Home & Garden: DIY HOME

Sarasota’s Indian Beach area is known for having many older-style homes that the owners keep well maintained and occasionally revamp to keep them up to code. When Dr. Stephan and Nancy Volk moved to Sarasota from Richmond, Va., the couple found a property they adored. The Whitehouse, as it was called, was on a great piece of property and was originally built in the 1930s and updated again in the mid-1950s or early-1960s. Unfortunately, the home was hard to salvage — the foundation was made of cinderblocks that were falling apart, and there was also termite and other structural damage.

The Volks tore down the house, but in the process made sure to keep true to the neighborhood and were determined their new home would serve as an homage to the original Whitehouse. In 2010, the Whitehouse II became the Volks’ home. They kept the home one story, made sure the front façade looked like it fit into the neighborhood and even salvaged a few pieces from the previous house and turned them into furniture. The glass knobs were turned into finials on the drape rods; pieces of the pecky cypress paneling, from the Florida room and master bedroom, were turned into a dining room table; and the window weights will be turned into a sculpture in the backyard.

Both Stephan and Nancy Volk enjoy working on projects and updating the house. Nancy Volk loves interior design and designed a majority of the fabrics used throughout the home. Stephan Volk loves to use power tools and is always up for a challenge. Both have had fun designing everything from tables to patios for both the inside and outside of their home.