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When interior designer and Finch Studio founder Magdalena Kwoczka signed on to revamp a 1927 home in Sarasota, Florida, she had one shot to get her measurements right. Not only was she limited to a tight two-month turnaround—meaning furniture had to be ordered ASAP—but Kwoczka lives in Poland. When the project officially kicked off, she flew over to the states and stayed in Florida for two weeks to meticulously map out her moodboards and floorplans. The next time she’d come back, it’d be to help receive the deliveries. “This was the first client I’ve had who I’ve never met in person. He really had a lot of trust in me,” Kwoczka says.
Luckily the homeowner, Goran, is used to taking risks. After all, he’d never even seen this house in person before he decided to buy it. Actually, he’d never been to Sarasota. Goran, who lives in Croatia, had been searching for a vacation property when his friend Vlado Konatar at Kona Realty tipped him off to this charming four-bedroom house that ticked all the boxes of a great Airbnb (it’s close to the beaches, restaurants, and downtown). “Having Vlado and Magda there, sending me tons of videos and updates before and after the renovation, gave me a really good feeling about both the house and the area,” he shares.
With work starting in June and meant to wrap by August, Kwoczka gave it to her client straight: they wouldn’t be able to change everything. “We didn’t have time for a complicated renovation,” she says. They could paint the walls but they wouldn’t be able to replace all the existing furniture; they could liven up the landscaping in the backyard but there was no way they could upgrade the kitchen or swap out the bi-fold closet doors.
The first ball Kwoczka had to get rolling was furniture orders. “I focused on products that could be there in two weeks—not a month,” she says. To toss another challenge on top of that, she’s not as familiar with U.S. retailers as she is with European ones. She weeded through retailers like Interior Modern, Wayfair, and Urban Outfitters Home with an eagle eye.
Whenever there was a sample of a material or fabric available, she scooped it up. Being able to feel something will tell you a lot about how well it’s made. Most of her gambles, like the icy blue Lulu and Georgia sectional in the living room, paid off. “I wanted people to be able to see both the pool and the TV from the couch,” she says of prioritizing an L-shape in her plans. She only made two returns in the end.
From there, it was all about deciding what was in good enough condition to keep. The existing dining table was a bit of an eyesore in her opinion, but with the right paint color on the walls, you barely notice it. “The dining table, the beds, the nightstands, they were very granny-style,” says Kwoczka, “but it was the composition that made them look awful.” She got inspired by her walks along Anna Maria beach and the hits of cobalt blues and pinky corals she spotted in the local architecture. The designer infused the tropical palette into the house and it totally changed the vibe of the stuffy wood furniture.
In the dining space, she started with Benjamin Moore’s Light Pistachio on the walls and a darker shade, charmingly dubbed Summer Basket Green, on the trim. “I love the gradation of colors,” she says. As you move into the living room, the spectrum slowly shifts to the blue family with Fairy Tale Blue on the ceiling. The bold space ended up being her client’s favorite moment. “The combination of pastel green details, the orange chair, and the baby blue sofa completely transformed the space,” says Goran.
Upstairs, the designer shifted to sunnier hues that would help warm up the original wooden floors: one of the bathrooms is swathed in a swatch dubbed Creamy Orange. “I love how the blue colors contrast with the peach, they bring a fresh vibe to this house,” she adds.
For Goran, the most daring paint color Kwoczka introduced was outside. Feeling inspired by the palm trees and the new scalloped Business & Pleasure Co. umbrellas, she decided to freshen up the exterior with a pale green. The problem was landing on the right one. “We don’t have strong sun in Poland but it’s totally different in Florida,” says Kwoczka. During her limited time at the house, she had to observe how different samples looked throughout the day. In the end, Prescott Green looked best in the sunshine and the moonlight.