Jill Jones is clearly proud of her gracious West-Indies plantation-style home on the shore of the Indian River Lagoon – with good reason.
The rock-solid yet delicately elegant house was designed by renowned New York firm Ferguson and Shamamian Architects LLP, whose commitment to and excellence in traditional historical styles has won them a nationwide following, extending from Hollywood and Malibu to Manhattan.
The firm, which has designed homes for celebrity clients such as James Belushi and Cindy Crawford, has had projects featured in Architectural Digest 20 times in the past 10 years. Its designs have also appeared in dozens of other magazines, including Vogue, Town and Country and House Beautiful, as well as more than 15 books.
Jill Jones and her husband Darwyn Jones, owners of island building firm Jones and Jones General Contractors, executed the architect’s outstanding design with an exceptional level of craftsmanship and great eye for detail.
“This home was designed for those who want to bring the outdoors in,” says Matilde Sorensen of Dale Sorensen Real Estate, who has the house listed for $2.2 million. “It’s bright and light filled, with beautiful hardwood floors and gorgeous French glass doors and windows. Every room in this home is spacious and elegant with thoughtful detailing and luxurious appointments. The formal living spaces as well as the casual areas and the kitchen are warm and comfortable yet sophisticated.”
The Jones built the 4-bedroom, 5.5-bath, 5,530-square-foot house to a high standard of structural integrity in 2005 and later moved in with their teenage son, who got the benefit of a private suite over the garage that could serve future residents as a guest house, servant’s quarters or a mother-in-law suite.
Jill says her son loved the watery environment surrounding Marsh Island, taking advantage of the community’s charming little harbor where the family kept a boat.
Familiarity with a boating lifestyle paid off later on when the young man went into the yachting industry, working on luxury craft belonging to Tiger Woods and other celebrities and business leaders, moving up from deckhand to boson to first mate while still in his early twenties.
“There are more families living on Marsh Island than most people realize,” Jill says. “It is a great environment for kids.”
Painted a light green with white trim, the Jones’ home rests easily in the lush green landscape that surrounds it. The driveway and motor court are concrete trimmed with Chicago brick. The two-car garage with guest suite above forms the right side of the court. With arched bay doors, scrolled rafter ends and one ivy-covered wall, it has a carriage house look appropriate for the home’s West Indies plantation vibe.
Brick steps lead up to a covered front veranda with an airy balcony above. Entry is via a mahogany door with sidelights and a fanlight above. It opens into a gallery, with a staircase on the left ascending to the second floor and the beautifully proportioned and decorated living room straight ahead.
The back wall of the living room is occupied by three sets of French doors with fanlights that open onto the lanai and let in views of the Intracoastal Waterway. Here and elsewhere, the doors and large windows are graced with slender white muntins that add to the sense of lightness and plantation heritage.
There is a classic white-mantled wood-burning fireplace on the left and space for a formal dining room table to the right, beneath an impressive chandelier.
The floors here and throughout much of the house are antique white oak, stained a warm golden tone, salvaged from a distillery in Tennessee. Twelve-foot ceilings on the first floor are painted white and decorated with crown mold and formal beams.
Going right from the entry gallery, a visitor passes a wet bar and pantry on one side and a powder room on the other to reach the kitchen and family room, which are open to each other and have doors in the back that lead out to the pool patio.
The kitchen features granite counters and abundance of white, raised-panel wooden cabinetry with a little bit of a country kitchen feel, “top of the line stainless steel appliances, including a double wall oven and custom panel refrigerator, and a large center island” with a hardwood counter, deep prep sink and breakfast bar seating.
There is a pool bath at the back of the family room with a door leading outside. In front of the kitchen are a large, well-equipped laundry room with custom features, the entrance to the two-car garage and a staircase leading up to the suite above the garage, which includes a kitchenette, living room and bedroom.
To the left of the entry gallery is a handsome library with built-ins, paneled walls and a sailboat mural above the paneling. There is a half-bath off the library that Jill Jones says can easily be converted into full bath, if a new owner wanted to make the library into a fifth bedroom.
The rest of the left wing is occupied by the owners’ suite, which is just as nicely proportioned and decorated as the rest of this wonderful house. The bedroom opens onto the lanai and has windows overlooking the river. The bathroom is a work of art with marble floors and luxurious fixtures. Beyond the twin vanities, the custom-fitted dressing area is as large as a good-size bedroom.
All of the bathrooms in the house – four full bathrooms and three half-baths – are exceptional in their fixtures and interior design, straight out of an architectural magazine layout or a five-star hotel.
Going up the main staircase from the entry gallery, one discovers two 13-foot by 20-foot en suite bedrooms that share a front sitting room that opens onto the balcony overlooking the motor court and community lake and a large back balcony that faces the river and overlooks the resort-style swimming pool.
“I love the fact that this home opens itself to the outdoor living spaces,” says Matilde Sorensen. “The balconies and numerous exterior doors provide wonderful opportunities to view the river from any room in the home. I’m not sure what I love most about this home; the gorgeous home itself or the beautiful and perfect location, a private island community on the Intracoastal Waterway.”
It is in fact hard to overstate how well done this home is in every regard and how great of a bargain it is at $2.2 million compared to other similar waterfront property in Vero.
“You could not build this house today for that amount of money,” Jill Jones says, and she is in a position to know.
The Jones are selling because they have the itch to build another residential masterpiece somewhere else in Vero. They also want to be closer to one of their aging parents. Perhaps, too, with their son off sailing the world at present in a 176-foot yacht belonging to a well-known billionaire, they do not need quite as much room as this spacious house affords.
