Kitchen & Bath Business October 2021 - 42

TE CH S A VVY
" It feels like you are walking down a cobblestone
street, " said the designer. " Getting off the
elevator, you feel like you are outside. "
To make the most of the spectacular views, the
hallway is lined by a 50-ft. glass wall that keeps the
ocean in sight and sits atop a 1-ft. knee wall to cut
down on the glass height and keep it from bowing.
Along this lengthy corridor, custom-made vents in
a fi nish to match the walls allow the exhaust fans
to disappear as much as possible. Further adding
to the seamlessness of the look, Strong designed a
custom 50-ft.-long linear vent down the hallway
to get rid of the large, bulky AC vents.
CHALLENGES OF SMART INSTALLATION
Sparing No Expense
Italian tradition meets modern convenience
in a fully connected Florida penthouse
AFTER PURCHASING A PENTHOUSE in a new high-rise overlooking the bay
in Sarasota, Fla., a couple with properties around the world sought to create a
home unlike any the area had seen before. To start, their goal was to have the
fi rst $10-million condo in the city. It needed to be a completely connected
smart home, while also honoring the Italian style the couple loved.
Th e new homeowners discussed their ideas and desires for the decoratorready
penthouse unit with Jeremy Strong, senior designer, Cabex Construction/Cabinets
Extraordinaire. Th ey hired Strong and the Cabex team to
complete the designs and perform the buildout. Considering that the home
was a consolidation of two decorator-ready penthouses into one 6,700-sq.-ft.
space, the project was going to be a big one.
Once the initial designs were completed for most of the unit, including
the kitchen, fi ve bathrooms, a man cave, a theater room, a fi tness room, a
wine room and closets, the unit owners brought in a well-known New York
designer they had previously worked with to do the furnishings and fi nal
touches, such as custom door designs, lighting plans, light fi xture selections
and fi nal fi nish colors. And when the buildout was complete, the interior
designer brought in a Hollywood production crew to stage the entire unit
prior to the client moving in.
A FRESH TAKE ON ITALIAN TRADITION
Th e building was modern, and the clients wanted a modern style to go with
it, but they didn't want it to be cold.
" It's what I like to call living modern, " said Strong. " Th ey didn't want it
stark, they wanted it livable and comfortable. "
Added to this directive was a request to make the home feel like an Italian
courtyard. To accomplish this, Cabex covered interior walls with a Venetian
plaster look, and to mimic the adjoined houses of an Italian street, gave different
areas similar but distinct plaster fi nishes.
42
/ OCTOBER 2021 / KBBONLINE.COM / Th e offi cial publication of NKBA (NKBA.org) and KBIS (KBIS.com)
ABOVE Thanks to the power
Servo-Drive, kitchen cabinets
and drawers are automatic
and easy to use.
BELOW The powder room's
modern fi xtures were paired
with plaster-style walls and a
Cristallo quartz countertop for
a Venetian look.
By CARRIE WHITNEY
Italian-meets-modern design theme complete,
the team next met the clients' request for a smart
home with a system that allows them to control
everything in the unit - audio-visual, HVAC, window
shades, lighting and more - from a phone or
keypad on the wall.
" They've had smart home systems in other
properties, and they travel a lot, so they wanted
to be able to control this home from anywhere, "
said Strong.
Because the home had originally been two units
and the developer had wired each of them separately,
installing the Lutron RadioRA 2 wireless
total home control system proved to be a challenge.
Th ere were two meters, two panels and two
electrical systems.

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Kitchen & Bath Business October 2021

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