House
of Holiday Dreams
When Alfred Hoffman, American Ambassador to
Portugal since 2005 and founder of WCI Communities, Inc., and his wife,
Dawn, purchased their home in the Gulf Harbor Golf & Country Club
community in Fort Myers, they named their Mediterranean-style residence
Casa de Suenos, or House of Dreams.
As there is no better holiday for realizing dreams than Christmas, the
Hoffmans asked Naples interior designer Joan Simonsen-Hickok to invoke
an Andalusian theme for their holiday decor. Simonsen-Hickok, who had
undertaken the interior design of the Hoffman’s Gulf Harbor home
and who has executed designs for five other Hoffman residences, had no
problem rising to challenge. Not only has Simonsen-Hickok’s design
firm garnered three Grand and seven Aurora Awards over the past ten years,
but Simonsen-Hickok had spent a summer visiting Spanish architecture in
the countryside around Seville and Cordoba.
Simonsen-Hickok had the perfect palette on which to paint a holiday theme,
as the initial concept for the home was decidedly Old World. The entire
design concept took two years to complete, with attention to detail being
the cornerstone of each component of the interior design. Because the
Hoffmans often entertain for professional and personal reasons, their
residence needed to be spacious, while at the same time neither homeowners
nor designer wanted to forgo an intimate feel for the home. Sarasota architect
William Thorning Little was consulted and rounded out the design team,
bringing to the project his expertise in Mediterranean design.
This collective design knowledge came together to create a dramatic residence
which dazzles the visitor from the first glimpse of the foyer, with it’s
terra cotta floor and warm, hand-finished golden walls. The emphasis that
was placed on the use of antiques, and the caliber of these pieces, is
immediately evidenced by the placement in this space of a 17th century
brazier which once graced William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon estate.
A winding stone stairway floats up the floor above, its rope bannister
mimicking an authentic detail not often found outside of the Mediterranean.
Arched windows and paintings framed ornately in gilt lend the space an
atmosphere of continental history.
In the warm space of this foyer, where holiday visitors are first welcomed
into the home, Simonsen-Hickock opted to begin expressing the chosen holiday
theme. "We wanted the emphasis of the holiday decorations to be on
the traditional and, in keeping with the overall ambiance of the home,
we wanted a centuries-old feel," says Simonsen-Hickok. "We wanted
to imbue the decorations with the feeling that they had been in the family
for generations and that they were traditional, rather than more recent
and therefore modern or commercial."
Simonsen-Hickok achieved this by first adorning the wrought iron banisters
of the staircase with pine garland, an element which is carried through
in the decoration of the other rooms, as well. The effect is striking
and convinces the visitor that members of the family only recently went
out into the countryside, in order to freshly gather the fragrant boughs.
Two antique trunks in the foyer hold a large topiary woven with natural
grape vine, an old-fashioned sleigh and South American Santos, or créche
figures.
In many South American cultures, it is not Santa or Father Christmas who
comes bearing gifts on Christmas Eve, but rather the Three Wise Men. A
favorite is Balthazar, who rides a donkey, and is the one believed to
leave the gifts. And instead of leaving milk and cookies for Santa, children
in Spain leave their shoes on the windowsills and fill them with straw,
carrots, and barley for the horses of the Wise Men.
Leaving the foyer, the centerpiece of the formal, yet welcoming, living
room is the huge, carved Italian limestone fireplace, which faces two
separate sitting areas, sharing back-to-back sofas upholstered in a rich
gold-on-gold stripe. The ceiling is laid with hardwood, which reflects
the glow of the fire in the massive hearth and bounces the light off of
the Gothic light fixtures. The mantle is adorned with a traditional wreath,
made from natural materials, and generous swags of pine garland. This
motif is carried through on the windows and French doors, while a king-sized
Christmas tree is topped, traditionally, by an angel.
In front of the fireplace, a wrought iron coffee table is used to display
another Portuguese holiday tradition, a miniature nativity scene called
Belén, which depicts life in the village where Jesus was born.
The Belén always includes the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, as well
as the Three Kings, or Wise Men, Baltasar, Melchior and Gaspar.
Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena (Good Night in Spanish) and it is the
most important family gathering of the year, a time for celebration and
feasting. With this in mind, the holiday décor was extended into
the formal dining room, which is entered through a pair of wrought iron
gates. Rich burnt sienna walls perfectly set off a hand-planed, oak dining
table, which looks as if it has been handed down through at least five
generations of loving hands. The velvet draperies and high-backed dining
chairs glow in the soft light of a Medievally-inspired chandelier, wreathed
for the holidays with dried vines and berries. The colors for this room
were suggested by the Flemish tapestry hanging upon one wall and also
decided the palette of the holiday centerpiece, a lush combination of
fruits and multicolored leaves. The room’s ambient lighting is set
off by candlelight, making for a festive and inviting setting for a holiday
meal.
In this time of consumer excess, it’s refreshing to hark back to
simpler, and somehow more elegant, times by taking holiday decorating
inspiration from age-old traditions and the earth’s natural bounty.
The result is elegance in its simplest form. Feliz Navidad.
PRIVATE HOME
Design by Joan Simonsen-Hickok Interiors
380 10th St S., Suite 101
Naples, FL 34102
239 263-3535
Written by Kristine Hughes
Photography by Tom Harper Photography
