Although the two-story new-build that Alex Alonso’s clients snagged in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood was decidedly modern, the maximalist-minded couple wanted to warm it up. “They love collecting and mixing vintage and new,” says the founder and creative principal of local studio Mr Alex Tate Design. This approach first manifests in the foyer: Originally, visitors could see three quarters of the first floor from the entry, but Alonso deemed it too open. He instilled it with an air of formality by adding drapery walls that define the space. As avid art lovers, the clients visit galleries and source new pieces during their travels—including Dutch artist Patricia Paludanus’s painting, which now hangs above the entry’s console table. One of the works from Tyler Hays’s Bather series beckons from the living room in the distance. “The effect of creating an unexpected space right when you come in is wonderful,” says Alonso, “especially when the façade is white and minimalist.”
This Wellington, Florida-based family rarely used their living room, but given it was the first space guests glimpsed from the foyer, they decided it was high time to maximize it for entertaining. They tapped Cloth & Kind to make it happen. The wide, long space was ripe for conversational seating, grounded by a wall-to-wall bespoke art, object, and book display on one end that “sprinkles in family photos and sentimental ephemera,” says Tami Ramsay, partner and principal interior designer at the Athens, Georgia–based studio. “We wanted to create a menagerie of pieces that added to the color story, the texture, and depth of the space,” says Ramsay, of the built-in showstopper, “and also allowed for that to change and evolve over time.” It’s linked to the other side of the room, distinguished by an original fireplace updated with a marble surround, by way of a custom double-sided serpentine sofa and a natural fiber rug. The firm makes a good case for art-filled interiors as theatrical rooms for entertainment.
