Houzz Tours
My Houzz: Eclectic Farmhouse-Inspired Style in Florida
Her passion for design and his engineering skills help these homeowners build a house on a scenic bay
Mary Beth and Josh Tatum lived in a concrete masonry teardown in Destin, Florida, for seven years, enduring a less-than-perfect living situation, as Mary Beth says, “to save for the opportunity to create something we loved.” They purchased a lot in nearby Miramar Beach and sat on it for a year. Then, with no experience building a house from scratch, they constructed a home infused with personality, in a cost-effective way.
Building their bayside home was a team effort for the Tatums, and their skills complemented each other’s. “I’m passionate about design and good at knowing what I like, but my husband, being an engineer, is incredibly creative; it blows my mind. I get to ride along and be a part of his creativity,” Mary Beth says.
How to Create and Use Ideabooks
How to Create and Use Ideabooks
The couple chose a homesite amid pines and river birch trees that takes advantage of the bayside location. It’s one street away from Choctawhatchee Bay, which can be seen from the top floor. “With the lot directly across the street from the bay, we designed the house with the master suite on the second floor,” Mary Beth says.
The exterior features fiber cement siding, which is resistant to insects, fire and rot and can stand up to high winds. The couple followed general construction guidelines for building in a hurricane-prone area, including using impact-resistant windows and doors and creating an extra-strong connection between the house and the foundation.
10 Exterior Projects That Add Up to Maximum Curb Appeal
The exterior features fiber cement siding, which is resistant to insects, fire and rot and can stand up to high winds. The couple followed general construction guidelines for building in a hurricane-prone area, including using impact-resistant windows and doors and creating an extra-strong connection between the house and the foundation.
10 Exterior Projects That Add Up to Maximum Curb Appeal
First floor. The home’s public spaces plus two guest bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry-mudroom off the carport are on the first floor.
Find a general contractor near you
Find a general contractor near you
European white oak flooring adds to the home’s farmhouse appeal and connects the dining area and kitchen. The kitchen’s Shaker-style KraftMaid cabinets and island are painted a gray shade called Greyloft, with a sable-colored glaze. For the island’s wainscoting, the same color was used but less sable glaze applied, producing a lighter shade. The dining table is from a furniture store in Georgia, where Mary Beth’s parents live.
Flooring: Baroque Flooring
Flooring: Baroque Flooring
Even though Mary Beth doesn’t cook (though Josh does), when she saw a photo of a La Cornue range in a magazine, she fell in love with it. The handsome 36-inch CornuFé range’s light color and dark trim inspired the palette for the rest of the kitchen and first floor. “I felt comfortable going with darker cabinets against the white range,” Mary Beth says. “It was the first thing I had in my mind visually, and I created around that.” The range hood is custom-made.
How to Find the Right Range for Your Kitchen
How to Find the Right Range for Your Kitchen
The couple enjoys dancing to jazz, soul and alternative music played on the Crosley record player located on the granite counter next to the range. The glasses on the shelves belonged to Mary Beth’s grandmother. The white subway tile used for the backsplash has a matte finish.
Browse popular white wall tile on Houzz
Browse popular white wall tile on Houzz
The comfortable family room includes armchairs that pick up the color scheme started in the kitchen. A watercolor artwork created by Mary Beth’s grandfather, who was a landscape architect, fits neatly in a nook over the gas fireplace.
The couple framed architectural drawings from local home design store Stock & Trade Design in similar frames. They’re displayed in a line horizontally for a symmetrical design effect.
Paint: First Star (walls) and Extra White (trim), both by Sherwin-Williams
Paint: First Star (walls) and Extra White (trim), both by Sherwin-Williams
One of the guest bedrooms has a coastal feel, thanks to the blues, whites and tans in the bedding, tufted headboard and linen shade. Yellow bedside lamps and a purple velvet rocker from Anthropologie add splashes of color.
A guest bathroom located between the two guest bedrooms features a white vanity topped by a marble counter.
Vanity: Newcastle, Ronbow
Vanity: Newcastle, Ronbow
Mary Beth loves this chalkboard wall in the laundry area. The space includes a mudroom, which can be entered from the carport. “It’s a space that allows for mess and transition,” Mary Beth says.
9 Creative Ways to Use Chalkboard Paint
9 Creative Ways to Use Chalkboard Paint
Mary Beth also raves about the rods for hanging laundry. “They’re amazing. I don’t like drying a lot of clothes. I think it’s a dream, especially for skinny jeans,” she says. The room also has a granite counter and thick clay-brick flooring. The microwave over the washer and dryer is a result of Mary Beth’s minimalist tendencies. “We don’t use it a lot. I don’t like a lot of appliances on countertops in the kitchen, so it somehow ended up in the laundry room,” she says.
Window trim paint: Turkish Coffee, Sherwin-Williams
Window trim paint: Turkish Coffee, Sherwin-Williams
Second floor. Most of the second floor is taken up by the spacious master suite. A roomy screened-in porch can be accessed from the master bath.
The wall at the top of the stairs features uniquely personal art. The Tatums had a painting party with about 15 friends, who were given white canvases and black paint to create art pieces, which the couple later cropped, edited and framed. The abstract art appeals to Mary Beth’s minimalist sensibilities.
“We had the painting party because my husband felt the walls were bare, but I’m very minimalist. If I layer with decor, I want it to be functional and meaningful. I didn’t want to spend money on art that didn’t have an emotional connection,” Mary Beth says.
“We had the painting party because my husband felt the walls were bare, but I’m very minimalist. If I layer with decor, I want it to be functional and meaningful. I didn’t want to spend money on art that didn’t have an emotional connection,” Mary Beth says.
In the master bedroom, the couple transformed an heirloom into two new pieces of custom furniture. They took a couch that belonged to Mary Beth’s grandmother and turned it into a headboard and bench by deconstructing, staining and reupholstering it.
The master bathroom is the couple’s second-floor splurge. The freestanding tub is the big-ticket item. The roomy space features two large vanities and mirrors that evoke an industrial farmhouse feel. The double French doors lead to the screened-in porch.
Vanities: Toledo, Fairmont Designs
Vanities: Toledo, Fairmont Designs
The couple also splurged on Carrara marble tile for the shower. The floors are wood-look porcelain tile planks.
Flooring: porcelain tile in Myrtle Beach color (whitewash), Boardwalk collection, Mediterranea
Flooring: porcelain tile in Myrtle Beach color (whitewash), Boardwalk collection, Mediterranea
The porch has a bar with industrial-style stools and a separate seating area. The flooring is concrete. The outdoor rug is from a patio store. “It had been on the floor as display for years, so we got it for a bargain,” Mary Beth says.
Here’s Stubbs, the Tatums’ 13-year-old black Labrador, enjoying the porch. She’s showing signs of age, says Mary Beth, but still loves the water and fetching sticks at a nearby park.
Mary Beth says there’s a lot that she and Josh enjoy about the home they built from scratch. “We actually love it because we’re very particular and were fortunate enough to create something from the ground up. We got what we liked and appreciate every aspect of it,” she says.
See more of this home
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
More on Houzz
See other home tours
Find an interior designer
Shop for home products
Mary Beth says there’s a lot that she and Josh enjoy about the home they built from scratch. “We actually love it because we’re very particular and were fortunate enough to create something from the ground up. We got what we liked and appreciate every aspect of it,” she says.
See more of this home
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
More on Houzz
See other home tours
Find an interior designer
Shop for home products
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Josh and Mary Beth Tatum, and their black Labrador, Stubbs
Location: Miramar Beach, Florida
Size: 3,644 square feet (339 square meters), including carport and porch; three bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms
Learning as they went, Josh drew up plans and sent them to a draftsperson at Kennedy Drafting Service. Then the couple hired subcontractors, whom they managed along the way. Josh grew up in construction and, as a civil engineer who works on commercial properties, was able to do much of the work himself, including all the trimwork, baseboards, and window and door casings. Mary Beth is a former speech therapist who now works at Anthropologie, where she became passionate about design. They also relied on Houzz for design ideas and inspiration. “We designed the home ourselves, as complete amateurs, through the help of Houzz,” Mary Beth says. “I used Houzz to hone in on my particular design aesthetic. I was then able to further streamline and categorize my thoughts through the ideabooks.”
Mary Beth’s design inspiration started in the kitchen. “My favorite item in the home is our La Cornue French range,” she says. “We purchased this before we began construction. Our entire first floor was designed around this piece.” The use of rich grays and cool blues and silver flowed naturally from the colors of the range.