The Finer Things
Modern Luxury Interiors | November 2015
For the living area, designer Michael Wolk created a staircase with open risers and wood treads, removed most of the columns and crafted a two-sided fireplace.
A fairly typical home triples in size and becomes an open-style homage to the good life
Considering how seamless this home appears, it may be difficult to believe that this 12,000-square-foot house with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms resulted from a 4,000-square-foot home. Changes to the contemporary exteriors included a second story addition as well as doors, gutters, landscaping and pavers. But it's the interiors that register as audacious, even shocking. "I call the style American neomodern," says the acclaimed designer Michael Wolk. "It combines the dynamic exuberance of modern American design with the refinement and elegance of European design."
"This house was the typical mix of all the styles you find in Boca— Mediterranean, traditional—with arches and columns and carving, a little bit of everything," Wolk remembers. The most notable characteristic of the home was that its fussy interior architecture blocked the homeowners' enviable lake view. So in collaboration with Brenner Architecture Group of Boca Raton, Wolk opened up the back wall, installing as much glass as possible. They also made the fireplace double-sided, opening it up to both the living room and the kitchen. He clad it in wood veneer and surrounded that by mirrored walls so the fireplace would appear to be floating. "It looks like there's no wall there, that the space goes straight through," Wolk says, "but it's just an illusion."
Meanwhile, the showstopping staircase that ascends from one end of the living area is literally see-through, with open risers and wood treads that allow a view through the glass back wall to the pool and the lake. Dramatically, the architecture curves around the staircase in such a fluid way that from some vantage points, the second floor's open walkway seems to wrap around in a teardrop shape. The geometrical purity and visual delight of the atrium derives, in part, from the fact that the team removed all but two of the first- and second-floor columns (both of them structural). "The whole project was challenging," Wolk says, "but this—the staircase and the railing—was one of the major changes that we made."
The living room’s Barcelona couch, Fritz Hansen wicker chairs and Fritz Hansen Egg chairs are from Luminaire. The gray sofa is by Christian Liaigre.
With its double-height ceiling, the living room had to make a big statement, so Wolk went to work curating important midcentury pieces and filling in with his own custom designs. "Most of what we chose here were classic modernist pieces," the designer says. "They were made in the '50s and '60s, and they look as crisp and elegant and refined as when they were designed. When I was coming up in school, the midcentury modernists were our idols, so they had the biggest influence on my way of thinking and the language that I developed in terms of relevant design." To wit: The Barcelona couch, Fritz Hansen wicker chairs and Fritz Hansen Egg chairs were sourced from Luminaire, which Wolk says, "probably carries the largest selection of classic modern design and new design. Nasir Kassamali, Luminaire's founder] is a friend of mine." To complement these timeless modern classics, Wolk custom-made some key pieces, such as the glass and polished stainless steel coffee table and the pale armless chairs accented with gray lumbar pillows. "I'm very proud that my pieces can fit in a room with the classics," he says. The charcoal-gray wool-blend sofa is by Christian Liaigre.
In the kitchen, the designer shows his love of midcentury pieces, such as the Saarinen table and chairs, all from Knoll. Wolk crafted the walnut buffet, while the cabinetry 81 is by Poliform.
Wolk also chose modern classics for the kitchen: a Saarinen table and Saarinen Executive chairs from Knoll, which are showcased in front of Poliform cabinets and a Wolk-designed walnut buffet with a chrome base. The piece, which opens from both sides, serves as a floating room divider between the kitchen and the family room. Again, the open effect is a stark improvement over the cut-up spaces of the original home.
A major goal of Wolk's clients was to create a showplace for their increasingly refined tastes in midcentury design and art. As a result, the sprawling space evokes the most sophisticated art galleries—and wineries. "We installed a custom-designed stainless steel wine room, a storage unit and a tasting area," Wolk recalls. The clients enlisted an art consultant to source contemporary paintings and sculpture.
Wolk custom-designed the master bedroom with an embossed leather headboard and geometric storage units, and he chose a herringbone rug by Kyle Bunting.
With such additions, the Palm Beach-area home became a tribute to the good life, but perhaps Wolk's most luxurious touches occur in the master bathroom. "Custom-made wooden double doors open up to a series of squares and circles that function as a pathway of stepping stones—which is the marble that's embedded in the terrazzo floor," Wolk explains. "It leads you right to the sunken Venetian tub, which is 5 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep. We opened up that wall so the tub faces a window to the garden." A rain showerhead, set inside the ceiling, fills the tub. Beside the soaking tub is the shower, featuring floor-to-ceiling glass, flush with teak floorboards. Water that falls from the dual faucets collects in a sleek Corian trough, while LED lighting softly frames the vanity mirror and the Venetian plaster dropped ceiling.
The master bedroom awaits, with its bold geometric patterns—a grid of rectangles on the Edelman embossed leather headboard, the Kyle Bunting herringbone rug—but forgive the owners if they want to linger in the bath sanctuary just a few minutes longer.
Wolk excels at Zen bathrooms, and this stunning master bath features a Venetian soaking tub; terrazzo, inlaid marble and teak floors; and a glassen closed shower.
By Drew Limsky | Photography By Dan Forer