Home & Design

The Electrifying Saga Of “Marie’s Folly”

Marie Stiefel says “I am old enough to have lived through the energy crisis of the ’70s, which taught me a few things.” Waiting in line for hours for gas started her thinking about energy and began what has become a passion for her: learning about alternative energy. Today she and her daughter, Lili, fund bright energy ideas with their family foundation.

Mystery Of The Mangroves

In the Florida Keys where I spent my youth, exotic plants and animals were commonplace. There were deer the size of poodles and land crabs as big as dinner plates. There were great white herons, short-tailed hawks and short-eared owls. There were sunburned trees with wood as hard as nails, and about as buoyant. The rich tapestry of oddball organisms would have given Darwin pause.

When Daughter Knows Best

Very few people have heard of Bayou West, and that’s one of the things that made it so appealing to Jim and Laurie Carney. A unique part of Vero Beach history dating back to the early 1970s, it’s a two-story apartment complex behind the Quail Valley River Club at the end of Riomar Drive. After 40 years, it was beginning to show its age, but when the Carneys decided to return to the seaside town where they had begun their married life they zeroed right in on it.

A Treasured Island Home

When viewed from the road the new home on the river is understated in comparison to many of the others in the upscale community. It’s when you are invited inside that the understated becomes extraordinary, for what you see tells the tale of a husband and wife who knew what they wanted and how to get it.

The Lucky Beans Beach House

It’s not every day that someone knows they’ve found the perfect house within minutes of walking through the front door, yet that’s what happened to John Miller three years ago. After a quick tour of the first floor he took the stairs two at a time to the second, where he counted the number of bedrooms and knew the oceanfront property was just what he had been looking for.

The Heart Of The House

Since most Early American houses were small and snug, the kitchen was an integral part of the living and dining areas. The kitchen fireplace was the center of the house and provided heat for warmth as well as cooking. Then, as the population gained wealth and acquired help, homes grew in size and kitchens were relegated to the back of the house where the owner rarely ventured.

Making Sense Of Feng Shui

According to Nancilee Wydra, author of eight books about Feng Shui, the concept offers eight emotional benefits: personal empowerment, a positive future, strengthened relationships, a clear and dynamic legacy, expressing compassion, strong positive self-image, culling wisdom and gleaning the best from your personal past and health in physical, mental and spiritual areas.

Timeless Elegance In A Windsor Row House

They say that good things come to those who wait. Nancy Lesher will tell you it’s true.

From The Ocean To The Mountains

From the window of his home office, Charlie Sheehan looks down a steep mountain landscape toward a distant valley.

Living With Art

On a sunny afternoon, with rays of light shining through the windows, Virginia Knapp leans back on a sofa, crosses her long legs and smiles.

From Shack To Showplace

Before and after: three little words that can mean a whole new life for the chubby, dowdy woman who becomes sleek and soignee at the hands of a makeover maven.

Grand Central

Banyan, Cypress, Date Palm, are winding streets shaded by spreading oak canopies where doves hide their nests and cicadas hum their same-note songs.

A Mediterranean Jewel In John’s Island

It’s amazing the wonders you can discover once you turn off a main road. In John’s Island there’s such a turn, one that takes you down a shadowed lane lined with rows of podocarpus columns, sculpted sentries surrounded by pink begonias.

Architects At Home

Architects are among the world’s best listeners

A Touch Of Tuscany

Vero Beach is buzzing over the Villa di Splendore, a new Mediterranean-style home on Ocean Drive.

Bringing The Sun Inside

Not every little girl gets to grow up to do what she loves.

The Other Treasure Coast

From the minute Nancy Goodes first saw the John’s Island residence that she and her husband would be calling home, she knew changes were...

Open To The Ocean

From the minute Nancy Goodes first saw the John’s Island residence that she and her husband would be calling home, she knew changes were in order.

The Second Time Around

Vero Beach has much to offer its full-time residents and snowbirds: a perfect climate, fine American and ethnic restaurants, museums and theatre, the scent of orange blossom in the air, even wood storks that circle high on thermals or shuffle alongside our canals.

From Pastels To Persians

Holly Kokes couldn’t have been happier.

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