BRIGHT, BREEZY, and Beautifully PERSONAL

A complete renovation turns a dated family condo into a colorful coastal retreat filled with thoughtful details, charming stories, and cozy elegance.

- BY EMMA DORSEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY MURIEL SILVA DESIGN BY NELLIE HOWARD OSSI

For designer Nellie Howard Ossi, this Ponte Vedra Beach condo renovation started out modestly—but soon became a full-scale transformation of the 1,500-square-foot beachfront home.

“This was a shared family condo that really needed a total overhaul—bathrooms, kitchen, flooring, everything,’ says Nellie. What began as a light refresh quickly turned into a total gut renovation.

The design process was sparked by a bold, unexpected piece. “The clients started with a green sofa that they liked on my showroom floor, and we started from there,” she says. “They definitely loved color, being particularly inspired by the coastal backdrop.”

Nellie used a mix of photography and paintings “to capture different takes on the coast,” and incorporated “a rich variety of natural materials to ground the space to its beach location.” Even the color palette was tied to the sea, with “pale and deep blues...punctuated by greens and sunset pinks.”