Kalea Bay Condo is a Serene Oasis

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Iowa residents Josh and Amanda Moulton already owned a second home in Treviso Bay, Naples when a chance detour down Vanderbilt Beach Road led them to purchase a new condo in Kalea Bay—and to a design partnership they say was “meant to be.”  

Kalea Bay Tower 200 hadn’t even broken ground yet. Still, the Moultons were captivated by the model unit designed by Renée Gaddis. “We walked in and it felt like home,” explains Amanda Moulton. “We have smaller kids, and we like to invite friends and family over,” she says. “She did a good job of mixing sophisticated with comfortable; I saw my kids there. You could see the wow factor, but at the same time, it was cozy.” 

The Moultons discovered that Gaddis had grown up in a town not far from their own home in Iowa. They also learned that she is one of six kids, like Josh. Their trust in Gaddis was complete; between the 1,500-mile distance between them and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, their collaboration rested on a single 90-minute client meeting and a 10-pound box of sample fabrics and photos that Gaddis sent to the homeowners. But that was all it took for Gaddis to design the Moultons’ four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath dream home.

Gaddis and her team were given free rein to combine resilient, child-friendly materials with a dramatic design aesthetic to create a sensational first impression. The 3,700-square-foot condominium’s sweeping views of the water gave Gaddis a head start.

“The living room ceiling was the first big thing we tackled, with its nine dropped panels. They create a huge architectural element with soft nighttime mood lighting,” explains Gaddis. “Then we designed the living space around it in a neutral palette with pops of gray, mixed metals, textures, and fabrics that were beautiful, elegant, and crisp.” The low-profile sectional and chairs are upholstered in durable Crypton fabric, while a sisal rug covers Legno Bastone wood flooring that runs parallel to the horizon to create spatial illusion. 

Daughter Shiloh’s bedroom may be the home’s pièce de résistance, with its grand, hand-woven, four-poster lampakanai rope bed, hand-beaded drapery panels, sea fan artwork, and handmade blush sheepskin rug. “I wanted Shiloh’s bedroom to be super girly and I wanted her to grow up in it,” says Amanda Moulton. “She knows how awesome it is, and is the first one to offer it up to visiting friends and family. She loves to share her room.” 

Gaddis designed and furnished the entire condo, down to the bedding and dishware—rushing to make it move-in ready for the Moultons by Thanksgiving 2020. Per the Moultons’ instructions, Gaddis was not to send her clients any photos of the condo prior to completion; they wanted their first impression to be in person.

“When the elevator doors opened, it took our breath away,” says Josh Moulton. “Amanda and I and the kids were speechless. Though we’ve built eight homes, we had no idea we would ever own something that looked like we were opening a magazine,” he said. “Not to call my wife out, but she cried and Amanda’s not a crier.”

From the fourteenth floor gazing out over mangroves and the Gulf of Mexico in the distance, Amanda Moulton calls the condo the family’s “little piece of heaven on Earth. It’s definitely our happy place,” she says.

Story Credits: 

Interior Design by Renée Gaddis and Jennifer Younger, Renée Gaddis Interiors, Naples, FL

Text by Michelle Payer

Photography by Troy Campbell, Miami, FL

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