An Exclusive Tour of Our Classic Beach Home
It’s been a while since I gave you a complete tour, including the recent updates of our classic beach home in Atlantic Beach, an area of Jacksonville, Florida.
Following are some of my favorite home decor things that we have done. This year, we are planning to redo our primary bathroom. It feels good to put this out there since it’s a big, disruptive job.
We moved into this home almost four years ago and have been making it our own ever since…
Tour of Our Classic Beach House In Florida
Also, if you are interested in the before photos, the individual past posts by each room are linked to those that will show these where possible.
Before we moved in, to lighten the home, we had the interiors painted in Benjamin Moore Simply White. The paint color on the doors and trim is Benjamin Moore China White.
Living/Great Room
This past year we made the living room cozier with a large vintage Persian rug, painted the fireplace mantel black and recovered the sofas and
arm chairs in striped performance fabric.
You can see where we added a stripe wool runner by Stanton to the stairs.
Shop the living room:
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Foyer With Neutral Palm Leaf Wallpaper
My favorite thing here is that we wallpapered the ceiling in this small foyer, too.
Shop the foyer:
Green Cozy Dining Room
Our collection of artwork collected in the places we have lived can be rotated here.
Shop the dining room:
White Kitchen With Stained Wood Island
In the kitchen, we put in a new backsplash to the ceiling, new pendants, and a stove hood more in keeping with the cabinetry. There is also a washable rug to protect the floors.
Shop the kitchen:
Neutral Guest Bedroom With Four Poster Bed
We didn’t really do much in here and all the furnishings came from our San Francisco apartment.
Shop the guest room:
Guest Bathroom Updates (with Before Photos Here)
Shop The Guest Bath
Blue, Black, And White Small Powder Room
I’m glad I went bold in this tiny space!
Shop the powder room:
Home Office With Daybed For Guests
I love that we could use the farm table that we got when we lived in Paris as a desk here.
This room gets a lot of use especially when our kids visit and work from home.
Shop The Office
Screened Porch Off The Office
This upstairs screened in porch is an extra gathering place (like to watch sports). There is a mounted television not shown in the photo.
This area will be changing soon as we are giving the wicker furniture to our son and daughter-in-law for their new house.
Primary Bedroom In Blue, White, And Green
Our main bedroom is really large. My favorite thing is the soft rug and the color palette of blue, white, and green.
Shop Our Bedroom:
Ladies’ Screened Loft
This is such a relaxing place adjacent to our bedroom!
Shop the Ladies’ Loft:
Coastal Guestroom With Modern And Vintage Vibes And An Update To An Old Dresser
Shop the upstairs guest room:
Front Porch And Back Porch
With the weather here in Florida, both porches get a lot of use. Here is the front of the house along with the back.
Shop the Back Porch:
Visit our last home in San Francisco here. You will see how we have reused much of what we had there. They are both coastal lifestyle homes…just opposite coasts.
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Dear Mary Ann,
I don’t know how I missed this post, but I’m so glad I found it because I must say, your home is absolutely gorgeous and what you have created is, in my eyes, perfection! I could move in tomorrow and not change one single thing. Every room is so warm and inviting, the colors and furnishings are wonderful and I love it all. I’m not surprised at what you’ve created in your Floridian home since every home you’ve lived in since starting your blog has been what I consider the perfect design style. Thank you so much for sharing your talents and as I’ve said before, my favorite blog ever!
Mary Ann! I just love seeing your home! Fresh flowers, cozy outdoor spaces, and a gorgeous living room, entry, kitchen, and dining room. Love your beautiful home!
xx
Wonderful home, Mary Ann, and beautiful choices to make the home yours. We left Riverside, SoCal, 11 years ago (not great compared to the Bay Area where I grew up!) to move to the MW for my husband’s work, and got mired in building an amazing house (4 years), so now that we have just retired, it is so hard to think about leaving this home, even though we don’t have roots here and the winter is severe… If we return to our first long-term town in the SE, we will do another custom build, and I am not eager to give up a couple of years for that process, even though most of our circle of friends are there. Difficult to make these tough life choices. I admire your energy in all that you do!
I know how you feel, Joan. I thought moving here we would build something like we have done before. So I was tied up about redoing our bathroom. Now that we are going to renovate it, maybe we won’t move. Good luck with your decision.
Such a gorgeous home well done Mary Ann! Love the dramatic wallpaper in the powder room!
Dear Mary Ann,
Your home is gorgeous. All the detail is thought through. You have incredible taste. Cozy and inviting comes to mind.
Thank you for sharing.
Your home is so inviting! Every update you do makes it that much more special!
I’m fairly new to your blog but I want to say that you have accomplished a beautiful and warm home. That is hard to do. We moved from Iowa out to the mountains of Colorado in 1995 for the lifestyle. We were avid skiers and bicyclists. We have moved down to a small front range town called Cañon City. We built a house about your size and loved it for 17 years. My health began to fail and I retired. We built another home down just outside of town in a small 46 home community of mostly elders like ourselves. Each home is slightly different and we all have had fun decorating and making it our homes. We have love living here for 9 years now and our single level ADA home has been perfect for me. It is almost half the size of our mountain home. So much had to be given away. None of our family lives near us as well. But we love it here and at 80 and 83, we will probably be here to the end. I love your transitional style. We painted our home interior in SW Greek Villa which is a soft white. It brightened the great room, kitchen and foyer, also the guest bath. I’m so glad to get to know you Mary Ann.
So nice to meet you Sydney. It sounds like you are in a great place and have lovely taste. I’m not sure what Howard and I will do in ten years or so. But we do love it here now.
Mary Ann you have done such a beautiful job with your home. It is a wonderful place to visit so happy to have been a guest!!
Thanks, Cindy. Come back anytime!
Beautiful home! Bold wallpaper in the powder room is so special.
I love how you have decorated your home! It’s beautiful and elegant while being warm and inviting–a great place for family and friends to gather!
Thanks, Diane. We are going to have a house full this weekend!
Your home is lovely! I always enjoy your posts- where is your office rug from?
I bought it several years ago at Restoration Hardware.
Lovely! Enjoy.
Thanks, Gigi!!
I am excited to see that you were able to keep and use many of your “older” pieces in your new house. We are plotting a downsize, and I am sure much of what we have will have to go. I am prepared for this, but it is tough to decide on what is really necessary. May I ask how many sq. ft. you have in this new house? And did you look at any one story houses…thinking of what the future holds? We currently have an elevator in our home, and it is one thing we cannot do without (if for nothing else but the luggage, when we pack and travel). Our children will never live anywhere near us, so we know we need to make this move while we are still able. But moving across the country is out of the question…just too many changes to make. Proud of you for making it work!
I think we have about 3500 sq feet, Dinah. We don’t have an elevator but there is a pretty good sized guest room downstairs that we could use if necessary. Our son was just here for the weekend and our other kids are coming for July 4th so it’s nice to have room.
When you do downsize, like my sister just did…take your favorite pieces and make them work. Good luck.
Mary Ann, Its beautiful and I knew it would be! So fun to see you put your spin on a new place. Love your bedrooms, and the office! The kitchen is so spacious and bright . Love the powder room with the blue wallpaper. Gorgeous!
Such attractive spaces. I love how you updated the kitchen and the half bath. Are the screened porch and Ladies Loft upstairs. Are there bedrooms downstairs.
My son lives in Tampa. We love visiting his area and the gulf beaches. Don’t know much about your area. A friend just moved to the Jacksonville area and loves it.
I know you must miss your sister and daughter, granddaughter and a sil.
Best wishes for you and you’d husband in your new stage of life.
I’m going back to SoCal this weekend! Yes we have one bedroom downstairs. Thanks, Carmie.
Dear Mary Ann,
I can’t begin to tell you how gorgeous your new FL. home is and what a wonderful job you’ve done in such a years time. It is absolutely beautiful and I can’t decide which is my favorite room that you’ve done, I love it all! It truly is a dream home and I could move right in and not change a thing. Your design style has always been perfection and it feels so warm and comfortable. I wish you many happy years sharing your amazing house with family and friends in sunny Florida.
You are so sweet, Gail!!!
Boy do I need to get on the stick and finish some things!! You have accomplished so much in a year! I need to finish Summer’s room.
Mary Ann,
You and Howard have done an amazIng job in just one year. You have a beautiful home and the outside is gorgeous too. It’s hard to say which room – or porch – is my favorite.
Lovely! Your home is light and airy and looks so comfortable! I love your dining room – that soft green color is unique and cozy! Amazing accomplishment in one year! It’s very “you”. Enjoy!!
Thanks so much, Catherine!!
Mary Ann,
What a year it has been for you and Howard! I am in awe of all that you’ve accomplished on making your beautiful house a home. Inside and out, so many classic casual updates that are so you! I love seeing your new pieces and seeing how you’ve used things from your SF home too!
xx
Thanks, Annie!!
Hi Mary Ann,
You have made your house, so welcoming and beautiful. We are currently contemplating moving into a community of homes, and an older adult community.( I guess that’s me now!!) so I’m trying to imagine living in a brand new home and trying to make it have some personality. You have done such a wonderful job with that. I really do want to move closer to my daughter, but as a lifelong Californian, it’s hard to leave the state. We are sick of the taxes, though—we are thinking of having a place in Denver, and in Florida, near my son and kind of going back-and-forth. We will see what the future brings.!!
Martha, just using things you already own will give your a new home personality. I’m going back to California next week to aee my sister and daughter again. Such a huge country…takes a while to travel.
Everything is so beautifully done! We moved at about the same time to be closer to the grandkids and I can hardly believe it’s been a year. Like you, we are working at making our new home more us and less builder! A d thanks for including all the sources — I’ll be tracking them down!
Thanks, Janet!
Maryanne!
Beautiful home!!
We are moving into a community of retirees in Tennessee.
I have a bed like in your guest room to sell!!
It is sooo beautiful.
Any advice as to how to down size and switch out furniture??
Thanks… love the blog!
Furniture is so expensive to replace…definitely use what you can. Take measurements. Then give away what won’t work. You don’t want to pay to ship it!!
Can you tell me where the cabinets in the Living Room are from? I’m looking for something like that in our future Family Room. Thanks!
They were already here…custom built-ins.
New here. Why Florida, especially at this time?
Hi Lynn, Basically with Howard being retired, the cost of living is better. Our son is here and Howard’s family…plus lots of friends who are like family to us.
Fl. is great place to live, problems everywhere so you have to weigh the pros and cons. Your home is stunning.
Thanks, Gayle!!
There is NOTHING I don’t love about your home. I always loved your matching nightstands and your kitchen is beautiful, along with your outside space. What are your general thoughts on living in Florida compared to California?
Thanks so much, Pat! I love California and always will. I was born there…my daughter and granddaughter are still in California. If you can afford to live there and the taxes, it’s great. We have family in both places.
MA … it’s been a year already?! Your new beach home is fabulous. I love all the ways you and Howard have put your stamp on it. It’s so light, bright, airy and spacious … and now the pool. I can’t get over the pool. Thanks for the tour … I have beach house envy. And pool envy. Endless envy! xo
You are so funny, Juliet!
Everything came out beautiful Mary Ann! You accomplished so much in one year. The wallpaper in the powder room is everything. I would love to have the Aerin Hampton wall sconces…hopefully once we remodel as I have no place for any at the moment.
Linda
So nice! What a great place to call home
Yes, we think so, Marianne.
Everything looks AMAZING! You have done a beautiful job inside and out!
Thanks so much, Elizabeth!!!
Hi Mary Ann,
It’s amazing everything you accomplished in a years time. Just lovely inside and out. Congratulations to you both on a job well done.
Thanks, Katherine. Howard has been in charge of the outside (pool, etc) while I have been working on the inside!
You have a beautiful home. I’ve been considering the rug you have in the living room for my home. Are you pleased with your purchase?
Yes, Jeri. It’s holding up well!! And cleans easily.
Your home looks fabulous. You’ve done such a good job of making it your own style.
Thanks, Cathy. We were away for two weeks and it felt so nice to come home to this.
Love all the beautiful changes you have made. You have had a very busy year, how fun!
It’s been fun, too, Christine!
Wow! You have accomplished a lot in one year! Everything is so pretty.
Thank you, Anne, I appreciate that.
gorgeous Mary Ann, inside & out! what a change from San Francisco.
xo
Debra
A big change…but we were ready, Debra!