winding paths lure you …

to the turquoise pool…

and palm thatch tiki hut

Which is really a home away from home housing a bar…

and comfy furniture…lighting. a ceiling fan.

I want to see Maryann coming around the corner with a coconut cream pie…But that may just be me.

Behind the tiki hut….

at the end of another winding path is a small working art studio

Carol and our Artist friend Ginny  :: see her fun casa here ::

have a fun biz~Beach Works~ making art from Beach trash.

Yep…they are those people…who can make the most ordinary beach trash into art.

here, a piece awaits a new life…..

win win…clean the beach~create  beauty.

 

This well loved property also houses a green house and a funky  covered outdoor dining room

At night this outdoor oasis is lit with landscape lighting….firepits…candles along the paths 

Inside the creativity continues

with a gourmet kitchen built out of Tamarind wood from The Keys

….every nook and cranny is a place for cooks tools

Carol owned a restaurant in South Florida

To the east…The kitchen looks out onto a screened in dining room

…and under the stars dining to the West

Bedrooms and sitting rooms are filled with art and fascinating finds

 

 

check out the view from this office…

Carol and Bili have built another beautiful home in the Bahamas on the  island of Eleuthera

…where they will live with their  Bahamian potcake dog Abbie

and plant and harvest fruit…and walk barefoot….and live happily ever after.

Which means….

YOU could have their oasis.

Yep….get workin’ on that.

Would’ja?

 

learn more about this tropical hideaway right here.

Black Jack~ A home tour

 

…In this land of coconuts

There is a home…a beach house,

Maybe 100 steps from the ocean

Built when folks came in droves to our little town in the 1960’s

And built concrete homes with cooling terrazzo floors

And ceiling fans that groaned as they spun. Providing needed movement in the air.

Now….so so many of those small steadfast concrete soldiers, marking a generation, are torn down

and replaced with bigger, shinier. Not always better.

But not Black Jack.

He remains true to his roots. Unchanged. Except for his Rad new color.

It is slimming you know.

ok ok…Maybe I named him that. Remember the gum of the 60’s?
They call it their funky Beach Shack.

Even the coolio carport is calmly bracing bougainvillea  and Mandevilla vines that complacently poke their heads through.

Flirting with the black.

The surrounding bananas and coconuts naturally drove the colors of the door and chairs…

And it SINGS,

Tropically confident…

My favorite thing about wandering around houses

and yes I make a habit of it. I have a feeling YOU may to.

Is sensing the soul of the home. The living work that goes on between the walls.

And Black Jack spills it in spades.

A home of music and art  and collections and beach finds through the years…

And the legacy continues….this jar below is filled with every treasure that one little chubby fingered grandchild handed to his Grandma.  In his whole 4 years.

Art….a collaboration of grandma and grandson adorns the hearth…

Black Jack…in all his cool black colors grows love and history. 

There is a music room/recording practice studio

and 4 bedrooms..

Original Dade county pine beamed ceilings…

An armoire filled with music cd’s. lipping full. No TV.

Louvered room doors share the air between spaces.

One whole wall houses a salt water aquarium…full of splendid colorful fish.

Most rescued from near death. A brilliant story.

they swim swim swim with the vibration of the whole house.

Everyone needs a little

blood pressure lowering community like this.

…and the living coral, gently moving. an underwater metronome.

The giving house.

Karen found the colors of the house in an old treasure….and so it flows…

A smallish Key West sized pool is planned for the back yard

Karen and one of her three daughters throw pots and make beautiful

succulent wall frames…and carefully create works…injected with beach soul

They have an etsy store here…check it out!

…and are working on another. i'll fill you in as it emerges. I know I will be ordering a succulent wall frame!

 

~~Jade has offered a generous 20% discount for her etsy store above

just mention LIMELOVE  ~~

i

Black Jack…. A cool cat of a home.

::meowr::