A Very Vern Beach House

Vern Yip has had a love affair with Rosemary Beach, FL, since the ’90s, when he first visited the town and fell for its walkable, bike-friendly layout. In 2014, he and husband Craig Koch built a dream home there. But just two years later, someone made an offer on their place they couldn’t refuse. Dream home number two became a possibility when they found a ripe-with-potential property not far from the original one—and it looked right out onto the Gulf of Mexico. Pictured here: Vern and Craig with Gavin, 8, Vera, 7, and dogs Lars (left) and Juno.

“I always have a soft spot for a house that needs love,” says Vern. He revamped all 3,500 square feet, knocking down a wall that blocked the water view from the kitchen and turning a third-story outdoor space into the master bedroom. The decor is Vern's take on beachy: bright and built for easy living, with stunners like a giant wave mural and quirky pieces like a deer bust. A beach house doesn’t have to fit a nautical mold, says Vern: “Nobody should feel pressure to go overboard with mermaids!”

This may be the family’s parttime home (they live in Atlanta), but Vern went all in on storage, taking the cabinets—from Omega Cabinetry, with polished chrome pulls by Emtek—up to the 12-foot ceiling. “Part of feeling like I’m on vacation is not having clutter,” he says. The Cambria quartz island is both dining table and food prep station. The blown-glass lights above it, by Donghia, are a nod to a trip to Venice, Italy. Another travel memory: the carousel animal, a Paris flea market find.

Instead of typical coastal blue and white, Vern did the living room in shades of gray. “I didn’t want to compete with the amazing view,” he says. The gray sofas and ottomans are upholstered in performance fabric he designed (available at Calico); the custom coffee table is quartz; and the nylon rug is by Milliken. Vern kept the existing stone fireplace because he liked the unexpected warmth it added. “It has brown and amber tones that make the color scheme a little less stark,” he says.