Surviving sickness and divorce, one native household builds a house to embrace what comes subsequent.
By Lauren Weedon Hopkins | Photographs by Muriel Silva Pictures
“It started with a portray of a tennis courtroom,” says Janet Thomasson, proprietor/designer of Thomasson Interiors. The colourful pink and inexperienced portray by Kelly Mason Fielden of Mason Brookes Design now hangs in Casey Cohen’s kitchen. “The pop of shade was the inspiration for the house’s aesthetic,” she provides. Appropriately, Casey and Janet have been additionally tennis companions and longtime mates.
Casey Cohen has persevered by way of many challenges—her daughter is a pediatric leukemia survivor, her son has autism, and a wedding that didn’t survive. She had been residing in the identical Ponte Vedra neighborhood since 2011 when she discovered her new house and took the leap to buy it. “This house was a contemporary begin,” remembers Casey.
With the assistance of Janet and her accomplice Serena Schupler, Casey labored with builder Brad Scott to take the house all the way down to the studs, redo the flooring, add a second story, and put in a swimming pool. It took a few 12 months for completion and Casey’s household moved into their absolutely reworked house in 2022.
Right this moment, her son is 14 and her daughter is 12 (and cancer-free for 7 years!). It’s the proper place for her thriving household. “I like shade. This can be a comfortable home,” exclaims Casey.
Inside design is in Janet’s blood. Her mom and her huge sister have been each inside designers. Nevertheless, although her school roommate was majoring in design, Janet determined to main in enterprise. After school, she labored in Chicago and New York in advertising and marketing positions. She loved serving to mates beautify their properties but it surely was only a passion on the time.
After having kids and together with her husband’s encouragement, she and a accomplice opened a design studio in Annapolis, Maryland in 2009. Then, her household relocated to Ponte Vedra, and he or she began her personal design enterprise in 2014. She joined forces with accomplice Serena Schupler in 2020. “I favor neutrals, clear strains and a basic look,” Janet shares of her design philosophy. “Casey loves shade, which was enjoyable to include. Colour is comfortable.”
Janet believes one’s house ought to inform a narrative and replicate their distinctive character. “Including one thing previous and private, each time you stroll by it in your own home, it would remind you of these reminiscences,” she says.
The house she designed for Casey options enjoyable bursts of shade and delightful furnishings, but it surely additionally needed to be sensible and practical to accommodate her two kids and two canine, Bolt and Pumpkin. Bolt, a Bernedoodle, was her daughter’s “Dream” at age 3 by way of Desires Come True, a neighborhood nonprofit wish-granting group for youngsters battling life-threatening diseases. Pumpkin is a mini doodle.
Visitors can expertise the colourful shade of Casey’s house even earlier than they step foot inside. Her entrance door is painted a shocking aqua, which is carried into the lobby and a desk on which “the queen of the home” vase welcomes all.
“That vase was the primary piece Janet and Serena purchased for the home, together with a lemon bowl for the kitchen,” says Casey. “Once I noticed the items, I adored them straight away and I knew I used to be going to like all the things about working with Janet and Serena to brighten my home.” The design duo had traveled to Palm Seashore for market and sourced many equipment, furnishings, wallpaper and materials there.
“I like the Palm Seashore really feel and the little particulars Janet and Serena included, just like the striped awning on the entrance of the home,” she provides.
Wallpaper is one other design aesthetic Casey appreciates. One toilet options the signature Dorothy Draper Brazilliance wallpaper of the basic banana leaf sample. The master suite has grass material wallpaper. “I’d paper the entire home if I might,” Casey laughs.
Janet’s favourite room is the household room as a result of it’s practical and enjoyable. The built-in bookshelves characteristic customized {hardware} with pink jewels on the middle. “I all the time needed a inexperienced velvet couch and Janet discovered one for me.
The kids’s bed room designs replicate their hobbies. Swimming is Casey’s son’s favourite pastime. He enjoys the ocean, the seaside and sharks, a theme Janet wove into his bed room with vintage lanterns and shark head clips as clothes hooks.
Casey’s daughter’s bed room could be very cheerful, with fairly pinks and brilliant yellows. Her gold flamingo lamp is a whimsical favourite. Her toilet design was created round a portray of a butterfly gifted to Casey by a detailed good friend as a birthday/Christmas reward as Casey was born on Christmas Day. It options fuchsia pink wallpaper and a female, scalloped-bottom vainness.
After many powerful years, Casey and her kids at the moment are flourishing, very similar to the joyfulness mirrored of their new house. “This can be a heat, cozy cottage and a snug haven for our household,” she says.