A Divine Design

“I love it,” is the only way that Bermudian Shelly Greene can describe her recently completed home transformation. “I wanted to renovate this house as soon as I moved in.”  That was 30 years ago. So this renovation has certainly been a long time in coming. The house is named ‘Palm Creek’ and is located near a quiet bay in Fairylands. It was originally built in the 1930’s and then bought by Americans. Greene’s parents lived across the street from it and had admired it for years.

Greene’s late mother was especially attracted to the house because parts of it were reminiscent of the style of a grand old Bermuda home she knew well.

“It is just a smaller version of Shorelands, the old Cooper residence which is the house next door to the one my mother grew up in.”

Greene’s mother and father were always told that if the owners ever decided to sell ‘Palm Creek’ then they could get first crack at it. The couple made good on that promise and so in the 1970’s Palm Creek became the property of Greene’s parents.

“They bought it, renovated it, and that’s when they added on the dining room and this veranda on the front,” said Greene. But they never actually moved in. Shelly Greene is the first member of her family to actually live in Palm Creek,  but it always felt like home. “I have lived here my whole life. Between the house across the street and here,” marvels Greene. When she was finally financially able to renovate the house in 2009 it wasn’t long before she realized what a major undertaking it was. “I moved everything out of the house and moved into the apartment downstairs. I called it the mole hole, living cramped amongst all the boxes and belongings and stacked furniture I had,” she said. Greene’s renovation took a full year to complete.

Moving a wall or two to open up the space and relocating the dining room were the least of her considerations when the builders arrived on the job. “Yeah, they practically tore the whole roof off,” says Greene.

“Steel beams in 4 places. That was a major big deal. And the whole place had to be replumbed, rewired (and) a/c put in.  I didn’t have any a/c before. Nothing. It was just a pokey little cute cottage with one bathroom.”

Now of course Palm Creek boasts a sprawling living room, two luxurious bathrooms, two bedrooms, and a large veranda complete with an outside bar. The fire place is original and is made of Bermuda cedar.

“The one person I had to totally trust and rely on was Johnny and he came through with absolutely everything that I asked for, says Greene.” Johnny is Johnny Lima, Greene’s contractor and friend who was perfectly suited to the job of satisfying his client’s need for open, airy rooms.

“I like to do whatever the client wants,” says Lima. “I like to open spaces. Get rid of the little cubby holes, make rooms more inviting, more pleasing to the eye.” Lima only had to add about 300 square feet to the space to make it comfortable. But the 18-hundred square feet Greene eventually ended up with feels like much more. “She got everything she needed in here with (out) adding on too much. It’s just organized properly,” says Lima.  “She’s got a walk in laundry. Big closets,” and a wonderful public area. “Today people like to entertain a lot more than they used to,” says Lima. “By having open plans, open living rooms, it just brings the whole crowd together instead of having a little kitchen or little dining room or little living room.” And as Greene loves to have her many friends over frequently, having everyone in one open, beautiful space was a necessity.

And that included having a proper bar in the living area.

“I wanted a place where everyone would come and feel relaxed,” says Greene. “Because before it was in this congested little spot just before my kitchen and everybody ended up in my kitchen and I couldn’t move and I couldn’t cook. It was too much of a crowded nightmare.” Now it is a focal point and natural gathering place in the room. And if the prospect of a refreshing drink doesn’t draw you to the bar, the colors certainly will. The material used on the bar is pure Italian glass tile and is full of bright, orange firey hues.

Bermuda designer Richard Klein was responsible for decorating the expansive living room area. “It seemed to us that with the room so completely open and flowing from terrace to bar to desk to seating,” says Klein “there had to be a seating focus scaled to the space and at the same time not restrictive.”

Shelly had initially picked out her own down filled couch, but then reconsidered.

“It didn’t work. It was too normal,” says Green. So she went with Klein’s choice. “The expansive three sided sofa arrangement was the right solution,” says Klein. “With one side allowing an appropriate intimacy to the dining end of the room and the opposite side open to an approach from the entrance and from the terrace. The choice of natural woven raffia added a casual and utterly contemporary note while the soft white textured cushion fabric left the palette clear for Shelly’s vivid mix of cushions and lap rug,” said Klein.

There is also an exuberant, happy fabric covering the traditional wing chair situated in front of the fireplace. Greene had first seen the Marimekko cotton print during a trip abroad and just had to have it. “It concentrates those vivid colours as an exclamation point,” agreed Klein. And the result is a wonderful, warm and welcoming home.

“I didn’t want anything formal but I wanted it to be eye catching,” said Greene. Even before when it was a tiny little cottage it was still full of color. The Haitian paintings {were always} all over the walls. The palate was navy blue, pink, (and) turquoise,” she says. “It was always all of these bright colors.”

So to complement the continuing tradition of vivid coloring,

Klein also used apple green suede to cover the straw ottoman seat cushion.

“A luxe accent in a very unexpected place,” said Klein. “Just another mix of casual and elegant. All of it to reflect the contemporary way the rooms are lived in while retaining some very traditional elements.”

Greene says her late mother would have wholeheartedly approved of all the new changes in Palm Creek. “She would love it. She would be so happy. She would be over here sitting around right now enjoying our company,” she says.  Greene’s father is frequent guest at his daughter’s home where she loves cooking dinner for him and his friends. It’s the least she says she can do given all the support he gave her in helping her renovate the home.

“If it wasn’t for for him this wouldn’t have happened at all,” says Greene.

Greene’s renovation project reflected the communal culture of Bermuda. In addition to her Dad, contractor and interior designer she also sought out the advice of a Bermudian friend and trained architect who helped Shelly draw up the initial plans for the renovation. “The whole concept was about entertaining,” said David Robinson, who runs his own design firm in California. “She loves to cook. You call her up and you say I’m bringing over 20 people for dinner and she accommodates.”  Robinson says that remodels like Greene’s are easier projects than brand new builds because original dwellings have their own unique blue prints to follow during the remodel. “Each house reveals itself to you,” says Robinson. And finding ways to redesign a more open feeling for Greene’s space suited the house’s natural design as much as it did

Greene’s personality.  “It’s all new age stuff, but I really believe that the solution is there,” says Robinson. “So, it’s a matter of understanding the person you’re dealing with and then combining that with what there is to uncover in the design to seamlessly connect those two things.”

For her part, Greene found inspiration for her house everywhere. “I mean, look at all the talented people around us,” said Greene. “Everybody has such fabulous houses.” Greene tried to admire and emulate parts of her friends homes without losing her own sense of individual style. “It’s all about always looking and seeing how everybody else does things and trying not to copy but have the same WOW factor.” She found that WOW factor in the home of two friends who were just completing their renovation at the same time Shelly was beginning her’s.  But she was worried that imitation might not always be the finest form of flattery, “It was like, they had concrete counters and I had concrete counters . You don’t want to ever have anybody say, ‘you know she came over to my house and saw this and now she’s go it too,” warns Greene. But her friends can assure Greene that when they look at her home it is clearly a natural reflection of who she is as an individual.

“She’s fun, she’s colorful, she’s outgoing. I mean look around, you can see it all around,” says Lima.

“When I walk into her space? Yeah. It’s Shelly,” says Robinson.