The 11th Annual Elegant Home Tour

By Lisa Smith Wood

The Marco Island Women’s Club sponsored the 2011 Elegant Home Tour on Friday, March 4. This year’s tour featured six beautiful residences around the island. The showcased homes encompassed a diverse mix of architectural and interior design styles, color palettes and unique accessories.

A sit-down breakfast at the Marco Island Yacht Club kicked off the event, which was the 11th annual, with proceeds assisting a number of causes, including a scholarship foundation for Marco Island students.

The first stop on the tour highlighted the casual elegance that embodies Mikel and Keely Miller’s residence. Their home, which overlooks Marco Cove, strikes a perfect balance of tropical ease mixed with antique pieces both rustic and refined throughout the richly colored decor. While it is difficult to refer the 3-structure, 5-garage residence as ‘cottage-style’, though the interior conveys an intimate, comfortable feeling throughout each room.

The clean lines and neutral color

scheme of Rick and Julie Maly’s stately contemporary home is at once both subtle and stunning. With walls softly faux finished as a back drop for avant-garde art work, the Maly’s home seems to contain every modern convenience while maintaining a gracious feeling that is perfect for entertaining. Each well appointed room is exquisitely decorated to include small, sophisticated surprises at every turn. From a sleek spiral staircase in the study leading up to a suite of quietly masculine rooms, to luxuriously swathed beds, this home was a true highlight of the tour.

When Thomas and Judy Waltz bought their home in 2010, and opted to renovate portions of it, Judy chose a Tropical French Island motif for the project. She enlisted the assistance of Robb & Stucky interior designer Bob Jones, IDS, to help accomplish her desired effect. Mr. Jones introduced a number of interesting pieces of art

and accessories, including a small bookcase from Les Puces, the Paris flea market, and various China-blue lamps and vases from his own private collection. Together they created a breezy, serene feeling through the home by using cool colors in calming, light shades and fabrics in lively prints.

There is no doubt that Sandy and Bill Wallen have an affinity for fine art, folk art and a whole lot of funky fish. Custom built in 2009, their 4-bedroom Spanish-influenced home is decorated in bold shades of terra-cotta and cobalt blue often found in Tucson, Arizona, where the couple once lived. Now with a summer home in Maine, the Wallens have filled their eclectic home with art from that area, where Sandy sits on the board of the Maine Craft Association. She described the fun she has had selecting the treasures that create a home that is singularly exceptional.

In many ways the

pièce de résistance was the final stop on the tour. Greystone Manor sits amidst lush, tropical gardens on nearly 3 acres including 190 feet of waterfront on Roberts Bay. With 20,000 square feet under air, the palatial estate home is nothing less than breath taking. The residence, decorated to resemble a Venetian palazzo, features a 52’ square grand salon with 25’ barrel ceilings painted by Italian artisans. Designed for large-scale entertaining, the dining room seats 24. The formal rooms are lavishly furnished with a grand piano and many European pieces. Attention to detail seems infinite throughout, from spectacular moldings to antique chandeliers from Italy and the UK, to crystal-accented faucets; no aspect has been overlooked in this majestic home.

Beautiful floral arrangements by the Calusa Garden Club graced each of the homes. After the tour, attendees returned to the yacht club for a dessert buffet and fashion show featuring apparel from Kay’s on the Beach.