Home & Garden: Shabby elegance

Mark and Susie Holt’s 1920s shabby-chic beach cottage is one of the oldest homes on Casey Key. With the ocean as their front yard, the owners of Posh On Palm, in downtown Sarasota, love to take in the view of the water and the beach.

“Beach life is a whole different world,” Susie says. “The second you go over that little bridge and come out here … ”

With Susie lost in thought as Tropical Storm Debby sends dark, angry waves flying toward the shore, her husband finishes her sentence.

“ … I put my shorts on with the holes in them,” Mark says.

When the couple first toured the house, which they purchased just more than one year ago, they wondered if the one-bedroom, one-bath bungalow would be large enough. But, with just a few little design touches, it proved to be much bigger than it seemed.

“People don’t fix these up anymore,” Mark says. “They tear them down and build mansions, but … ”

This time, it’s Susie who completes her husband’s thought.

“ … We love the character of our old little place,” she says. “It’s a very lazy life.”