NAPLES ILLUSTRATED
April 2004

A MODEL EXISTENCE

Not only is she blonde, beautiful and bright, she has a to-die-for closet, filled with designer clothes. He’s tall, handsome, outgoing and successful. Together, they’ve modeled for magazine covers and live in a perfectly accessorized dream home. Barbie and Ken? Not exactly. But for visitors to the home of John and Pam Blakely, it’s hard not to make the comparison.

Overlooking Morgan’s Cove in Port Royal, the couple’s 9,000 square foot home includes four bedrooms, five full bathrooms, two half-baths, two offices and a home gym, plus an additional 3,000 square feet of outdoor living area under roof. There’s even a two-tier, infinity-edge pool with a lighting system that can be programmed to match the colorful interior of the main parlor. “At night, people come in and they’re slack-jawed,” John says.

Barbie and Ken should be so lucky.

From the floor plan to the furnishings, the Harwick Homes custom creation is a dream home by any standard. But building a stately home wasn’t in their wildest dreams when the Blakelys visited Naples in March 1996. To celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, they drove from their home in Clearwater for a weekend stay at The Registry.

“Pam has a background in real estate, so she likes to drive around and look at model houses. I do not, “says John, a trial attorney and partner with the Naples office of the law firm of Roetzel & Andress. But that weekend, Pam presented a convincing case.

“When he asked me what I wanted to do that Sunday, I said I’d like to go look at houses,” Pam recalls. “And I really wanted to look in Port Royal.” After some deliberation, John agreed, provided he didn’t have to get out of the car. “I bought a Barron’s and read in the car while she toured the houses.”

A sales agent suggested they drive by another house that wasn’t yet on the market. One look at the long water view behind the home and the Blakelys were hooked. “I called the owner, and we ended up writing an offer on the hood of our car,” John says. Pam adds, “That was the easiest real estate sale I ever made!”

However, when the offer was rejected, the Blakelys were almost relieved. For one thing, they had just moved into a new waterfront home in Clearwater that took them 2 ½ years to build. Also, he had a successful career with the large Clearwater law firm that he founded nearly 30 years ago. “Had we bought the home, I really didn’t know what we would do with it anyway,” he says.

A week later, in the middle of the night, John changed his mind and told Pam to buy it, even if they had to pay the asking price. “When I asked John what we were going to do with it, he said, ‘It doesn’t matter. Just buy it.’ So we did,” Pam says.

For the next year, the home sat largely unoccupied, although the Blakelys brought their 35 foot Chris-Craft from Clearwater and started exploring the local waterways and islands on weekends. “Gradually, we just kind of got captured by the whole spirit of Port Royal and south Naples,” Pam says. “It was so much more tranquil and quiet than Tampa.”

During their first two years in Naples, the Blakelys lived in the existing Port Royal home and began plans to build something new. “We used to climb up on the roof at sunset with a bottle of champagne and decide how we wanted to configure the house,” Pam says.

Biding their time also enabled them to monitor construction of their two next-door neighbors’ houses. “That proved to be very helpful because we would see how they positioned their homes” and also view the work of two different builders. One of them was Harwick Homes. “Harwick has a good feel for room relationships, and how they flow and connect,” Pam says.

Borrowing elements from a Harwick model, the Blakelys worked with contractor Rick Harwick and architectural designer Eric Brown on the floor plan, and Sherri DuPont of Collins & DuPont Interior Design on the interior architecture and décor. “We wanted to build a home just for us, but with some guest areas for out-of-town friends and family,” John says.

As a result, Pam and John were extremely involved in every aspect of their home’s construction and were quite specific about their wants and needs, having built or renovated several other homes. In fact, while they were working on their Port Royal residence, they also were overseeing construction of a vacation retreat on a Montana mountaintop.

“I knew I wanted a layout that would maximize the views, and I wanted a room like I had in Montana, where I could sit and watch TV, and also have the feeling of being outside,” John says. Furthermore, he wanted a fireplace nearby. The family room adjoining the kitchen accomplishes every objective and is among John’s favorite spaces. Pocketing glass doors open to another popular spot – the outdoor living room. Comfortably furnished and well appointed with a kitchen, grill, fireplace and TV, the area is ideal for entertaining friends or enjoying a fireside dinner for two.

Throughout the home, the Blakelys opted for exceptionally wide doorways and spacious common areas versus additional rooms. “We took a lot of our square footage and put it into our hallways, stairways and bedrooms,” not to mention some incredible closet space.

Almost half of the second floor is devoted to a his-and-hers closet with more square footage than many Southwest Florida homes. “Pam’s portion has wood shelving, drawers and cabinets, a marble-topped island of drawers and a massive dressing mirror. Suitably sized to accommodate the wardrobes of several fashionistas, the space reflects her affinity for designer shoes and handbags.

“When we were building, Rick Harwick asked me more than once if I was really sure I wanted to use all that space for a closet,” Pam says. “He thought it was too big and suggested we use it for extra bedrooms and closets. I said, ‘No, no, no!’ Now it’s full!” According to John, she’s started appropriating space on his side, which has a private balcony.

Another tribute to individual space can be seen in the guest suite above one of the garages. Rather than use the space for two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the couple chose to make it a lavish private apartment, complete with a sitting room, kitchenette and glass cabinets and a custom-designed banquette for dining. The large bedroom is separate from the living area with a bathroom and closet. Two additional guest rooms are on the first floor, one with a private entry and direct access to a one-car garage.

During the design phase, one of Brown’s greatest design challenges was incorporating the Blakelys’ desires in a plan that would work with their pie-shaped site and comply with Port Royal’s setback requirements and 30-foot height restrictions. Their request for a second-floor master suite with high ceilings made the task even more daunting.

“Somehow they figured out a way that we could have 10-foot ceilings upstairs and 12- to 15-foot ceilings on the first floor with the ceiling details we wanted.” Pam says. Almost every room in the house has some sort of stepped or tray ceiling embellished with heavy crown molding, special finishes and cove lighting. “Lighting is extremely important to us. We spent days adjusting the lighting system to get all the light values set just right.”

Overall, the floor plan is flexible enough that rooms can be reconfigured for other purposes, if needed. John’s striking study, for instance, opens to the pool deck and was designed with the kind of storage space and bathroom necessary for easy conversion to a first-floor master suite.

Arguably, the greatest challenge was selecting, obtaining and coordinating the mind-boggling number of materials, ironwork, fabrics and furnishings that enhance the home’s elegant appeal and facilitate its continuity. For that, the Blakelys relied heavily on DuPont.

“The house plans were probably 30 pages; the plans from Collins & DuPont were 100 pages,” John says. There was a page for each floor tile layout, ceiling and wall, along with additional renderings for items such as cabinets, fireplace details, stairways and the elevator.

“I thought I knew something about architecture and construction from real estate and previous experience, but Collins & DuPont took it to another level,” Pam says. “Sherri knew how to blend all the colors, coordinate the furnishings and layer the accessories. Without her assistance, it would have been overwhelming.”

DuPont was familiar with the Blakelys’ design preferences, having worked on their interim home, a condo in Grey Oaks that they sold when their Port Royal home was completed. “We like bold, primary colors, particularly green, blue and turquoise,” says John, adding that Pam is also fond of fuchsia and coral tones. Based largely on a photo of Jane Bazinet’s En Jardin, an original oil painting now hanging in the parlor, DuPont built a peacock-like color scheme accented with coral, violet and other warm tones. Family friend and graphic artist Dean Young, creator of the Blondie comic strip, calls the home “the jewel box,” because of the emerald, ruby and sapphire shades featured prominently in the front parlor.

To add contrast to the expanses of neutral marble tile and hickory wood flooring, the Blakelys selected exquisite fabrics in vivid hues for many of their custom-designed window treatments and furnishings. While nearly all of the fabrics they selected had to be imported from Europe, the one they chose for their parlor’s centerpiece sofa had been discontinued. To the Blakely’s delight DuPont found a source to custom weave and hand paint turquoise-colored fabric identical to the discontinued sample.

In other cases, DuPont worked with local fabricators to execute her original designs. Her artistic talents can be seen in many of the home’s leaded mirrors, iron grillwork, such as fire screens, doors and accents, and stained glass cabinet doors, windows and illuminated panels used in the kitchen, dining room and master suite.

Beyond her regular duties, DuPont also acted as an impartial judge on the rare occasions that John and Pam had design disagreements. “We both have very strong opinions about everything and there were some things we didn’t agree on,” Pam recalls. “With John’s background as a trial lawyer, he can be very persuasive, so we’d present both sides without telling Sherri who wanted what and she’d be the swing vote.” Apparently, the compromises worked to both parties’ satisfaction. “Let’s put it this way,” John says. “We totally love our home.” Case closed.