Tropical Chic: Palm Beach Home

The interiors of Palm Beach have long reflected the varied tastes and whimsies of the town's worldly inhabitants. As real estate on this tiny barrier island becomes increasingly valuable, residents are now turning to world-class designers to help fine-tune their visions, giving rise to a fresh tropical design vernacular. Fashion designer Josie Natori, for instance, commissioned architect Calvin Tsao to transform a standard two-bedroom apartment into an airy retreat, featuring rattan furniture and ethnic accessories that complement Palm Beach's subtropical setting and pay tribute to her Asian heritage.

These homes are not slavish copies of interior design magazines or decorators' dictates, but rather testaments to what can be achieved when inspired by the natural beauty of a unique locale and when imagination is the only limitation. Tropical Palm Beach at Home captures the enduring charm of newly restored seaside fantasies by Mizner, Fatio and Volk, celebrated for their Cuban coquina courtyards and soaring miradors overlooking tiled pools and arching fountains.

Jennifer Ash Rudick, a long-time Palm Beach resident, leads an insider's tour of twenty-five houses, cottages, Moorish casbahs, artists' compounds, and Mad Men-era vintage condos. Jessica Klewicki, a Palm Beach-based photographer, captures extraordinary gardens, verandas, lakeside pavilions, a rustic ranch, and simple pastel Bermudan houses sheltered by dense thickets of Norfolk pines and age-old banyans.

This eclectic mix of old and new, of Spanish and Caribbean, of contemporary design and sun-faded WASP thrift, is what makes Palm Beach chic. The town's residents are calling upon world-class designers to help them fine-tune their visions, resulting in a fresh tropical design vernacular that pays homage to the natural beauty of the locale and the diverse cultural influences that have shaped it over time.

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