Crazy for Color

Nanelle Wehmann mixes daring hues and bold artwork in her whimsical home

Sanibel-based arts patron Nanelle Wehmann approaches nesting a little differently than the rest of us. She’s seen each home she’s renovated as an art installation. Wehmann makes inspired decisions on flooring, furnishings, interior and even exterior paint colors. Her personal art collection— several decades’ worth of adding at least one modern piece annually—gives her plenty of eye-popping choices for each space she tackles. Thus, no room in Wehmann’s home is without several surprises, and boring simply isn’t in her design vocabulary.

“I’ve redone about 20 houses, and this is the fifth one on the islands,” she says from the electric coral hues of her living room, near the island’s east end. After many years of owning residences on Captiva Island and the Blind Pass area, Wehmann decided to make her most recent move somewhat of a downsize. “It only made sense to do something smaller, without the landscaping and the upkeep.” She was also intrigued by the convenience of being able to get off the island quickly.

Certain themes are trademarks of this dynamic native Oklahoman. “I’ve left a little trail of black-and-white checked floors across the country, in various mediums as I worked up to marble, as my income increased,” she says, smiling. Indeed, her current home wows visitors with its turquoise entryway, grounded with black-and white-checkered floors and a massive multicolored blownglass chandelier above.

Wehmann is all about color. Jet-black wooden floors

Nanelle Wehman has redone about 20 houses, including five on Sanibel and Captiva. Above: The “clubby” purple den in her current home, located near Sanibel’s east end.