Dick and Barbara Carlin found the lot where their beautiful Sandpointe West home sits by accident on the last day before they had to commit to another property they had made an offer on.
At the time, in the late 1990s, they were living in Clinton, NY, a small college town near Utica in upstate New York where Dick had a busy oral surgery practice. The house where they had raised four children was too big for them and they were preparing for retirement.
“We knew we wanted to be in Florida,” says Dick. “And we wanted to be far enough south to enjoy the warm weather. We worked our way down the west coast and then looked at South Florida, but the density down there turned us off.”
When they came up the east coast, Vero caught their fancy and they looked at homes in The Moorings and Grand Harbor.
In 1998, the settled on a waterfront home in Grand Harbor and made an offer that was accepted. But then their real estate attorney mentioned that, for what they were paying, there were options outside club communities they might want to consider.
“We only had three or four days before our deposit would have been forfeited at that point,” says Dick. “So we said, if you have someone who can show us around in the next few days, we will take a look.”
“We looked at property all over the place,” says Barbara. “We finally came to Sandpointe on the last day before the deadline to look at the lot next door to this one.”
They liked the view from the lot that was for sale but there was a problem with an easement they didn’t like and they were ready to give up the search when their buyer’s agent suggested the lot next to the one they came to see.
“I said, ‘but there is no for sale sign,’” Barbara says. “Our agent said, ‘I know the owner,’ and got on the phone.”
The agent made the owner an offer and told him he had 30 seconds to decide. The owner asked for an extra $10,000, which the Carlins agreed to, and the deal was done.
Over the next two years, while still in New York, they worked together on the design of their dream home, pulling ideas from houses in New York and Florida and fitting them together.
“We had the luxury of time,” Barbara says. “He would make drawings and designs and I would come up with ideas and we would put them together and see how they fit. I did not know it before, but it turned out my husband is a fabulous draftsman.”
At the same time as they were working on the design, they were figuring out how to site the house on their wedge-shaped half-acre lot to take best advantage of sweeping views west and south across the lagoon. They also had to negotiate permits and a mangrove plan with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and St. John’s Water Management District.
“I put balloons at the edges of the property and went up in a plane with my son to look at it and take aerial photos,” Dick says.
In the end they created a wonderful Mediterranean-style home with a red barrel tile roof and yellow stucco walls that blends perfectly into the subtropical grounds and is full of delightful architectural surprises.
Pulling into the motor court, a visitor sees lush landscaping with flowering shrubs and graceful palm trees and a two-car garage with attractive arched doors. A breezeway that connects the main house and garage looks like an inviting place to sit and relax and a solid mahogany front door with sidelights and a fanlight announces the home’s craftsmanship and solidity.
Stepping into the foyer, a visitor is struck by a floating spiral staircase with Brazilian cherry wood treads that is the focal point of the entry.
“We fell in love with the standing spiral staircase. That was one of the features we knew we wanted,” says Dick. Another was a diversity of spaces within a classic design unified by the repetition of shallow arches over windows, doors and passageways.
“I wanted there to be lots of little nooks and places of interest, each with a different atmosphere and feeling. Cozy little places here and there so you never get tired of the house. Each place has a different view and different feel.”
Two of those special places are deep embrasures with padded chest seats on either side of the fireplace in the two-story living room.
“We have three grandchildren who spend a lot of time here,” says Barbara. “They love to curl up on those seats with their books and kindles and they keep their stuff inside the seats.”
The cozy recesses are not a bad place to curl up. With a 25-foot-high ceiling and west-facing wall that is wide open via arched glass doors and windows to views of the lagoon, it is a spectacular room.
A railed sitting area at the top of stairs bumps out in a shallow arched balcony at the top of the stairs, overlooking the living room. The Brazilian cherry carries through that area and through a railed gallery that overlooks the living room on the south side and into a den at the southwest corner that has the best views in the house, south and west across mile so sparkling water.
Also upstairs are an en suite guest room and a large exercise room with a full bath that can be used as bedroom.
Downstairs, the master suite occupies the entire north side of the house, with a large, luxurious bedroom overlooking the lagoon, two walk-in closets, including one engineered as a safe room, and a big bright bathroom with a glassed-in shower and a soaking tub.
A charming feature of the bathroom is a walled garden that wraps around two sides of the room and provides privacy and a peaceful view for bathers.
On the other side of the house, left from the arched and columned foyer, is a formal dining room open to the foyer and living room, a service hall with laundry room, walk-in pantry with whimsical glass door, a wine cupboard and the door that leads to the elegant garage breezeway.
Behind the service hall, in the back of the house, are a spacious, well-equipped kitchen with Thermador, Miele, Whirlpool and GE Monogram appliances, and a huge family room. The two rooms are open to each other and the breakfast nook, so whoever is working in the kitchen is not cut off at all from the rest of the family.
The family room, living room and master bedroom all have sliding doors that open out onto a covered patio with a cypress ceiling. Beyond the patio is an oversize scalloped swimming pool Dick designed for swimming laps that is surrounded by a pool deck paved in cast stone.
The mangrove management plan the Carlins worked out with St. Johns allowed the trees on the west side of the lot to be trimmed to six feet above high water, while those on the south are allowed to grow wild. The contrast allows for great views while providing privacy and a sense of being wrapped in the natural world at the same time.
The lot curves along 220 feet of deep-water lagoon frontage in an area where game fish, dolphins, manatees and exotic bird life all thrive.
A wooden walkway leads down through the wild mangroves, their exposed roots awash in crystal clear water, to a boat dock with seating and a 9,000-pound boat lift that has picturesque views of The Moorings Yacht and Country Club as well as the open water.
“This is another one of those little unique spots we love,” says Dick of the shaded seating area on the dock. “It is a great place to have a drink on a nice evening.”
This substantial, carefully thought out home would be ideal for a family that wants to enjoy club life, with The Moorings so close. It is also perfectly situated for families with children in school, right next door to St. Edwards School. Home Owner Association dues in the small gated enclave are very modest at $1,300 annually.
The Carlins are selling their dream home to move inland in order to be closer to the one of their daughters and the three grandchildren who live in Vero.
