My grandfather was Dean of Architecture at the University of Florida.
He gave his students extra credit for helping build his family home in 1951. What you can't see from the picture below is what made it the coolest home in Florida before the popularity of air conditioning.
Each morning my grandfather took out a long pole and cranked open the front windows above the main room (you can see them in the picture). Then he would push the sliding glass doors that spanned the length of the back of the house into a pocket in the wall, opening up the main room to the screened-in porch creating a perfect cross breeze - and a much larger house. The three bed rooms also had pocket glass doors that opened up the same way.
The interior of the home included plenty of built-in storage and mid-century furniture and accessories. So many great colors, lines, and textures... very different from most people’s homes I saw in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
I guess it made an impression on me. Mid-century design makes my heart beat just little faster. It is now how I decorate my home and the aesthetic that I strive for in my designs:
Simple, but not minimal
Saturated colors that look great all by themselves or paired together
Complex textures
Modern style
