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At Aqua, the views take center stage.

WHETHER YOU ADMIRE the multimillion-dollar condominium towers sprouting up around downtown Sarasota or think they’re a sign of the Apocalypse, you’ve got to admit to wondering what they look like on the inside, don’t you?
This nearly 4,300-square-foot unit in Golden Gate Point’s brand-new luxury project, Aqua—with its wide-open floor plan and sophisticated, steel-gray-and-white design elements that drive all eyes to a sensational view of the Ringling Bridge—does not disappoint.

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Living room
IMAGE: GENE POLLUX

The owners, a Toronto couple, had been snowbirding in a single-family home on Longboat Key for 12 years. Active boaters, they wanted to move to the mainland but still be close to the water. Aqua, completed last December, fit the bill. Powerhouse Sarasota architect Guy Peterson designed the gleaming white and glass tower with a nod to the modernist Sarasota School of Architecture, and each floor is a single residence, allowing for dramatic bay and city views. (Interior designer David K. Lowe worked with each Aqua buyer during preconstruction to choose kitchen, bath and flooring finishes.)

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Kitchen/dining room
IMAGE: GENE POLLUX

The homeowners turned to Pamela Anast, co-owner of the Sarasota Collection Home Store in downtown Sarasota’s Rosemary District, to develop the monochromatic look they envisioned. “She [the wife] has excellent taste and was going for a very gray look; she brought me pictures she ripped out of magazines,” says Anast. “I guided her in the direction she was already going.”
“Pam just looked at me and said, ‘I’ve got you,’” says the wife.
That meant lots of texture: nubby cowhide area rugs, soft lamb’s wool accent pillows and an oversized black leather ottoman in the living room; and a white linen headboard, custom designed by Anast, in the master bedroom. She utilized other custom pieces, too, including a coffee table made in the Sarasota Collection Home Store’s furniture factory in Peru and a dining room sideboard by Brazilian furniture designer Roberta Schilling, who has a showroom in Miami’s Design District. (On the terrace is a pair of nautical rope chairs also by Schilling and a small cement table by the Miami furniture company, Kannoa.)

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Bedroom
IMAGE: GENE POLLUX

The dining table is 120 inches long and seats 10 people. The white sectional living room sofa, at 158 inches by 92 inches, is “the largest custom sofa we ever made,” says Anast. “We had to deliver it by crane over the roof. It was made perfectly for the space.”
The homeowners say they’re happy about every aspect of their new home—especially the views of spectacular sunsets over Sarasota Bay and lively Marina Jack and Bayfront Park.
“We feel like we are on a luxury cruise ship with a view that never stops giving,” the wife says.

Designing For a View

Pro tips from Pamela Anast
“Arrange as much furniture as you can to face the view. When pieces must face the other way, use swivel chairs, like the two gray living room chairs we used in the Aqua condo.”
“Consider using mirrors; if your back is to the view, you can put a mirror on a wall in front of you to see it, anyway.”
“Make sure the room is not overcrowded. Your design scheme can be colorful, as long as there aren’t too many pieces of furniture.”
“Choose see-through window shades that block the heavy sun of the day but don’t block the view. Make sure they’re motorized. That way, you can sit on your couch, and if you want more view you can pull them up—or vice versa.”

This article was originally published in the June 2017 issue of Sarasota Magazine.