Chic Midcentury Family Home in St. Petersburg

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A young St. Petersburg couple with a growing family loved the lot their house was on, but really needed more room. Faced with the decision to remodel or build a new home from the ground up, they chose the latter, and turned to LaBram Homes to create a larger residence that fit their changing needs.

“For us, family is the biggest thing,” the client said. “We are active and busy people and we love hosting our family and friends. We interviewed a lot of builders in the area, but really clicked with Elisa LaBram and the team.”

After falling in love with a LaBram spec home nearby, the clients got a few ideas about what they wanted for their own space. They worked closely with Elisa on the design for an almost 5,000-square-foot house with four bedrooms, four full baths, and ample garage space for the husband’s tinkering. From the outside, it’s a statuesque mid-century-style abode, with clean lines, a custom-made wood front door, and a flat, tiled roof.

The inside is made for family living. “They had twin girls at the time and wanted a family floor plan with all the kids’ rooms upstairs with a big playroom,” said Elisa LaBram. “We put the master suite on the first, and an office for her, then had all the main spaces on the first floor facing the pool.”

After working closely with the LaBram team on interior details such as tile, designer Lisa Gilmore was hired by the client to create a fashion-forward, but unpretentious interior that perfectly captured the client’s taste.

“I don’t look at this in terms of picking materials,” Gilmore said. “I look at this as creating an emotion and lifestyle. We sit down with clients to create in-depth vision boards of the project that include fashion and other inspiration that gives them a sense of how they want to feel when they walk in the house. I focus on that in the beginning, and that gives me a good baseline for what a client will or won’t like. By the time we get to the design part, there’s a level of trust with the client, so that they’re ready to roll.”

In this case, the client wanted to roll with calming colors, and a monochromatic look. It sounds like a simple feat, but for the client, it wasn’t.

“I know what I want and I know what I like, but it’s overwhelming when you’re designing from ground up,” the client said. “You don’t know where to start or stop. It was good to have Lisa and team there to give input about things we might not have considered, and to provide us a simple set of options for each room. It was honestly very helpful.”

Gilmore added patterns and pops of color to the rooms, providing visual interest and richness. She also incorporated vintage and heirloom pieces to the rooms, bringing warmth and personality to some of the more modern furniture.

The coronavirus pandemic was in its beginning stages just as the project neared completion, so there was pressure to get the job done and done well before lockdowns were enforced. The family was staying in a small rental while the work was being finished, and they were eager to move in and spread out. Fortunately, LaBram and Gilmore were able to keep things on schedule and the family was able to move in just in the nick of time. The clients learned they were pregnant with another set of twins—boys this time—a few months after they moved in.

“More than anything, this has given us space to spread out as a family,” the client said. “The girls can be in their playroom, and wreak havoc up there, or they can be downstairs with me. And my husband can have his time in the garage away from the females. It’s exciting to see how this new house works for us.”

Story Credits: 

Interior Design by Lisa Gilmore Design, St. Petersburg, FL

Builder LaBram Homes, St. Petersburg, FL

Text by Paige Bowers

Photography by Native House Photography, Nashville, TN

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