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Since moving to Florida with his wife, Sis, in 1988 from a small town in Pennsylvania, Milton Johnson has renovated upwards of 300 condominium units, most on barrier islands near Sarasota.
The large eclectic kitchen in the home of Sis and Milton Johnson showcases luxury modern appliances and a combination of vintage and contemporary cabinetry as well as several kinds of stone from travertine to green jelly-bean stones that decorate the lighted round niche. (Herald-Tribune staff photo by Dan Wagner)
He’s also renovated six homes that he and Sis bought with the intention of renovating and eventually selling. Their seventh personal project, which is in a Center Gate neighborhood in Sarasota, is now on the market for $699,000 through Shirley Dabringhaus of Sunset Realty.
Like every home and condominium that Johnson has improved and filled with artistic character, this three-bedroom, three-bath house expresses an artist’s sensibilities, along with a practical builder’s solutions for storage issues, traffic flow, privacy concerns and low maintenance. The Center Gate home is being sold as a “turnkey” property, which makes sense because so much of the furniture and special architectural features, including wall art, are built-ins, and thus permanent features.
The approach to the front door of the home of Sis and Milton Johnson at 5441 Dominica Circle in the Center Gate neighborhood of Sarasota. The home is surrounded by garden rooms that feature decks, ponds and places to sit and relax. The property is being offered by Sunset Realty for $699,000. (Herald-Tribune staff photo by Dan Wagner)
Additionally, front and back gardens, with decks, ponds and lounge areas, function as garden rooms, ideally suited for outdoor entertaining or providing gorgeously landscaped views from nearly all the windows in the home.
The caged swimming pool pavilion includes a stone-clad outdoor kitchen under roof and a pool bathroom that Sis wanted especially for the grandkids. The couple’s laundry room is a model of form and function that’s full of character and worth showing off. The same goes for the large eclectic kitchen, which is outfitted with luxury appliances, a unique ceiling treatment, skylight, wood-burning fireplace, white apron-front farm sink, and cabinetry both modern and vintage — some pieces crafted with reclaimed wood.
Artist/home renovator Milton Johnson and his wife Sis in the living room of their Center Gate home which is on the market for $699,000 through Sunset Realty. The Johnsons bought the home five years ago and spent two and a half years renovating and upgrading the 2,784-square-foot residence. (Staff photo by Dan Wagner)
A massive stone pub-height center island with a wine cooler built-in underneath makes the kitchen a natural hub for home entertaining. And the space opens to both the family room and the pool area.
One wing of the home, with two bedrooms and a bath, is separate from the public areas, and, on the other side of the house from the master suite.
“Milton took out a hallway to create the guest wing,” said Sis, “and then put in a lot of built-ins for convenience. It’s a comfortable and completely secluded retreat, and when some of our children and seven grandchildren are here from Tampa and Fort Myers, they love it.”
All the rooms in this 2,784-square-foot home are spacious, and the flow among the rooms, as well as the outdoor living spaces, make the house seem even bigger and more crowd friendly.
The master bathroom, which demonstrates Milton’s artistry with tile, stone, distinctive molding, built-in art and dramatic textural finishes, is large, even for modern trends, and is a huge selling feature.
Artistic built-ins
Two of the builder’s hallmarks are artistic built-ins and lighted niches in all shapes and sizes, and they are found in abundance in the master bathroom and bedroom.There are so many clever niches throughout the Johnson home that Milton often brings clients here to show them possibilities for their own renovation projects.
If a client chooses, the niches can be used to display Johnson’s botanical sculptures, which were his transition from fine art to the construction business and the eventual formation of his company, called Design 555.
“I started out as a painter and a teacher of fine art in Pennsylvania,” said Johnson. “Gradually, I began to do botanical sculptures and more art pieces that required working with wood, stone and textures in stucco. The projects got bigger and more complicated, and pretty soon I was into design and building things that would become permanent features of a room, and then a whole home.
“Home renovation was a natural evolution for me. I approach art and building as one process, and I love the creativity of it, as well as solving space problems.”
The Center Gate home was built in 1980; the Johnsons bought it five years ago, spending two and half years on renovation, upgrades and Milton’s signature built-ins. The floors are a combination of reclaimed white oak and travertine. All the lighting is custom. Now, Milton says he and Sis are ready for a smaller home — one they will build from scratch.
“We don’t need a swimming pool anymore,” said Sis, “and the house itself is bigger than we actually use. It needs a family or a couple who does a lot of entertaining.
“We have a condominium nearby that we can live in until we find the right property so the transition will be smooth and I won’t be living in the middle of a massive renovation like I’ve done seven times already. This time, we won’t move in until everything is finished.”
Milton says with his next project, he’ll build a studio for himself that is separate from the residence.
“The studio will be larger than the house because I’m looking for a huge area to experiment with some large-scale designs, and my wife has tolerated living in the middle of my projects for long enough,” he said.
“Likely, we’ll want some rural property with land for gardens, because most of my botanical-art niche projects and built-ins are inspired by nature and organic forms.”
