Scandinavian Special in Key Biscayne Home

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Key Biscayne architect and interior designer Carol Farah is used to traveling the world for her profession, but one of her most recent commissions took place much closer to home after her former employer, Rio de Janeiro’s Bernardes Arquitetura, reached out with an enticing offer.

“They had a client on the island who wanted their whole house remodeled and I happen to live five blocks away from them,” says Farah. “So, they recommended me.”

Farah herself didn’t waste any time and called on Miami interior designer and frequent collaborator Joana Ribeiro of JRiD to help her spearhead the project, a 6,500-square-foot residence in dire need of new aesthetic life. The homeowners, a Brazilian couple who spends most of their time in South America, purchased the home as a family getaway for them and their two young sons. “The home needed to express a sense of calm and peacefulness,” says Ribeiro, “and bring the outdoors in.”

With a clear directive in mind, the designers and their teams set about creating a series of bright, airy interiors that flowed seamlessly into one another and the rest of the house. “Light wood flooring and furnishings throughout the main floor level and upstairs helped knit the project together and give the illusion of warmth,” says Ribeiro. To further emphasize that idea, walls were drenched in Sherwin-Williams Snowbound shade to unify the spaces and serve as a backdrop for vibrant artworks that includes a Mai-Britt Wolthers painting that greets guests in the foyer. Pops of gray, light green, and deep blue peppered in pillows, rugs, and textiles comprise the remaining color palette. 

In the main social hubs, relaxed arrangements of comfortable, easy-care furniture like RH’s Cloud bench-seat sofa and chairs with stain-resistant fabric—purchased from retailers like Design Within Reach and Luminaire—exude a distinctively Danish vibe with toss pillows and comfortable throws that infuse some much-desired hygge, the Scandinavian term for coziness.

On the home’s western periphery, floor-to-ceiling windows and doorways frame lush vantages and open to a glassed-in patio whose stairs descend onto a tropical pool deck with native trees, all the work of Brazilian landscape designer Patricia Golombek.

  The finishing touch was the front door’s jewel-like green color. Farah saw a Bulgari ad with the tone, fell in love with it, and sent the owner a photo of it. Once approved, she hired an artist to re-create the exact same shade. “That was a special little touch,” she says, “but it’s those small details that really make an impact.”

Story Credits:

Interior Design by Carol Farah & Joana Ribeiro, Carol Farah, Key Biscayne, FL &
JRID, Coral Gables, FL

Text by Kerry Shorr

Photography by Denilson Machado, Brazil

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