(© Bonnie Schiedel. Originally published in Canadian House & Home, August 2008).
A homeowner who once bristled at the thought of visiting Florida celebrates a dozen blissful years living in West Palm Beach.
"It’s those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same." ~Jimmy Buffett
It’s surprising where life takes you, says Sarah Benitz, a Canadian ex-pat who’s been living in West Palm Beach, Florida for the last 12 years "If you had told me 15 years ago I would be living in south Florida-and loving it!-I would have said,’Get outta here!’" she laughs. "Back then I had no desire to even visit Florida." But when her husband Tim, also born and raised in Toronto, had an opportunity to further his career as a contractor, they packed up and headed south, along with their baby daughter. Today their company, Benitz Building, which specializes in high-end residential properties, is thriving, and so are the Benitzes, who now include daughters Sedley, 8, and Vanessa, 6, as well as 14-year-old Aphra.
Part of their love of the southern life stems from their 1941 "beach cottage" home, which they purchased four-and-a-half years ago. One Sunday morning in May, Tim noticed a new listing in the real estate section of the newspaper and was intrigued by the size of the lot; in that area, it would normally feature a massive house with a massive price tag to match. "We piled the girls in car in their pajamas and went for a drive," remembers Sarah. "I took one look at the property’s wonderful old trees and said,’I don’t care what the house looks like. I have to have those trees.’" Fortunately, the trim 2,200-square-foot house proved to be in good shape, despite the mustard-yellow walls, burgundy velvet curtains, and dark wood floor and cabinets. Three days later, it was theirs.
The original plan was to raze the house and rebuild one to suit their young family - after all, building is the family business. "But after we started living in the house, we became reluctant to tear it down. We really love the cottage feel," says Sarah. While the house didn’t require Tim’s building crew, it did need the decorating skills of Sarah, who studied interior design at Toronto’s International Academy of Design. "I wanted to make the house really livable and bright, so I was drawn to the light, cool colours of the ocean," she says. "As much as I love the idea of painting a room red, as I might in Canada, I would never consider doing that here because of the hot temperatures we have." Indeed-daytime temperatures are usually around 27C (80F) and often soar into the 30s during the humid summer months.
To that end, she had the entire interior - walls and ceilings, cabinets and floors - painted in crisp shades of white, cream and ivory, much like beach sand. Sarah particularly loves the painted wood floors, both for their cheery cottagey appearance and how good they feel on perpetually bare feet. "We were a little concerned that the paint wouldn’t hold up well on the floors, but they were properly sanded and painted with oil paint, and even with three kids and two dogs, the paint is virtually unworn," she says.
Fabrics and accessories in soft yellows, greens and blues add soothing hits of colour throughout the house, while darker wood furniture and black granite countertops ground the space and keep it from looking washed out. To keep things airy and streamlined, Sarah left the floors and windows in the public spaces bare (the windows do have blinds for nighttime privacy). And like many Florida homes, the house doesn’t have a basement (it would just fill up with water), so Sarah has, as she puts it, "become the Queen of Non-Clutter," constantly editing the flotsam and jetsam of items that accompany any young family. She added a touch of local history to the storage shelves used throughout the home by affixing scalloped trim that was salvaged from an old Palm Beach mansion.
The lush backyard that sold them on the property is constantly in use for both playtime and relaxation, plus family dinners on the terrace every night. The extensive vegetation - including statuesque palms and rubber trees- mutes the usual suburban traffic noise, and is a haven for birds and butterflies. "We’re going to put in a pool, but we’re going to make it part of the landscape, by using dark tiles so it looks like a pond, and putting grass right up to the coping," says Sarah.
Outside of the backyard, there’s still plenty of entertainment for an active family, ranging from impromptu beach soccer games, surf lessons and kayaking to tennis, horseback riding and cheering on Tim’s brother at polo matches. The neighbouring community of Palm Beach offers endless opportunities for people-watching too. For more than a century, it’s been a playground for the wealthy and powerful (think the Trumps, the Lauders, the Kennedys, and yes, Jimmy Buffett) complete with over-the-top multimillion-dollar mansions and glamorous galas. "We’re casual people and we don’t do the huge social scene, but it’s fun to go out during Season," says Sarah, referring to the winter months, when the area’s population more than doubles and calendars fill up with social engagements. Come summer, though, the Benitzes make a beeline to Lake of Bays in Ontario’s cottage country, to a woodsy cabin on a three-acre island that Sarah co-owns with her brother and sister. "Our roots are there and so are our hearts," says Sarah. "Really, between Florida in the winter and Muskoka in the summer, we have the best of both worlds."
