PEEKING THROUGH the palm trees and Spanish moss as you drive up the winding road to the beach stands a magnificent glowing structure. Rounding the corner, the source of light emerges and a striking home fills the horizon. It’s an architectural sight to behold on a beach where tiny cottages from the 1980s mingle with modern spectacles dotting the shoreline. Standing three-stories tall on top of a high dune, like a tower of light from the shore, it’s clear: this is not your average beach bungalow. Sweeping ocean views to the front and glimpses of the marsh behind, the long, narrow lot on Figure Eight Island is ideal, which is exactly what architects James Selvitelli and Steve Herlong of Herlong Architecture + Interiors honed in on. “This home was all about the views, and the best view of all would be from the top of the home, atop that high dune,” says Selvitelli. “The home has a reverse floor plan to take advantage of the amazing sound and ocean views from the second floor.
Reverse floor plans are always an interesting challenge for architects and interior designers. We need to create a welcoming foyer that feels grand enough to draw guests up to the living level, but also balance the challenge of using allowable square footage wisely.”
With its intricate rooflines that fit together perfectly like a puzzle, the home itself was designed around a winding stairway that leads from the ground entry to the top floor. “The stairway really sets the tone for this home,” says Selvitelli. The spiral stair with its silvered Ipe-wood railing wraps around the center of the home like a coil. “It’s truly the architectural gem of this project,” says Herlong designer Cintra Sedalik.
Each stop on the stairway leads to a private elevator entry and living quarters, with the owner’s suite, main living room, and kitchen taking up the top floor boasting the most impressive views. There were few criteria from the homeowners, save for incorporating pecky cypress throughout the home.
A nod to the couple’s frequent visits to The Cloister at Sea Island, this warmly finished coastal wood lines the vaulted ceilings of the living and dining rooms, kitchen, and owner’s suite, grounding the voluminous spaces with a cozier feel. “The pecky cypress has so much character, but we didn’t want to overwhelm the space with it,” explains Selvitelli.
“Cintra did such a good job with that, making sure the spaces were light and bright.” Painted wood beams help break up the architectural detail of the pecky cypress while a plaster on the fireplace adds character and subtle texture to complement the organic finish.
For Sedalik, the interiors strove to match the subtle coastal aesthetic established by the pecky cypress, and, as such, she married the look with the client’s love of “natural stone in a way that was both functional and beautiful, so the stones could act like their own works of art,” she explains. The kitchen backsplash is a slab of Maya quartzite from Brazil, for example, and it abstractly resembles ocean waves, says Sedalik. “This slab informed the touches of deep blues and greens found in the fabrics and light fixtures in the great room and scullery.”
Each space is carefully appointed with touches of blues and greens and neutrals, resulting in an ultimately relaxing setting. But no matter the interior and architectural finishes or how each of the three floors function, one thing remains constant, tying everything together: “That tower of light and that stairway is the focal point of this home, no matter where you are,” says Selvitelli. “It’s what really sets this home apart.”