St. Augustine Home Celebrates a Connection to Nature

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In St. Augustine, a lot’s prime position on the Intercoastal Waterway dictated much of the architecture and spirit of a four bedroom, five-and-a-half bath house for a couple that recently decided to make Florida their winter home.

“Our architect did an unbelievable job creating a really beautiful and functional space that takes advantage of every view,” says the husband. “When you walk in our front door, you can see all the way through to the water.”

The homeowners, who have two adult children, vacationed for years in Palm Coast, but when they were ready to build, they gravitated north to the St. Augustine area. 

“Every vacation, we would find ourselves driving up to St. Augustine for the food, nightlife, and concerts,” says the wife. “When we decided to build, we looked all over the state, but in the end, we came back to St. Augustine.”

With experience from building several other homes and an enthusiasm for the details of the process, the couple found a lot on the Intracoastal Waterway and put together a team that included architect Bill Weber of Weber Design Group, builder Patrick Barker of Glenn Layton Homes, and interior designers Julie Schulte and Kendall Schulte Hannon of Schulte Design Associates.

“The lot is essentially a peninsula with the Intracoastal on one side and a creek that wraps around the back,” says Barker, CEO of Glenn Layton Homes. “We had to do pilings and a lot of concrete work, but once we had the home site established, it made it a lot easier knowing we had a solid foundation to build on.”

The resulting house takes advantage not only of the views, but also of the northern Florida climate with 6,000 square feet of under-roof outdoor entertaining space, which suits the family’s relaxed lifestyle. “We thought we’d perhaps do more fancy entertaining,” the wife admits, “but what we really do is a lot of pool parties. Our floating dock can hold two boats, so friends just sail over.”

And while the family clearly loves the property’s outdoor spaces, they are equally enamored with how the interior rooms turned out. “With this home, we used a lot of greens and blues, which translate really well here with the all the greenery on the marsh side of their house,” says Schulte Hannon, a principal at Schulte Design Associates. “We wanted the house to have an elevated modern feel, while still staying true to that coastal aesthetic.”

The glass fireplace—which manages to be a focal point but not a distraction from the views—is an example of how the team came together to provide the house with standout elements. The homeowners saw a similar fireplace at the St. Regis Deer Valley hotel in Park City, Utah, and sent photographs to the team noting the see-through glass construction. “That fireplace took a lot of engineering and back-and-forth drawings to get it as tall as we wanted while not obstructing any views so you could see through the house,” says Schulte Hannon. “It was a big group effort, but it came together in the end, and it’s truly a beautiful statement.”

A subtle but important detail that the husband took the lead on was finding trim, molding, and ceiling treatments that worked with the scale of the soaring first-floor rooms. “I didn’t want the trim to be big and scrolly or traditional and colonial looking,” he says. “I found a trim line called Metro Collection. It’s very cool and linear, and it fits the coastal modern look.” He also sourced locally milled and finished cypress for ceiling beams and shiplap, and even found the weather-resistant outdoor shingles that clad the exterior.

“We all really love that the house has details in every room and there are no repeats—every room has a unique ceiling or wall feature—and that made it a fun project,” adds Barker. “It’s amazing because you have the views, and then you have a design that focuses on those views. It’s all connected, and it all works beautifully.”

Story Credits:

Interior Design by Kendall Schulte Hannon & Julie Schulte, Schulte Design Associates, Jacksonville, FL

Architecture by Bill Weber, Weber Design Group, Naples, FL

Builder Patrick Barker, Glenn Layton Homes, Jacksonville, FL

Text by Laura Hine

Photography by Muriel Silva, Jacksonville, FL

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