Moody Residence

Plantation, Florida

Entrance and facade
Wall paneling
Covered terrace
Full renovation

A house reworked from the street inwards. The four comparisons below run from the front door to the terrace, and the common thread is lighting built into the architecture rather than added on top of it.

Before and after

Drag the handle, or use the arrow keys, to move between the room as we found it and the room as we handed it over.

Entry hall with textured plaster, framed art, linear sconces and a floating console

Bare entry corridor with plain walls, a builder door and an exposed socket

Comparison 1 of 4

Entry hall

The corridor was the first thing anyone saw and the last thing anyone had thought about. We kept the walls where they were and worked on the surface instead: textured plaster, a floating console cut to the width between the door casings, and two linear sconces wired to wash the wall rather than point at it. The runner is there for sound as much as for looks, because a hard corridor carries every footstep into the rest of the house.

Before: Bare entry corridor with plain walls, a builder door and an exposed socket
After: Entry hall with textured plaster, framed art, linear sconces and a floating console

The same entrance at dusk, with dark stone, a lit step band and a planted tree

Flat grey stone entrance in daylight, with a strip of lawn and a paver path

Comparison 2 of 4

Front door

Nothing structural moved here. The stone changed to a darker, deeper format, the step got a continuous band of light along its nose, and the wall recess became a lit niche instead of a blank panel. A front door is the one part of a house that gets judged before anyone is inside, and it is almost always photographed at dusk, so it was designed for that hour.

Before: Flat grey stone entrance in daylight, with a strip of lawn and a paver path
After: The same entrance at dusk, with dark stone, a lit step band and a planted tree

The terrace furnished as an outdoor living and dining room, with a slatted wood ceiling

Empty covered patio with stained concrete, bare white walls and ceiling fans

Comparison 3 of 4

Covered terrace

A covered slab with two fans on it is not a room, it is a leftover. The ceiling was lined in slatted wood to give the space a lid worth sitting under, and the plan was split into two zones so that eating and sitting do not fight over the same furniture. Everything specified out here is rated for the climate, which in South Florida means the fixings matter more than the fabric.

Before: Empty covered patio with stained concrete, bare white walls and ceiling fans
After: The terrace furnished as an outdoor living and dining room, with a slatted wood ceiling

The facade at night, with a warm wood soffit, vertical lights and planters

Comparison 4 of 4

Main facade

The soffit over the entrance was clad in warm wood, which is what stops a grey stone facade from reading as a bank. Two vertical fixtures flank the doors at the height of the glass, and a continuous line of light at floor level lifts the whole threshold. The palms are in movable planters on purpose: they are the cheapest thing to change and the first thing to suffer in a storm.

Before: Main facade in daylight, with grey panels and a glazed double door
After: The facade at night, with a warm wood soffit, vertical lights and planters

Who did what

The commission

Where: Plantation, Florida
What was done: Entrance and facade, Wall paneling, Covered terrace, Full renovation
Services involved: Interior renovations, Millwork and paneling
Documented here: 4 before and after comparisons

The execution

Design: HJ Studio Design, Miami Design District.
Fabrication: Our own shop in Miami. The cabinetry is not subcontracted.
Installation: Our own team, from survey to punch list.

Furniture is the one exception, and we say so plainly: when a project includes upholstery or casegoods, they are made with ateliers we have worked with for years in the United States and Europe.

More work

Tell us about your space.

Send us what you have: a photo, a floor plan, or just the room that is not working. You get an answer within one business day, from the person who will draw it.

The showroom is on NE 41st Street, in the Design District. 180 NE 41st Street, Miami FL 33137.

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