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After years of renting Brooklyn apartments, Elizabeth Jaime was ready to settle down in a place of her own. The former Bon Appétit photo editor turned florist and experiential designer Chaz Capobianco knew that buying a New York City home was an unattainable dream, so they set their sights on her native Miami instead.
Though the creatives weren't obsessed with the South Florida locale, they were willing to give it a chance in order to purchase property. “In New York, we didn’t know anyone who owned a house,” Elizabeth admits. “Here, we had the ability to do that.”
Once they started looking at real estate, though, the duo leaned into the Miami vibes. They prioritized historical character in their search and ended up with a 1952 Miami Modernist–style (a.k.a. MiMo) two-bedroom in North Shorecrest. With a flat roof, geometric shutters, and original terrazzo floors, it had just the regional aesthetic they wanted.
On the exterior, Elizabeth and Chaz added curb appeal with lush, tropical landscaping and a coat of peach paint on the accents. They also swapped the old, squiggly pathway for a straight line of concrete blocks to accentuate the sharp angles of the architecture.
The interior offers an airy, open floor plan, which is rare for the house’s age, and copious windows that usher in natural light. Combined with simple white walls, the ambiance is intentionally relaxing. “My work is so colorful and chaotic that, when I come home, I want it to feel serene and calm,” Elizabeth says.
To avoid a sense of bareness, however, Chaz installed wood paneling on a central wall. The retro feature nods to the midcentury origins of the structure, while still looking modern, thanks to the use of rift sawn white oak. “It’s added a nice visual interest to the house that it didn’t have before,” Elizabeth reflects.
Chaz employed the same material to craft cabinets, rectangular handles, and floating shelves for the kitchen, which he gutted and renovated himself. The storage system is paired with creamy porcelain counters and a stainless steel gas range that he connected to a propane tank in the backyard. “We love to cook, so the upgrade from electric felt worth it,” Elizabeth says.
When it came to furnishing the space, Elizabeth mixed contemporary pieces with vintage gems sourced from local Instagram resellers. In the living area, a pistachio-hued BoConcept couch juxtaposes a ’70s Italian tubular chrome sling chair from Casa de Barcelona, an ’80s pink corrugated cardboard lamp from Nine Fourteen, and a ’90s green marble coffee table that had been sitting in her grandparents’ basement.
The dining nook revolves around a dark brown table with chunky, elephant legs from Core Street Studio and replicas of Marcel Breuer’s Cesca chairs, which sit below an ornate Gaetano Sciolari chandelier. Meanwhile, the compact main bedroom is made cozy with a linen curtain and a ’70s SCE TeePee table lamp from Primaried that glows warmly.
Of course, sculptural floral arrangements and verdant potted plants are scattered about—but not as abundantly as you might expect in a florist’s abode. “What happens is, we put them outside for a minute, and they’re so much happier that we feel bad bringing them inside,” Elizabeth explains. Luckily, they’re homeowners now, so they can do what they want.
