Each room of Sea Pines home is warm, comfortable
From room to room, the warmth in colors, scrutiny in fabric design, detail in millwork and other special touches make this residence on Jessamine Place in Sea Pines a home of elegant comfort.
The homeowners — Forest and Linda Frank, co-partners of Sea Pines Real Estate South Beach — and veteran interior designer Hope Hunter of Plantation Interiors on Hilton Head Island sculpted a lifestyle vision that was 18 months in the making.
“The new Sea Pines home of Linda and Forest Frank is the epitome of subtle grace,” said Hunter, a 30-plus-year veteran of the interior design business who has been with Plantation Interiors for most of that time.
“Although the rooms are different, the design flows ” said Hunter, who has teamed with the Franks on four previous home-design projects on HHI since 1999. “It’s like a collection. It’s warm and comfortable and that’s what they wanted ... they like to come home, relax and enjoy every part of their home.”
And that’s what the Franks do.
“Hope gets a feel for what you want to do, then she goes away, and then she’ll present to you a kind of storyboard for each room,” said Forest, who was actively involved in many of the home’s architectural design aspects, including the millwork and wood paneling.
The Franks partnered with builders Mark Boyer of Boyer Construction and Don Schuttera of Atlantis and architect Jeff Watterson of Palmetto Design, all located on Hilton Head Island.
He said that when he strides up the dozen or so front steps and opens the door, “You come into a space that feels very grounded, solid and well-built and having subtle richness to the interior architecture of the space. Hope is good at taking the richness and luxurious feel of the trim, the millwork and the floors and wrapping furniture around that and working with it to continue that feel and that look.
” The color scheme throughout the 4,500-squarefoot home comes from the same family: camel, or “canyon beige” as Hunter calls it.
“We like warm colors…warm and tasteful,” Linda said, noting that the camel-hue variations have been used in each of the trio’s five collaborations. Forest calls it naturally “earthy.”
“She knows our colors … we’ve worked with Hope enough that she understands us and understands what we want,” said Linda, with one underlying premise. The color must look “fresh and new. You take something we’ve had for awhile and change its personality while working within the parameters of what she does.”
“Our color palette is a monochromatic look on the walls where the definition of trim and side wall is the difference between a lower luster and a slightly higher luster,” Forest said. Credit Benjamin Moore’s No. 1038 matte finish on the walls, quarter-formula fltfinish on the ceilings and satin finish on the trim.
Blend in new furniture, furnishings, artwork, rugs and accent pieces from Plantation Interiors’ array of choices along with select pieces from the Franks’ private collection and the result is a strikingly rich, comfortable and imminently livable personalized environment.
Hunter’s attention to appointments can be found in the living room, for instance, where she utilized the indigo and salmon found in the rug (which sits atop a broader seagrass rug with a herringbone design) and in one of the John Stobart prints, supplemented with touches of brown and cinnamon, to maximum effect in the fabric selection. A leopard-print covering on one of the chairs satisfies the Franks’ love of color and texture in “refreshing, dynamic fabrics,” Linda noted.
Creative arrangement of ordinary sea shells in a hurricane lamp dazzles the eye. In the master bedroom, one of five in the two-story, six-and-a-half bathroom residence, paisley and crewel Ralph Lauren patterns complement the rug. Noteworthy too are the abundant use of shutters in lieu of window treatments and numerous accent pillows, especially their trims, which “add a nice pop of color,” Forest said.
The natural light that flows through the windows on the half-acre lot shines on the eclectic style and purposeful mixing and matching of the furniture, furnishings, accents and accessories.
“It’s amazing how much light comes in from the golf course,” Hunter said, referring to the 14th fairway of the Ocean course that straddles the property. She noted that a host of magnolia and palm trees, as well as two 200-year-old oak trees, lush landscaping and overall “island greenery” effect influenced the interior design process.
If the couple isn’t sitting at the refectory table in the breakfast room — “it’s a beautiful table that we use every day,” Linda said — that overlooks the backyard and beyond, they enjoy spending leisure time in a comfortably furnished open-air porch next to the pool.
Fortunately for the Franks, their comfort zone resides in every room of their luxurious home.
