Om Sweet Home

"I told him what I didn’t want: no traditional French country or heavy Italian décor," Leslie says. "I wanted transitional pieces, and things with an Asian flair."

She had openings built into the walls to make rooms feel larger, and she rejected the standard-issue crown molding in the home’s original design. The result is a sophisticated, warm space that blends luxurious fabrics, stunning artwork and streamlined furnishings. "You get a sense of peace, tranquility and calmness," Leslie says. "I love that feel."

The Wassermans, Michigan natives who had vacationed on Marco Island for the better part of a decade, purchased their first home in Fiddler’s Creek in 2001. They upgraded to this larger townhouse in 2004 when they learned that more grandchildren were on the way.

With a blank slate, the first purchase was a set of Japanese hand-painted screens with silver leaf and shades of teal, cream, black and touches of red. "That was really the inspiration piece," Leslie says. The framed screens were placed in the living room above a linen-look sofa, which was paired with two striped silk-upholstered, dark wood chairs, an octagon glass-topped coffee table and lush embroidered silk curtain panels.

The teal and red reappear in the family room in an abstract contemporary rug. A textured cream sleeper-sofa and caramel leather chair create a comfortable sitting room that is finished off with bamboo lamps, two three-tiered contemporary end tables with silver leaf and an entertainment unit that a television lifts out of. The family room steps into the kitchen, where Godin placed whimsical accent pieces that add pops of red.

During the same shopping trip that the Wassermans scored the Japanese screens, they also found two wall-mounted light fixtures created with vines woven into rectangular boxes—a favorite of Mark’s. These organic, natural accents overlook a Lexington Furniture dining room table surrounded by six simple black leather chairs, an antique Oriental run on the floor and a Spanish wrought-iron chandelier overhead.

"One of my favorite pieces is the dining room painting with the fog," Leslie says. "It’s just so calming." The painting hangs over a dark-wood buffet which is finished with two Japanese masks.
"It’s amazing how Oriental [accessories] go with every design style," says Godin. "It was natural to put it together with contemporary design, because good contemporary has a certain richness about it. And you just want to use small touches of Oriental to avoid that gift-shop look."

Godin wasn’t limited to Asian influences and contemporary offerings—in fact, the overall effect of the Wassermans’ home is eclectic, with accents that suggest that these treasures were collected during travels around the world.

"While everything I do is eclectic, you’re still going for a collective look," Godin says.

At the home’s entrance, an Art Deco-inspired mirrored chest of drawers is tucked in an arched nook, and a Jamali painting hangs over the stairs. The painting, which is of a woman and several simplistic faces surrounding her, touched Leslie when she saw it in Jamali Fine Art’s Fifth Avenue South gallery. "That particular painting said two things to me: One, all those faces have a lot to do with the unconscious mind. And, at the time, I had a pregnant daughter and a pregnant daughter-in-law, and it made me think of all of the little babies."

Past the stairway sits Mark’s office, which is completely covered in cherry wood panels. The television and audio unit, desk and bookcases are all built in, and the open-beam ceiling gives the room a decidedly masculine feel—as do the golf memorabilia dotted around the room.

The master bedroom is serene in its simplicity, with topaz-colored silk linens, semi-sheer plaid draperies and four sepia-toned prints hanging over the bed. "I sleep better in Florida in that room than I do any place else," Leslie says.

Two cheery guest bedrooms offer what Leslie calls a "bed-and-breakfast kind of feeling," with colorful linens and plenty of room to relax.

"We’re in Naples from November to April, and we probably only go about three weeks without a house guest," Leslie says. "It’s just very inviting, and I want it to be a place that [our family] will really remember."