FOCAL POINT STYLING: TOURING OLD HOLLYWOOD

It was a GORGEOUS sunny day in South Florida yesterday! A great time to embrace the place where I'm at and a great day for touring houses. Although I had set out to attend an open house, I did also tour the area around it. So few areas in Florida actually maintain their historical integrity, so it was nice to drive through an area that does - along with a little architectural diversity. One of these areas is in Hollywood, Florida, just steps away from the beach and inter-coastal waterway. Homes in this area were built as far back as the 30's, with some having been transformed in the 60's, 70's and 80's...

Although I am NOT a fan, Florida LOVES its pink houses (and flamingos!!)

You can just feel the mid-century vibe from here...

New windows, paint and landscape can turn this structure into this...

Many structures were transformed on these lots back in the 80's and 90's

These structures (above) always look there best when painted a crisp and pristine white...

This was one of them noted by it's porthole openings, glass block windows, and boxed in arch set on plain pillars at the entrance...

It's a show stopper in the area and for sale, however, I'd probably remove the two mid-level trees (in between the palms and bushes) to show off its architecture... and have better views from INSIDE, since this is located directly across the street from an inter-coastal lagoon...

Some of the other more charming homes in the neighborhood have been maintained to its original integrity

there's that PINK again!

This was a REAL charmer, with the collector's vintage car and bougainvillea...

And then this one stuck out, and not necessarily in a good way.

Florida architecture isn't known for being brick - that would be the North East.

Put your thumb over the palm tree - can you tell it's in Florida? All it needed was a silo, a white picket fence, and some cows to 'moo' the lawn... lol

But the house that was one of the most memorable was this one,

which is where the open house was at...

Not too sure about the astro-turf green driveway...

but LOVE that front door!

It was built in 1936, and still maintains most of its deco details (minus its paint color), from the surround around the fireplace, the pull-chain water closet, crystal door knobs, cedar-wood closets, built-in wine cellar and even deco light fixtures, which some have patina-ed...