Karon Carpenter and Lisa Noon have created a stunning home that keeps the feel of the original architect’s design while providing space that accommodates their life of working from home, entertaining, and tropical outdoor living. We thank them for inviting Agenda in to get their renovation story and to meet with their designer Tom Bendt.

Karon Carpenter and Lisa Noon are longtime residents of Fort Lauderdale.  Karon is a realtor with Better Homes and Gardens and Lisa is Global Sales Leader with Accenture Cloud Platform. Before they married, they both owned older homes in the Coral Ridge area. Lisa, a chef for 20 years wanted a professional kitchen–one that is designed for a professional but looks designer fresh. Karon always wanted to build on to her home and dreamed of a proper master bedroom with two closets.

As they contemplated options for remodel, they found Leo Hansen. Leo is the son of Robert E. Hansen. Hansen is known for Tropical Modernism, a pre-air conditioning design that brought in the modern look but kept the houses cool. The senior Hansen was the original architect of the house that Karon had lived in.  Leo found his dad’s original plans and shared them with the couple along with a vision for what could be. When they found Leo, they knew he could make it happen.

Lisa and Karon were married in 2013 and they share their home with pups Riley, Barkley and Buddy.

Karon Carpenter, a local broker for Better Homes and Gardens has been thrilling buyers and sellers since 1999. She specializes in waterfront and luxury real estate in the South Florida area. You can reach her at Better Homes and Gardens.

Notes from famed Interior Designer Tom Bendt (305-899-1790)

After seeing the plans for the master suite addition, I suggested that they remove the narrow interior hall from the original house.  That enabled them to increase the size of the bedrooms and the living room. We widened the house and added a glass gallery and hall to the back of the house for light and a grand view of the pool and patio. I designed it to fit under the existing overhang so as not to change the roof. The new hall gives the house the perfect midcentury look that Karon and Lisa were after while adding usable square footage to all three bedroom and pleasant access to the master suite.

We designed all the additional spaces keeping in mind it should look like part of the original house. I replicated the living room wood ceiling wherever I could, in the master and the remodeled kitchen. we added large sliding glass doors to make the patio and interior spaces flow.

The original plan called for a Tiki hut BBQ! It had nothing to do with the style of the house, so I designed a large modern shelter with a flat roof with the same wood as the kitchen. This extended the living space without making it an overpowering structure.

Lisa planned her gourmet kitchen complete with the Blue Angel stove, simple modern cabinetry, a bake center, and prep space for three cooks.
The front door was bumped out to create a small foyer and we closed up the old fire place and designed a wrap-around gas fire ledge that could be seen from the living room and the kitchen.

The post A Home Renovation Story: Coral Ridge Fort Lauderdale appeared first on Florida Agenda - LGBT News.

HAPIfork, It’s a smart fork that helps you monitor and track your eating habits. www.hapi.com

The Cover Blubber, This crazy alien goo looking stuff can coat pretty much anything. Bowls, fruits, veggies, anything you want. It’s reusable, which makes it environment friendly, and works well. www.laughingsquid.com

The Sonic Decanter makes every wine taste better. It uses ultrasonic energy to transform the molecular and chemical structure of wine. And you can do all this while your wine is still corked! www.sonicdecanter.com

The Tunnel Toaster saves your fingers from getting burnt every time you pull the toast out of it. The toaster allows you to toast bagels, croissants and of course, bread and prevents any crumbs from accumulating at the bottom. Available in green, orange, magenta and silver colors. www.gizmodo.com

iPad Stand,  An iPad stand, eventually a wooden one, can prove to be very useful in the kitchen. If you use some protection on it you can safely handle it with wet or dirty hands and it will be just fine. www.homecaprice.com

The Egg Minder, keeps track of how many eggs you have letting you know (using LED lights and the companion app) which ones are the oldest and which ones might be going bad. www.amazon.com

Memory by Wenyao Cai,  This ingenious device can recognize handprints. Once it detects your handprint, it remembers how exactly you like your coffee. Then brews you the perfect cup. www.electrolux.com

Tower Food Warmer,  This brilliant idea, one of the most useful futuristic kitchen gadgets, keeps salads, pizza and any other food warm in this tower. It has separate containers, so the food won’t mix, and you can be sure that by the time you get home, the food will be warm and ready to eat. www.homecaprice.com

Poul Henningsen Grand Piano, This futuristic grand piano has a transparent lid, which allows you to see through it, and also gives you a glance at the amazing work going on inside the instrument. www.phpianos.com

Samsung’s 4-Door refrigerator with 8” Wi-Fi Enabled LCD screen, This unit’s built-in color screen allows for web browsing and easy access to a multitude of apps that are ready to go with purchase, including a food manager app for refrigerator inventory that can sync with a connected device (like a Galaxy Tablet or iPad). www.bestbuy.com

Miele 48-inch Dual Fuel Range M Touch The Miele 48-inch Dual Fuel Range M Touch’s horizontal computer screen is one of our favorites. Swipe and scroll through a horizontal panel on the uppermost part of the range to access cooking options. www.mieleusa.com

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 Or How Two East Hampton Girls Made a Big Splash in Oakland Park

Ellen Silverberg and Robin Kaplan sold their home very quickly in East Hampton New York this past summer and immediately flew to Fort Lauderdale to buy a home. Knowing nothing about the area, they toured 23 homes in three days searching for something midpoint of friends, near the beach and room for a pool.  They found a lovely Oakland Park home in a swell area and were very happy with their choice until they started work on the pool. I spoke with Ellen about their experiences with zoning, city governments, corner lot penalties, great neighbors and how they just might have changed the law.

What’s the background on the pool?

We came from a house with a 20-foot x 40-foot pool that we could only use in the summer. The intention was to buy a house and put in a pool and our broker told us that it was advertised as “room for a pool.” Our broker said, “No problem.” THAT was not the case. That was far from the case.

When did you start the pool project?

We hired Signature Pools and Spas in November. They applied for the permit. Then I got a phone call telling me bad news. They said “absolutely not!” The city said no. The zoning in Oakland Park states that you cannot have a pool in the shortest part of your house. They consider the front of your house to be the shortest part of your house and the longest part of your house is considered the side of your house. No matter where your address is, no matter where you walk in your house.  It doesn’t make sense. Initially the zoning was created to keep people from putting pools in the front of their homes. So it was decided, if people wanted to put in a pool it would be on the longest side of the house. In our case it (the longest part) would have been the front of our house. This doesn’t not make a great deal of sense. And there in began the fight was about.

However, there is a difference on corner properties. Corner properties have larger setbacks because of the triangular law of being able to see traffic coming in two directions. We had a preexisting gate around a yard of our house. The only place a pool could be sited. No overhead wires and room for a pool, not a huge pool but a pool non the less. This area was considered the front of the house. (And because it was the shortest area, we were denied)

So what did you do next?

We had to seek a variance. Fortunately, I found someone in the building department Justin Proffitt who was on our side to shepherd us through the process. We had to invite our neighbors over to look at the plans for the pool in case they had any objections. So on a stormy pouring night, 20 wonderful people showed up here and signed a sheet with no objections. Because there is no HOA in the neighborhood, the law says we had to ask the two closest HOAs, which have nothing to do with where we are, for permission. I invited them to come over. They happened to be gay and swell and came over to see the plans. We send the signatures and a check for $576 and then waited—and waited for the town council to meet. We were now in December and the holidays, which meant holiday parties but no quorum in the city council

Finally, in January, we presented our case and the board declared it “ridiculous”—as in “a stupid ordinance.”  They also noted that corner homeowners were unfairly penalized due to the setbacks. So we got our variance.  Two weeks later we went to back to the Oakland Park City Council where Justin presented the situation. Within two minutes, the council lead said that  “normally I am very strict with zoning, but this is ridiculous.” They took a vote and we were approved. At the end of the meeting, all the commissioners said “we have to change this law. This law penalizes corner properties.” We walked out victorious, with tears in our eyes.

The good news is our pool began the next day. Signature Pools, Stephanie and Scott Taggart were the best. They stayed right with us.  We love the neighborhood, our neighbors, and the convenience is terrific.

Yet, you both still haven’t taken your first dip!

They told us in two weeks we’ll be good to go. The chemicals have to subside. Hopefully the first of May. The pool is beautiful!

See for yourself.

The post How We Got Our Pool appeared first on Florida Agenda - LGBT News.

Ira Baer grew up in style. Seventy years ago, his grandparents Melvin and Lucile Baer founded Baer’s Furniture in South Bend, Indiana.  In 1968, they would open the first store in South Florida. Today the brand has become one of the largest furniture chains in the state with fifteen showcases and two warehouses.

Ira has worked in many positions within the company since he was 12, from being a buyer to even laboring on the trucks. He studied finance and is currently the CFO of the company. The happily married father (of six months) was also a vocal proponent for marriage equality, having worked with Equality Florida. He currently is a co-chair for the LGBTQ Mission to Israel—a trip which will include three nights in Jerusalem and four in Tel Aviv meeting with Israel’s top LGBTQ politicians, business leaders, and innovators. We recently had an opportunity to speak to Ira about his home life and his community work.

 Berkley: How has being married affected your life?

Baer: I was with my partner for over a decade. I was married to a woman before that, and we both had kids from a previous marriage. Having kids makes things more complicated, so we wanted to wait until it was legal in Florida to get married. We worked hard with Equality Florida in order to push that agenda. Now that I’m married, I feel that I’m happier. People in the industry are thrilled I’m able to get married. Both co-workers within the chain and the vendors we work with have been just as excited as us. Everyone in the furniture world is very accepting.

 Berkley: How important is interior design in creating your “home?”

Baer: It’s much more important for my husband than for me. I let him pickout most of the furniture since it helps build a give and take in the relationship. As far as the design, my home is very calm and earthy. We live on the water. I like coming home from a long day at work to a calming environment– one in which the details of the design all tie together. It’s a sanctuary.

Berkley: You are a co-chair of an upcoming LGBTQ mission to Israel with the National Jewish Federations of North America. What brought you to that endeavor?

Baer: It’s important to have a relationship between gay communities and religion. There are different areas of Judaism that are much less accepting, so it’s important to have your faith out there in the open to show that we’re here.

 Berkley: How different is a trip to Israel through an LGBTQ lens?

Baer: There are some struggles for the gay community in Judaism, especially in Israel. There are some areas in which people go through much more discrimination than here. It’s important to let those that are struggling know that we are here to help them on their journey. And it’s also important to see those struggling so that we understand the importance in doing the work that we do.

Baer Furniture

3740 N. Federal Hwy.

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

and multiple other locations

www.baers.com

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Welcome new neighbors to the hottest areas in South Florida. If you are thinking about a move, consider these. Areas flush with fresh developments bring improvements in city cultural offerings, restaurants, outdoor spaces and nightlife. Take a drive to these four districts and pick a new place to wave your flag.

Faena District

Argentinian hotel impresario Alan Faena and business partner Len Blavatnik bought all the real estate on the stretch of Collins Ave. that runs from 32nd Street to 36th Street. The area was formerly known as Mid Beach and was in desperate need of attention. Now luxury residences include the Faena Hotel, Faena Versailles, and Faena House. To get a good feel for the area, plan on attending the Faena Spring Concert series at the Faena theater. The series features live performances by Grace Potter, Vintage Trouble and Lizzo, plus Mike Snow and Miguel.

Bay Harbor Islands

A barrier island with about 6,000 residents, Bay Harbor is located just west of Bal Harbor, Bay Harbor was once home to the largest concentration of mid-century modern architecture in the country. This hidden enclave is in the midst of massive redevelopment. Attracting high-end buyers with the best shopping in the world, this area is just a short walk to the beach. The waterfront land has been grabbed by developers and now many are planning projects for the dry lots. Bay Harbor Islands is the perfect area to be secluded and tucked away in a community so you can pop out to be in the Miami Beach action in a heartbeat.

North Hollywood Beach

Things are changing on Hollywood Beach. This paradise stretch of A1A has found its cocktail with the opening of Magaritaville this fall. Now developers are engaging the buyer with modern, spacious condominiums and townhomes in the North Hollywood Beach area. Just before the turn of A1A west, you’ll find a variety of offerings that put you just steps from the ocean and the Intracoastal waterway.

Pompano

Pompano Beach has been featured on CNN, and in Money and the Wall Street Journal as one of the top vacation home markets. The City’s Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is currently redeveloping areas along East Atlantic Boulevard and its nearby beaches, creating walks and gathering spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as beach- oriented retail outlets and entertainment venues. All of these improvements promote a classy on-street café atmosphere, with wide sidewalks for outside dining and entertainment. From the home improver/renovation dream of purchasing an older home on a canal to the stunning amenity filled Koi Residences and Marina, Pompano is worthy of the praise surrounding its renaissance.

The post Neighborhoods On The Rise appeared first on Florida Agenda - LGBT News.

Color is a powerful design tool that can make the rooms in your home feel more calm, cheerful, comfortable or dramatic. That power can completely alter your home experience. So you always want to ask yourself how you want to look and feel in your home. Different colors work for different rooms and different home styles, so don’t be afraid to be creative. Here are a few color tips to keep in mind when planning your home’s color scheme.

Color Combinations Groups

1. Bright colors—like vibrant shades of green and blue, yellow, and orange—provide an expansive feeling. These are friendly, happy colors that encourage communication and are therefore especially welcome in the dining area and kitchen.
   

   Modern blue bedroom interior with blue, green, and violet designer pillows in a luxury house. Interior design.

2. Dark colors, such as red, purple, blue, and dark shades of green, can have a constricting and gloomy effect. But when applied in the right place or as accent elements, they can help convey comfort and security.
   

   Purple Bedroom with contemporary bedroom – 3D Rendering

3. Warm colors—orange and yellow hues, for exampl—raise the perceived temperature of a room. For that reason, they’re best used in rooms that face north. Because they inspire activity, avoid them in rooms meant for relaxation, like the bedroom.
   

   Modern living-room interior with fireplace. 3d render.

4. Cold colors, such as icy blues and green, have a calming effect. They are especially well-suited for bedrooms; they help you to go to bed relaxed in the evening and wake up refreshed the next morning.
   

   minimalist green luxury bathroom wit big bathtub – 3D rendering

Let’s Break down the psychology of different color groups:

Blue. Blue evokes feelings of calm and freshness, and represents strength and dependability. Think of the sky and ocean. The beauty of blue is the elemental color’s amazing versatility. A high-energy shade of blue, like sapphire, can add a bold punch of energy to a room, while a light sky blue on the walls can make a space feel tranquil. Darker shades like navy can offer drama, while paler shades can make small spaces feel larger. The effect depends on the tone of blue. Since blue is associated with calmness, it works well in a bathroom, bedroom or kitchen, all rooms where one goes to relax.

blue bedroom in a lake house – rendering

Pink:  When most people think “pink,” images of fluffy cotton candy or a little girl’s room float into their heads. But different shades of pink set different moods. A bright, vivid tone like fuchsia suggests energy and glamour. A soft and restrained pink, like blush, or beige with pink undertones creates a soothing feeling. Many shades of pinks have a freshness designer’s love. You can use a more intense pink (like peony) for a space where you don’t spend too much time, like an entryway. Or try a deep pink with raspberry undertones for a dining room that makes guests feel and look good in its warm, reflected light.

Vibrant cottage – main entrance of contemporary house

Orange: If your home needs a jolt of energy, orange might be what you need. Orange conjures images of citrus fruit or a summer sunset, and represents happiness and innovation. Orange has a reputation for being overwhelming, but variations like apricot and terra cotta can inspire relaxation. A deep orange can feel bold during the day but cozy and warm at night. In a bedroom, try a soothing, peach-toned orange that casts a rosy glow on the skin. You can use a pale, dusty orange for a welcoming entry that invites guests into your home. Orange stimulates your appetite and adds warmth, so it’s also a good choice for a dining room or kitchen.

Orange Attractive Kitchen

Yellow: Yellow adds optimism to your home, prompting feelings of happiness in all who enter. Yellow activates memory, stimulates the nervous system, promotes communication and sparks creativity. Control the hue and you control the mood. Muted yellow works well as a soothing neutral. A sun-kissed yellow brings the warmth of summer inside your home. A pale yellow can make a compact room feel larger. The wide spectrum of yellow shades gives you flexibility in designing rooms with a feel-good ambiance. Hallways and rooms without windows can benefit from strong, saturated shades of yellow. The shade will create the illusion of light. A golden, honey yellow works well for a kitchen with lots of natural wood.

interior, long hallway of an old building

Green: Green represents growth and renewal. You associate the color with grassy fields, luscious leaves and other gifts of nature, so it lends a calming feel to a room. Green comes in many shades, so you can create various moods and use its versatility to pair it with a range of other colors.  You can decorate an entire room with greens and have contrast, drama, richness and balance. It’s so versatile. Celery green looks light and airy in a kitchen, crisp and clean in a bathroom, and relaxing and warm in a living room.

Modern bathroom interior with green walls. 3d render.

Purple: The color of royalty and creativity, is a combination of calm blue and exciting red. The color can add exotic flair to different rooms in your home. Purple can be dramatic or quiet, depending on the tone or shade. The regal color can add richness to a space or drama to an architecturally simple room. Purple colors range from light lavenders to solid plums, and a few strategically placed purple accents may be all you need to create a whole new vibe for your surroundings. Use deep purple to create a stunning front entry. Light lavender-gray walls can add softness to a formal living room, while purple pastels mixed with modern art can make a teen’s bedroom feel hip and young.

3d rendering bedroom in gray and white tones with purple accents

Brown: If you want a color that encourages your family and friends to slow down and relax, brown can be the solution to your problem. A weighty and robust color, brown represents nature and natural materials. Use brown to highlight stronger colors like lime green or orange, or to tone down a room. Brown gives you an earthy richness that makes a room feel warm and inviting. Brown is less harsh than black, so use a creamy vanilla white for the walls with a deep-brown bronze color for the crown molding. The look is modern and elegant and the combination shows off artwork and sunny spaces beautifully. Brown is the color of wood, which is a stable color that we inevitability have in our homes. It comes in many different tones and shades, and offers the kind of variety you need for both the interior and exterior of your home.

Huge living room interior with many windows and white leather sofa

Grey: If you long for serenity, using the color gray in your home decor is a great place to start. Gray has an inherent calmness and sophistication. You can choose a solid gray that symbolizes strength, or go for a softer gray that offers a more delicate feel. While some find gray murky and depressing, others respond to gray’s ability to make other colors sing. A favorite neutral of designers, many use it as a background color, or mix different tones and shades of gray together to create a feel of simple glamour. Gray can also soften a loud sofa or provide the perfect backdrop that allows wood accents to shine. While some consider gray too serious for a playful space like a child’s bedroom or relaxed family room, many shades and tones of gray are ideal for masculine spaces like a den.

3D Rendering of Modern Grey and White Living Room with Floor Lamp, Sofa, Coffee Table, and Floating Shelves

Deciding on colors for your home can feel a bit overwhelming, but many paint companies offer online tools and paint collections that help you create a cohesive color palette. The hues chosen for a room’s walls or ceiling will determine whether your interior design is a hit or miss, so experiment and use color.

Roller brush and color guide palette in rainbow colors. 3d

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