It has taken Bonnie Berry six years to get her home in the Isles of Waterway Village just the way she wants it. And now, it’s time to move on and let another owner put their touches on the house.
Berry is leaving for South Carolina, working with a childhood friend to help rehabilitate not only rescue dogs and cats but also prison inmates serving 25-to-life. “I just have to go,” Berry said. “I’m called to go do this.”
And that means she’s going back to the starting line – decorating and design wise. But now she’ll be tackling a carriage house on a South Carolina plantation that dates to the 1800s.
Berry will miss the Isles of Waterway Village – the kind and caring neighbors who often offer to walk her two dogs, Louie and Stewie, and the peaceful grace her home embodies.
Soaring ceilings through the main area of the house provide airiness. Numerous windows invite natural light.
Immediately off the foyer is the formal sitting room – a must for Berry when she selected the Carlyle floor plan from builder DiVosta Homes. It provides extra social space when her four grown children and their significant others come to visit.
The formal dining room was also a nonnegotiable. “We need a place to sit!” she said of having a full house.
“The kids love to come to Vero,” Berry said, noting they travel from Oregon and Texas, as well as Tampa and Gainesville.
The eat-in kitchen is where Berry typically takes her meals when not hosting friends and family. A granite-topped peninsula provides seating for four easily, and a breakfast nook near the lanai is a great place for sipping coffee and enjoying the view.
Berry had wainscoting installed below the chair rails in the kitchen and other areas to protect the walls, and that detail lends an extra touch of charm to the rooms, as do the white plantation shutters found throughout the home.
The kitchen’s peninsula opens to the great room with built-in shelving and cabinets around the TV. It’s the hub of the house.
Two of the bedrooms – the master and a guest – have backyard pool views.
“My children fight over this room,” Berry said of the so-called “peach room.” She tells them: First come, first to the room.
Each bedroom is appointed with a ceiling fan and roomy closets. Extra shelving near the ceiling was installed to make use of additional space.
The master suite has a glass slider out to the pool and gets plenty of sunshine. Beyond the bedroom proper is a hallway with his and her closets plus a linen closet on one side, and a walk-in closet that doubles as a “safe room” on the other.
The safe room has a vent for air and a heavy-duty door with two deadbolts. Berry said she has pulled bedding and such into the safe room when storms have threatened but hasn’t yet had to lock in herself or her pups.
“I feel extremely safe in here,” Berry said, “Though I’ve never had to use it.”
As for the en suite, it’s special in that a glass-enclosed shower has a door that opens into the main master bath and a second door that opens into an adjacent half-bath.
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Listing Agent Bob Faller said some would call this a fourth full bathroom, since it has access to the shower, but, technically, it’s a half. “It’s unique,” he said.
Along with the shared shower, the main bath has a generous soaker tub adjacent to a block-glass window, providing light while maintaining privacy.
Elsewhere in the house is the laundry room – or, as Berry calls it, her office – equipped with numerous cabinets and an upgraded utility sink. Through the laundry is access to the two-car, attached garage.
To protect the home during hurricane season, Berry had accordion shutters installed over all the windows and across the covered lanai. The person hired to maintain the shutters has agreed to continue providing maintenance at the new owner’s request. Each year, the shutters are cleaned, oiled and otherwise maintained.
“I can do this with one finger,” Berry said of closing the shutters, all of which are secured under lock and key.
While the house has its own private lap pool, the Isles of Waterway Village also has a clubhouse with pool, fitness center and social and athletic activities. The center boasts pickleball and tennis, as well as a book club.
“Anything you can ask for is here,” Berry said, adding that the board members of the homeowners association are quick to respond when a concern arises. The board also helps ensure residents are informed of the community’s happenings.
Faller plans to host an open house on Sunday, June 23, from noon to 2 p.m.
Vital Statistics
- Address: 5191 Formosa Circle
- Neighborhood: The Isles of Waterway Village
- Lot size: Nearly 1/4-acre
- Construction: Carlyle floor plan, Concrete block with stucco
- Year built: 2013
- Size: 2,400 square feet under air, 2,700 square feet under roof
- Bedrooms: 4
- Bathrooms: 3.5
- Additional features: Covered lanai and private pool, formal living and dining rooms, soaring ceilings, wainscoting, crown moldings, plantation shutters, “safe room,” walk-in closet, pool bath, fenced dog run, traditional covered front porch, automatic accordion hurricane/storm shutters, tile floors throughout, select furniture available.
- Listing agency: Berkshire Hathaway Home Services
- Listing agent: Bob Faller, 772-538-5206
- Listing price: $419,000
