Century-old oaks surround the site, draped in Spanish moss. Mature fruit trees and tropical planting fill out the grounds. All of it overlooks the St. Lucie River.
When Design Studio JAC designed the interiors of this house in Sewall’s Point, its greatest influence was the landscape that had evolved there over time. “It has a peaceful atmosphere that’s difficult to recreate,” says Jourdan Hammond, who founded the studio with Ashley Viola and Céline Hellin, “and we wanted the home to feel deeply connected to that setting.”
The studio believes every project should reflect the people who live there and the place it inhabits. Here, the place led. The interior palette stayed soft and natural, and the greenery, the river, and the changing light outside became the color of the home. Every room was designed to frame the views. The site is always the first thing you notice.
Seeing How Things Are Made
Hammond and her partners work from Miami and Belgium, and the studio is truly split between the two. It is, she says, one of the things that defines it. Many of the artisans, fabricators, and suppliers it relies on have been partners for years.
So for this house, the designers brought Melhorn Architecture & Construction, the firm behind the build of the home, to Belgium. Samples in a box would not do. Together they visited stone yards, metal workshops, furniture makers, and plaster artisans, and talked at length about materials and how things are actually made. “When you see the scale of a stone block before it’s cut, watch a plaster finish being applied by hand, or meet the craftspeople behind the work, you develop a much deeper understanding than you ever could over email or Zoom,” Hammond says.
The two teams came home speaking the same visual language, with the same expectations for quality and detailing. The design moved more smoothly from there, and Hammond credits that shared understanding with the workmanship and authenticity of the finished house.
The same community of makers now has a showcase in Miami. This year Design Studio JAC opened Gallery Ecru in the Miami Design District, where many of the Belgian artisans, makers, and craftspeople it has worked with for years are shown alongside furnishings and architectural finishes. Hammond calls it an extension of the studio’s design philosophy.
Wood That Arrived With a History
Belgium runs through the materials as well. Long relationships with architectural salvage yards, antique dealers, and artisans there open the way to reclaimed material that is difficult to find elsewhere. Reclaimed oak beams and antique woodwork from Belgium brought an authenticity and warmth that made the home feel established rather than newly built. Each beam arrived with its own weathering, saw marks, and imperfections, a history that cannot be recreated.
Age alone does not qualify a piece. Hammond looks for fine workmanship, good proportion, and a patina that has developed naturally. The goal is a home that feels as though it has always belonged on the property.
In the kitchen, one material takes the lead. The travertine island was conceived as a sculptural piece at the center of the room, almost as though it had been carved from a single block of stone. Replanked and limewashed, the reclaimed wood cabinetry around it keeps a soft texture and a quiet presence. The stainless steel range is functional and durable, an honest piece that sits easily beside the natural materials. “The beauty comes from the materials themselves rather than from adding unnecessary detail or contrast,” Hammond says.
The kitchen, breakfast room, and family room run together as one continuous sequence. These are the rooms used most throughout the day, and cooking, dining, and relaxing pass easily from one to the next. The dining room, by contrast, is intentionally more separate, with an atmosphere and purpose of its own.
Hammond and her partners like a house that reveals itself gradually. Moving from open rooms into more intimate ones gives this home its rhythm, each space distinct and still part of the same story.
Choosing the Team First
Outside, a stair of coral stone and wood treads carries the house out into its gardens. Melhorn selected the stone, and the designers felt immediately that it belonged, a material entirely at home in the Florida landscape. Both firms wanted natural materials that felt true to the site and would age well.
Landscape architect Keith Williams completed the team. The three shared one goal, which was a home completely connected to its surroundings, and worked in constant conversation over drawings and materials so that each decision complemented the others.
That alignment is also where Hammond’s advice to homeowners begins. “I always tell clients that the most important decision is not selecting finishes or furniture. It’s choosing the right team.” Across hundreds of decisions and several years, she says, a team has to communicate well, share the same vision, and genuinely enjoy working together.
Then she asks clients how they want to live, not what they want the house to look like. The best homes, in her view, are shaped by daily routines, entertaining, travel, collections, and the way someone experiences a space. The most meaningful ones, she adds, are not created overnight. Sourcing materials and working with skilled craftspeople takes time, and that time is what gives a home its depth.
Inside, the palette stays soft and leaves the color to the view: the century-old oaks, the St. Lucie River, and the light as it changes across the day. The oaks were here long before the house, and the house was designed to take its place among them.
