A custom design using outdoor artificial palm and bougainvillea in a sculptural Jay Scotts planter gives this Florida entryway beauty without the bother.

Bar Stools by Ratana, Entertainment Center by Riverside Furniture

Allyson Lubow

Beyond the grand stone veneer entrance, a breezeway opens to a stunning outdoor living space with views of Sarasota bay. Over 1,000 square feet of flagstone decking lays right up to the edge of the rock waterfall pool, the stonework continues around to an outdoor shower made with three large boulders and massive stone steps to a secret tropical pathway behind the pool grotto. From here you can climb the grotto rocks and jump into the swimming pool, or meander on to the tiki hut. Once in the pool, the swim up ledge in the grotto can be accessed from the pool’s sun shelf and is large enough to stand in. If the walk-through grotto doesn’t make this one of the best lagoons in Florida, there is a fire pit peninsula between the lounge chairs on the sun shelf and the in-pool seating cove next to the oversize spa to maximize the space. Photo: Geza Darrah

porcelain tile planks (up to 96" x 8")

Rebel Walls

Sarah Cuttle

Master bath custom design by the client. Etched glass insert for mahogany exterior door to outdoor lava rock shower and orchid garden.

Robert Stevens Photography

Valerie Wilcox

Landscape design in front yard of a South Florida home by Matthew Giampietro of Waterfalls Fountains & Gardens Inc.

The Pantone Institute has announced the color of the year for 2017. The color shade Greenery has been selected, which is a change from last year's colors: pastel Rose Quartz and Serenity. The selected color in a green tone is vivid and intense and is reminiscent of spring, a time which nature comes back to life. Space enriched with wall murals in Greenery hues will gain good energy and will inspire bold and positive changes.