Southern Living Idea House Built by Riverside Homes Featured in Homes Section of Florida Times-Union
Welcome to Sarah Alice’s island – Southern Living Idea House opens in Nassau County island community
The 2019 Southern Living Idea House by Riverside Homes, located on Crane Island in Nassau County, was created in harmony with its surroundings and the history of the area. Bound to become the family’s favorite gathering spot, the rear porch offers a view of the Intracoastal Waterway framed by palmettos and moss-draped oaks. Ceiling fans stir gentle breezes for year-round comfort, and Birch Lane sofas and club chairs bid guests to sit and stay awhile.
Attention to detail is the hallmark of the home’s interior design by Heather Chadduck Interiors & Textiles. The grouping of crane illustrations reflects the island’s name, as well as adding a bold touch to the living room décor. Different shades of blue in the same color family complement the river views and bring all parts of the spacious room together for a cozier and more cohesive feel.
The home has a distinctly Southern ambience that mixes aspects of Low Country style with the historic architecture of Fernandina Beach. Its porches offer sweeping views of the Intracoastal Waterway at the rear of the house and a chance to speak with neighbors and passersby in the front. All homes on Crane Island are required to have front porches as a gesture of welcome and friendship.
Crane Island hasn’t changed a lot since the days of Miss Sarah Alice Broadbent, its last — and only — inhabitant. She would have looked out on a lush landscape of moss-draped oaks, waving palm fronds and softly lapping waters, just as a new generation of homeowners soon will, too.
Nothing but the forces of nature have touched the island since Sarah Alice left it in 1952, and the Crane Island development team likes it just that way. The partnership of Jack B. Healan, Jr. and Saad Wallan intends to preserve the natural beauty and ambience of the secluded island community, just off the coast of Amelia Island, and share it with only 113 homeowners.
Crane Island is a luxury, master-planned community with more than 3,500 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway and more than 4,000 feet bordering salt marshes. Of the 185-acre site, the community will preserve around 100 acres, including most of the mature maritime forest — a unique and apt setting for the always-spectacular Southern Living Idea House, which is now open to the public.
“There is no Southern Living franchise more eagerly anticipated than our annual Idea House,” said Sid Evans, the magazine’s editor-in-chief. “We bring together some of the South’s top designers, architects, builders and landscapers, and we create an idyllic house that inspires our readers with design and decorating ideas they can steal for themselves. Tucked in a stand of oak trees and palmettos on the Intracoastal Waterway, this year’s house is a stunner.”
The task of building a new house with the feel of another era fell to Chris Wood, Matt Roberts and Matt Birdwell of Riverside Homes in Jacksonville, also one of the four preferred builders for Crane Island.
“We wanted it to fit perfectly into its location, with the look and feel of a traditional southern home, but one that lives as people do today,” Chris Wood said. “The architectural team of Jim Strickland and Clay Rokicki from Historical Concepts gave us a wonderful design to work from. This is one of the most detailed houses we’ve ever done and one of the most historically correct, but still comfortably livable in every sense, and I take a lot of pride in it.”
That original design evolved from the home’s site itself.
“The river was the first design element we took into consideration, how to showcase the amazing views, while keeping the home warm, inviting and with the feel of a house that has been added onto over the years — we call it generational architecture,” said Jim Strickland, architect. “It’s hard to keep that feel throughout the home, but the interior design team mastered it. They gave it heart, soul and energy with many special touches, but never anything overdone — nothing that screams ‘look at me!’”
Heather Chadduck Hillegas, of Heather Chadduck Interiors & Textiles (and formerly Southern Living’s style director), took on that challenge happily.
“The concept is evident from the moment you step inside the front door,” she said. “You’re met with 11-foot ceilings, antique beams, wide-plank floors and beautiful views of the Intracoastal — comfortable, but not too grand.”
The foyer is separated from the living room only by columns. The flow of the house is uninterrupted from front door to back terrace and its river view. An oversized fireplace invites gathering on chilly nights, while the deck by the river beckons on warmer evenings. A massive island delineates the boundaries of a kitchen to delight even the most particular chef. A professional-grade gas range, farmhouse sink, paneled refrigerator doors, walk-in pantry and lots of hidden storage complete the kitchen and lead to the spacious dining area with windows on three sides and access to the back deck, which also has a designated outdoor dining space. Off the kitchen, the back hallway takes you to the laundry and mud rooms and the garage, as well as stairs to the very private guest suite over the garage.
On the other side of the main living areas is a jewel box of a powder room and the light-filled master suite, designed to look as if it had been expanded and added-onto sometime in the past.
“Exposed framing and cross-bracing with a flat ceiling form the ‘original’ section, then the outer, ‘newer’ part has finished walls, and the ceiling slopes gently upward,” said architect Clay Rokicki. “The design concept really works with the bed hangings starting at the flat part of the ceiling and a sitting area with windows on three sides under the more modern high ceiling.” Hillegas agreed.
What could be more fun than a bunkroom with comfortable but intimate space for whispering ghost stories at sleepovers and pajama parties? Each of the four bunks has its own lighting; the bunk drapery and ceiling wallpaper are perfectly coordinated, and the chandelier offers useful lighting, as well as that touch of elegance.
The design of the guest bedroom begins with the elegant bed canopy, a custom Heather Chadduck feature that reaches to the ceiling and fits perfectly between two of the room’s many windows. Practical yet beautiful touches include the two bright lights over the bed for reading and the pair of nightstand lamps that offer a softer, more diffused light.
In a kitchen sure to please any chef, a pot-filler faucet extends on a swing arm over the dual-fuel range while the bold range hood makes a design statement. That statement is further carried out in the wallpaper murals behind the range and bar. Soft gray cabinets and quartzite countertops complete the design.
“This has always been my favorite room, even when it was only a sketch on a napkin,” she said. “The bed is hand-made with a headboard constructed from only one piece of wood — just gorgeous. And the ‘older’ part of the room uses actual reclaimed barn wood in true 2-by-4s, which are not even made any more.”
Completing the suite are a windowed, walk-in closet the size of some bedrooms and an oasis of a master bath with windows on two sides, a free-standing soaking tub, double marble vanities, a separate water closet and a huge shower with paned glass doors.
Upstairs are two more generously-sized bedrooms with full baths, a bunk room with bath, porches front and back, along with a game room that features built-in banquettes and game tables. The back balcony offers plenty of seating — for more serious relaxation — with two swinging daybeds, as well as a large table and chairs.
Designer touches fill this floor with character and will pique the interest of visitors to the house. The home’s landscaping, by Don Hooten of Hooten Land Design Inc., continues the design concept as it settles the house seamlessly into its location with native plants and foliage.
“The whole concept of the Idea House is to offer ideas that people can actually use,” Evans said. “When guests see the house or readers view photos in Southern Living magazine, we hope they will be inspired.”
Sarah Alice’s island is alive again and ready to welcome a new generation.