In the early 1980s when the Marbella enclave at Palmer Ranch was new, John Karl and Ed Newman, New York fashion designer and textile designer respectively, were looking for a vacation place with a convenient and scenic location.
They toured a model home in Marbella with 12-foot ceilings and lots of natural light, and had pretty much decided to buy it when friends dissuaded them, advocating instead for a 1950s fixer-upper on St. Armands.
Eight-year-old Charlotte (a rescue golden retriever) snoozes on the plush gray carpeting which the homeowners chose when they renovated their Marbella home. They selected two facing kidney-shaped sofas and a higher-than-usual oval coffee table to create an intimate seating arrangement and to soften the angularity of the room. Silk drapes and toss pillows add a punch of color. The walls are soft gray and all the trim is white. The ceilings are 12-feet high and the room gets plenty of natural light. (Staff photo / Elaine Litherland)
They bought the fixer-upper, renovated and used it seasonally until they moved permanently to Sarasota in 1994. They sold the St. Armands property and subsequently renovated a Gulf Gate Woods house and then a Craftsman bungalow on Oak Street in Sarasota, and finally a condominium in Glen Oaks Manor.
"We were on the three-year plan," remembered John Karl. "We'd do these huge renovation projects, get the place just the way we wanted it and then move on to another three-year thing. But, we were in the design business and we loved the remodeling process. We used to say that we restored places to the splendor they never had. And the next owners always loved what we did."
Six years ago, the men moved to Atlanta to renovate a 1930s brick home with classical detailing.
"For some reason, we thought we needed to see hills," said John.
PHOTO GALLERY: See more images of Marbella home on Palmer Ranch
"Actually, we didn't and the house was too small. So we called our longtime Sarasota Realtor and asked him to find us the perfect house and we'd take it sight unseen. We trusted his judgment and what he knew about our taste. He phoned one day to say he was standing in the living room of our new home looking out into the nature preserve.
The exterior of the Karl-Newman residence at Marbella in Palmer Ranch. The men looked at this very home in the early 1980s when the development was new and this home was a model. They passed on buying it. Then three years ago while living in Atlanta, they gave their Sarasota realtor permission to find them a place. The Tealtor did and the men walked into the very home they had once nearly owned. This time, they didn't tempt fate; they bought the place and began a full-scale remodel. (Staff photo / Elaine Litherland)
"We said 'Fine, we'll buy it.' When we got to Sarasota and walked into the place, Ed and I both looked at each other with the same amazed expression. We were in the very same Marbella house we almost bought 30 years ago. This time we did buy it and determined that the renovation would be our last. This was our permanent place. No more three-year plan."
The 1,800-square-foot Marbella villa gave them plenty to work with. It was dated with a swimming pool in bad shape, old kitchen appliances and the air-conditioning and heating systems needed replacing.
"The worst feature was it was the dreadful Florida beige," said designer John Karl. "The whole place had that awful beige-yellow feel and the floors were white tiles. If I have one design principle, it's titled 'always banish beige,' and that's exactly the first thing Ed and I did in this place."
In the living/dining space, the men put down a dark gray rug and painted the walls a pale gray that provided a calm but sophisticated backdrop for a collection of British and French antiques that represent a variety of styles and rich wood tones.
Some are family heirlooms and some pieces the men bought in Sarasota and Baltimore antique shops. Throughout the home are displays of Chinese porcelains, especially in the Famille Noire pattern. Both John and Ed taught fashion and textile design in Japan and developed a fondness for Asian artifacts. The crystal dining room chandelier is from a house the men owned in the Hamptons many years ago and the light fixture has traveled with them from home to home.
The designers added crown molding and white trim to play up the high ceilings in the house, and they redid the lanai adding a dark green awning to define a cozy area for entertaining.
John painted some existing patio furniture black, a color he says is never wrong when you want to elevate the polish and sophistication of a space.
"The chairs out there are from my office," said John. "I just had them spray painted and they work outside. We have touches of black throughout the house in art and furniture and I wanted to unite the lanai with the inside spaces, and using black did that. I even had the garden urns painted black."
The kitchen was gutted and redone in fresh white. The only conflict the men encountered in the entire remodel was about the semi-open kitchen.
"There was a half wall separating the kitchen from the living/dining room and I hated that open, casual look," remembered John. "Ed thought it was convenient and didn't mind it. I wanted more wall space for art and I wanted the kitchen closed off from the more formal areas. Since there are already three entrances into the kitchen, I finally won, but Ed refused to budge on closing off one of the doorways, and I have to admit having a pocket door so near the dining area is convenient."
John said their style for furnishing a home has always been Continental or International with an eclectic mix of old and new, valuable and inexpensive decorative things that beckoned to them on their travels. "We had a relaxed attitude about putting together these rooms at Marbella because we've done it together so many times before," he said. "But our intent was slightly different this time. This was meant to be our permanent home."
And it was, but not in the way the men envisioned. Ed Newman died several weeks ago after a brief illness, just about three years after he and John moved in.
Ed Newman and John Karl had been a couple for 42 years. They met in Paris at a night club and realized they both worked in the design industry in New York.
"We went back to Manhattan and were really never apart after that," said John, "except for business trips. All of our homes have been combined expressions of our training in fashion and textile design and our love of beautiful things. This was our final project."
