HOMES OF THE TREASURE COAST
The dining room, where the Florida room was once, looks out to the back garden, bringing the outdoor feel into the house.
decided to purchase her parents’ home. They
owned a house in Central Beach on Holly Lane
that they used as a home-base while Lundy’s job
took him all over Europe. But when his work
brought him back to the U.S., they couldn’t resist
the prospect of purchasing and rebuilding the
family home and continuing the Painted Bunting
connection and tradition.
The modest Riomar cottage, just two blocks
from the ocean, was purchased by Rody Johnson
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and his wife, Katharine, in 1997. Katharine,
a talented artist whose work was well known
in Vero, died in 2008. But her art work lives on,
displayed throughout the Riomar home.
UNEXPECTED PROBLEMS
As the couple began the rebuild, they discovered
there was work that needed to be
addressed at every step. New septic, plumbing,
electrical, which eventually led them to take the
structure down to a few concrete walls and slab.
They added only 2 feet onto the footprint in the
back, and on the west side of the house.
Architect Nick Roseland of Architect Roseland,
ROB DOWNEY
NICK ROSELAND
Before the house was reconstructed, it had a typical 1960s configuration with a small dining
area completely separate from the kitchen.
He considers the style of the Fields home as minimalist Anglo-Caribbean.
He became very familiar with the style from the Windsor projects and
worked with the couple to create a less ornate version.
“I presented the idea to Kit and Lundy, and they loved it,” he says. “Kit
has a good design sense and they were easy to work with. Both of them
understand design and enjoy the process.”
Reconfiguring the 1960s vintage cottage included opening the floor plan,
which was achieved by taking down walls and raising the pitch of the roof.
P.L., restructured the house.
“It was just a stripped down shell,” Roseland
says.
An architect in Vero for 30 years, Roseland
built numerous homes in Windsor while with
the architectural firm Clemens Bruns Schaub. >>