This Florida Home With a Striking Roofline Got a Palm Springs–Inspired Makeover

When Jonathan Mills was hunting for properties in Gainesville, Florida, a few years ago, there came a point when he was certain he’d found the one. It was a recently restored midcentury-modern lake house with a charm of its own. He contacted the realtor, put a price on it, and waited…only to ultimately be outbid by somebody else. The only silver lining was that somewhere along the way, he found himself a designer: Chelsey Cox, of Chinotto House, who had masterminded said restoration. That meant that when he finally acquired Butterfly Roof House—a significant midcentury dwelling designed by architect Jack Clark in 1962—not long after, Chelsey was the first person he dialed.

Long-time residents of Gainesville know Butterfly Roof House when they see it. From the outside, anyway. “Its striking midcentury-modern roofline has got to be its main differentiator,” says Chelsey, whose team also includes Chinotto House’s other half, designer Rachel Rector. But beyond the roofline and the façade, nothing about the home alludes to its past life (or lives). “When you’re handed a home like this, the common inclination is to treat it like a time capsule, and lean into 100% period-appropriate design. Instead, we honored the style’s lines, angles, colors, and vibe in a way that magnified Jonathan’s big personality.” What helped was the brief (two words: Palm Springs). What didn’t was the budget (it was pretty tight).

As a twenty-something bachelor with a deep love for architecture and design, Jonathan’s number one priority was to have the home feel like a boutique hotel. Bold, yet cozy and inspirational. “I imagined unique and unexpected colors, textures, and shapes. Somewhere between midcentury and modern,” says Jonathan, who owns and operates the Mills Group, a real estate company in North Central Florida. And so, the original terrazzo floors were maintained, the breezeblock facade was repainted, the two courtyard patios were cleaned up, and the floor-to-ceiling windows in every room were kept true to form. “These served as the backdrop for layering unique interior elements, and also allowed us to design a color story that blended into the home’s midcentury bones,” says Rachel. 

The color story in question reveals itself room by room, little by little. The green kitchen for example, nods to Palm Springs’ natural verdure, while the yellow Malm fireplace is reminiscent of Florida’s year-round sunshine. Likewise, the furniture in the lounge—sporting pale pink and burnt orange tones—channels vacation whimsy. For the designers, color, pattern, and texture had room to be bold, but no matter what, the space needed to make Jonathan and his guests feel warm, sexy, and classy. “All of this led us to draw upon the work of the late Gio Ponti, an Italian designer known for advancing and ultimately helping define midcentury modern as a style. By using his output as a reference point, we were able to narrow down Jonathan’s vision and guide him toward a design that has become uniquely his,” notes Rachel. 

If you were to dig up the original mood board for the house, you wouldn’t find too many differences. “We really didn’t deviate much from the original plan. The Kelly Wearstler wallpaper and the light fixtures, for example, were things we were all set on from the beginning,” says Jonathan, adding that the wallpaper is by far the most complimented thing, and for good reason (it’s breathtaking in person and the home wouldn’t feel the same without it). 

Two years after he lost out on that first home deal, Jonathan couldn’t be happier. “When I look at him in this house, I see a man in his natural habitat—one more suited to him than the house that originally led to our meeting,” says Chelsey. “It doesn’t matter that this house was designed 60 years ago—it’s him through and through.”