A CRAFTSMAN KITCHEN
celebrates 10- foot ceilings with triple- tier cabinets. Space at the top is illuminated to show off a ceramics collection. Perimeter cabinets are white; the island is oak.
“Because this is Florida, we didn’t want the colors to be too dark. Rooms are painted in Arts & Crafts hues—we used hundred-year-old examples—but tinted lighter.” Furnishings combine high-quality reproductions, flea-market finds, heirlooms, and a few custom pieces designed by Steinberg. Needlepoint throughout the house was done by Steinberg over the years.
Inspiration came from “all the bungalow books, the earlier houses of Frank Lloyd Wright. And, more recently, from Sarah Susanka’s bestselling book The Not So Big House. And from the Gamble House, which finally I was able to go visit. Greene and Greene are my favorite architects.”
Artist Steinberg takes credit for the design of the house; but Weiner managed the business end. “The reason we were able to work so well together is because I did the designing and the initial sourcing of materials, while Gil was involved in the mechanicals—HVAC, plumbing—and also the financials,” Steinberg says. “Gil is fabulous at research, so he’d do the researching and then we’d discuss it. Together we shopped for appliances. We’d never make a final decision without first running it by the other.”
Arlene Steinberg and Gil Weiner are happily settled into their new house. No more traffic noise or hurricane slats, and “it’s only a half-mile walk into town,” Arlene says. “This is the life we were hoping for, when we moved to Florida.”
Interpreting the past, the house is not a reproduction, but a fusion of period design with contemporary building.