WHEN YOU BUY A VIEW
I can't say there was much more to this apartment of 1247 ft. when we saw it and bought it, just a view. It had nothing to do with the bad carpeting that had just been laid by the heirs of the owner, who'd just passed away. They'd done a quick beautification job in hopes that the value would have gone up, but we saw the bad carpeting as nothing more than a "tear down," as they say in the States. We saw only a view.
A view of the Inland Waterway, as it's called, the lagoon between West Palm Beach and the "island," and yes, that's the open Atlantic Ocean in the distance—we're looking south here.
I'd insisted on looking south in fact. But our view is south-southeast, better still, as I'd wanted to have breakfast in the sun on a January morning, on a balcony, just off my bedroom. We're looking at Palm Beach in this photograph, the heart of it.
As for the interior, oh well, we'd do it up. That's me (last May) in the red pants, talking to our builder Chip Valle. I was probably saying, "gut it, get rid if everything, the mirrors especially!" And that's Gil taking the photo.
And the kitchen? Away with it! All of it!
But as for the view, don't touch a thing!
This is the living room, with the guest room off to the left. We've opened that door to more than double its size, unifying the spaces.The track lighting is gone. This is before. I'll show during and after in upcoming posts.
This is the master bedroom. Breakfast will be served out on the balcony, right there on the left. A light bathrobe is the only attire required—there's no one looking in. Bliss.
17 comments:
Hello Paul
What a spectaular view and one which will change as the day slips by.
You are in a beautiful area. We love Del Ray Beach too
We are on the Gulf of Mexico, which is about a five hour drive away and I must say I love January and the winter months.
Looking forward to seeing the changes you make
Helen
Congrats!
Plenty of scope-for-the-imagination as Anne of Green Gables would say.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Fun! I can't wait.
When you get finished with this project it's going to be gorgeous.
My motto is buy the view...then fix the property.
Congrats.
Views with privacy...perfection!
What a tease you are. Can't wait for the "after". I wouldn't have been so quick to dismiss the mirror idea, (perhaps along the left wall rather than the one facing the view). They work terrifically in a small space. But anyway, we shall see. (BTW I very much approve of red trousers.)
Hello Paul:
You have sculpted a remarkable garden out of a hillside. You have the most exquisite taste. You have an extraordinarily acute sense of form, space, mass and void. You understand colour and handle it with panache.
Playa de Palma in your hands will be wonderful, of that we are sure.
And, oh, the view, the view.....as far as the eye can see.
The Atlantic Ocean that you can have breakfast gazing out into separates us and for that we are sad.
torture! i'm hooked. hope you'll post the after soon. no doubt it will be fabulous.
awaiting the Reveal of a room with a view-a spectacular one at that. pgt
You tease! I am sure the transformation will be exquisite. Cannot wait, hurry!
Di
xxxx
Well, "Belle de Ville"'s prevous comment reminds me of my own predicament seven or so years ago. At that time, Herve (my partner) and I had just begun the sometimes-exciting-but-mostly-tedious process of looking for an old house/farm somewhere between North Carolina and Charlottesville, Virginia. Just for the record?....we did finally find this 220 year old place, bought it, and moved in three months ago...so the grim bidness of driving for hours before tromping around for an hour (during which we'd inevitably discover the Very Good Reason the place was so immediately affordable) is over.
In any case, we did really love, at one point (we went back for several visits) "Indian Fields Farm"....a huge, 18th century, "Restored", 18th century log-fort in remote Smythe County, VA. I particularly loved the setting, although I'll also admit to being unedifyingly amused by the propsect of being the only alumni of my remarkably snooty and markedly conservative undergraduate university who had moved into a fort.
That said, it WAS a beautiful view....I took hundreds of photographs of the surrounding lanscape.
However, the whole business fell apart once the joint was inspected (among other things, we discovered that all of the electrical wiring had been installed by the husband...which the wife giddily announced to us as though it were a matter for congratulation...while her own agent visibly winced)
I was sad that the deal fell apart, but I spent that winter painting about twelve landscapes from the photographs I'd taken. all of them sold very quickly and, for that matter, helped to pay (at least a little bit) for this house I'm currently typing in.
As I tell folks, "All I ever really wanted was The View....and I guess I DID get it, after all...just not in the way I'd expected."
Thanks for your inevitably invigorating blog. Your postings about Capri sent me back to reading accounts of the extraordinary, who-would-have-predicted-THAT(?) friendship/semi-romance between Elizabeth David and Norman Douglas.
Oh...I finished "Extraordinary People"....what a wonderful book. I was particularly impressed by the first half....I can't think of anything quite like it, in fact.
sincerely,
david Terry
www.davidterryart.com
Nice view indeed, focusing on Brazillian docks, Addison Mizner's quintessentially 'venetian' Villa Leoni and the small cove just to the south, on which Mizner sited his Everglades Club's 'principal facade', the latter of decidedly ecclesiastical character, where one might expect, as Mizner once put it, to see 'the old abess bartering with arriving barges laden with produce for the daily needs of the refectory kitchen'. Alas no reality nearly as poetic ever materialized there, but the remarkable conjured image sustains and enlivens this landscape for 'the knowing'. Always thought it would be fun to institute a 'launch' / 'vaporetto' taxi service from West Palm, across to Brazillian docks. Did that ever materialize? Tough to pull that one off among a 'stiff-necked people'! A fine pied-a-terre. Looking forward to the transformation achieved!
Dear Paul - I have just seen the most wonderful double spread of Villa Massei in my Sunday Times Homes section today.
I am sure that you will be really sad to say goodbye, but I know that the burden of a large garden does become an increasing burden as time passes by.
I am sure that you have a copy of the article, but should you wish it, I could happily send it on to you.
The view, the view, the view. A blank slate of an apartment, that will, I am sure, be transformed with your taste and resources. I look for ward to the "during" and "after." Our city apartment is much the same. It is all about the view. That, and the services one has in such a place, too. Reggie
"Say it ain't so," that we dress only for those looking in. :)
Say, have you discovered Mango Prom? A most interesting little pedestrian street in your neighborhood there. Check it our and report back!
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