Comfortable Chic

This golf course home may look like a cozy country cottage with its antique brick, steep roof and dormer windows but make no mistake, inside this home is an elegant, sophisticated design with the latest in city style.

For the past three years, Stacey and John Jaeb have worked closely with designer Chip Vogel, co-owner of Interior Spaces, to transform this 1989 home into the showpiece it is now. What began as a new master suite project, progressed to the kitchen and most recently the three upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms. “We’ve been working with Chip since 2005. He’s done the whole house for us,” Stacey says. “We saw his work on a kitchen in Housetrends a few years ago and said, ‘That’s who we want.’”

The transformation begins

The footprint of the home stayed true to the original with some minor changes—inside is where all the action happened. The master suite was the first beneficiary. “When we started this was a whole warren of little spaces. We opened it up to create a foyer area with entrances to the master bedroom, the bathroom and the walk-in closet,” Vogel says. Each of these entrances has its own door so, for example, a guest can enter the master bath area without entering the bedroom. A built-in wall of closets and a full walk-in space for Stacey gave them more than enough space while creating the elegant foyer to this suite. “We actually cut the closets by fifty percent and ended up picking up more space,” Stacey says.

To keep the area light and airy, the doors are etched glass which allows light to enter while maintaining privacy. “I really love to use beveled glass, etching only on the flat part,” says Vogel. It keeps the sparkle of the bevel while obscuring the clarity. Another of Vogel’s techniques is to add transom windows over interior doors. “I like the detail it adds to the elevation but it is also a way to circulate air conditioning. And, it is a way to share natural light from one room to another. Clients love the esthetics but I like the practicality,” he says.

The master bedroom is a large, uncluttered space decorated in soft taupe colors and luxurious fabrics. “We had just gotten back from Asia and I wanted a Zen feel; clean lines,” Stacey says. Keith Bucklew did all of the soft goods in the home including this room.

From the bedroom, matching arched windows flank a doorway to delineate the entrance to the master bath area. This richly appointed room fits the requirements. Small white octagon-shaped, marble floor tiles set the tone with Calcutta Gold marble counters and surround on the Jacuzzi tub and marble shower enclosure. Rich glass tile walls are topped by beveled mirror walls to enhance the sense of space and light. Artfully placed skylights funnel natural light into the room. Nickel-plated fixtures and alabaster light fixtures complete the effect.

Detailed design

“I like working with Stacey, because she finds something she likes and she works from there,” Vogel says. “She was actively involved in the design process of this home.” One of the rooms that bears Stacey’s imprint is the kitchen.

Stacey’s farming background helped influence the design of the kitchen. Chicken wire embedded in the glass front cabinets of the coffee nook and a saucy rooster sculpture give a hint to her passion for animals as does the massive bronze bull’s head mounted in one corner of the kitchen. “Stacey fell in love with it. I wasn’t so sure but it works perfectly,” Vogel says though he does mention that special supports had to be installed to support the 135-pound piece. Now it is a focal point of the room, holding court above the favorite gathering spot for the family cats and dogs, mostly lucky adoptees.

The tables turned when Vogel said he wanted to paint the ornate crown molding and oven hood black. “We took so many leaps of faith with Chip. When he said he wanted to paint the hood and the molding black, we thought he was crazy!” Stacey laughs. Instead, the result was a rich, unique ceiling treatment that works perfectly.

One of Stacey’s favorite pieces in the kitchen is the zinc tabletop on one of the kitchen islands. This heavy, beaten zinc piece was built in France and traveled a circuitous route from Europe to San Francisco to Tampa before it arrived safely at the Jaeb home.

There is plenty of room for entertaining in this spacious kitchen. An oval-shaped banquet offers seating around the copper topped table. Photos of the couple and their friends bring good memories of travels and special functions around the world.

Lighting was well thought out in this formerly dark room as well. “Stacey is the lighting expert,” Vogel jokes. “She picked all the lights,” he says of the twenty-two fixtures in the room. “They were budget busters!” Stacey adds. Add the six burner Wolf stove with two ovens and the custom, mirror fronted Sub-Zero refrigerator, and separate bar and you have all the ingredients for the perfect party spot.

Another unique feature in the kitchen is the marble countertops. While using marble is nothing new, what makes these different is the “old school” lip around the whole edge of the counter. Rick Fincher of Custom Marble Works created this using a thinner piece of marble for the counter and adding a laminate edge. This was an idea Stacey got while visiting the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

This technique is repeated in the lushly appointed bar countertop of “Copper Brown” marble, a deep chocolate colored marble shot through with seams of gold and ivory. Nickel plated drawer pulls and fixtures gleam against the dark cabinetry. One of the few changes in the shell of this house was made here where a round porthole window was added to add character and bring in light.

As part of the kitchen remodel a full laundry room and pantry area were redesigned to include a separate hall to the garage. On the main hall, a work in progress is the relocation of the home office and library—these small elegant rooms will swap locations more appropriate for each one’s function.

A traditional marble floored foyer leads to the living room and dining room in the center of the home. These more formal rooms showcase this couple’s longstanding love of travel with artwork and collectibles acquired around the world.

Guest quarters

Upstairs, three full guest suites make ample use of the second floor space. Here too, Vogel’s expertise with space design was put to good use. In the first bedroom, a spacious chamber painted in colors of smoky blue and platinum, the door to the room was moved to create more continuity and better flow. The bathroom door was deepened to add more weight to the molding, and a transom window above to share light between the rooms.

Dormers, located in both the bedroom and bathroom had built-in cabinetry added to make good use of what is often wasted space. Additional cabinetry was added to make functional use of any unused nook or cranny in the room. “The cabinet maker did such a beautiful job. What amazed me is that the trim man built all these pieces on site,” Vogel says. All the cabinets were brush painted for a warmer feel.

The second bedroom and bath is Stacey’s favorite. The bathroom walls were reconfigured to add space without stealing too much from the bedroom, thus creating an interesting angled wall which became a bookcase on the bedroom side. Six different sizes and shapes of white marble tiles were used to create a one-of-a kind space. “Stacey came up with this idea when we went to a showroom,” Vogel says. “She saw all the shapes available and said ‘let’s do this.’” Waffle glass on the door and a high transom allow light and airflow into this bright, but windowless room.

The last bathroom features a large porcelain Waterworks soaking tub and antique style fixtures. Iridescent milky glass tiles line the lower walls. A custom made stained glass piece designed by Stacey features the Eye of Horace. This piece not only adds an artistic touch, it helps share natural light from the bathroom to the darker interior hallway.

The Jaeb home is a perfect example of how esthetic appeal combined with practical function can synchronize beautifully with elegant, yet livable results.

article resources
Interior design: Interior Spaces, Chip Vogel; Lights: Urban Archaeology; Soft goods: Bucklew Interiors, Keith Bucklew; Cabinetry: Castor Cabinets, Brian Castor; Marble: Custom Marble Works, Rick Fincher

Reader Comments