Sunday, August 15, 2010

By story BY BARBARA BOWERS Special to The Citizen

Five-year-old Mia Nadborne is the youngest entrepreneur at 713 Eaton St.: "You'd be surprised how much she takes in at her weekend lemonade stand," said her mother, Michele Nadborne. "She's been perfecting her recipe for a couple of summers."

Customers are as likely to be charmed by Mia as they are intrigued with her charming house. Located at the corner of Eaton Street and Peacon Lane, the wide verandah of the house in Mary Emmerling's "American Country Cottages" is as inviting as lemonade on a hot August day.

First purchased in 1997 by Brad Nadborne as his bachelor's pad, the 1880s cottage-like structure has blossomed into a family affair after he married local entrepreneur Michele, of Michele Marie Photography, in 2002.

"Then we got pregnant," said Michele. "Mia was born in 2004 and has traveled with me since then to photo shoots and to Indiana, where Brad teaches and coaches at Manchester College."

The family balances work and pleasure between Indiana and Key West, and frequently, co-workers find their way to the couple's island home. For instance, last year Brad's assistant coach, Eric Dougal, planned his engagement here; he even joined the Nadborne's on one of their Saturday morning yard sale "pickings," where he found the ring box for his then-bride to be.

"First it's coffee at M&Ms then onto the household treasure hunt," said Michele. "Many of the pickings you see throughout the house."

Assistant coach Dougal is once again in residence -- this time as a married man -- holed up in the Nadborne guest room.

Now normally, this particular bedroom -- which opens to the pool deck -- is Mia's, but she has graciously given it up for her house guest's visit, and of course, decorated it for him: "I was okay with the pink gauze stretched over the bed canopy; even a photo of my face cut to fit over Cinderella's poster face was okay," Dougal said. "But I rebelled when Mia slipped my sock off to paint my toenails while I was sleeping."

Some guy things, like toenails and the Stephen Seidlinger pencil drawings that hang in the hall, are sacrosanct.

"They evoke Cole Porter's music," explained Brad, of the repeat abstract patterns. "I bought the drawings from the author Les Pittaway, who owned the house before me."

Although Michele and Mia are cool with the drawings, the six-seater hot tub had to go. In its place hangs a hammock under the covered deck, where a hand-tiled-by-Brad, black-and-white table serves the outdoor dining area. This, too, is really cool, and picks up the black-and-white tile pattern edging the pool.

Colorful wicker chairs confirm the ladies' belief that the covered deck is "the best room in the house," accented by two big, blue planters leftover from a 1999 Pottery Barn photo shoot that showcased the swimming pool on the lower deck.

Naturally, the guy-to-two-girls household shift included more closets, which the couple had built into the master bedroom suite.

"It's a large room, and the window seat that connects the closets actually creates storage in a space that wasn't useful before," said Michele, not the least bit defensively.

The addition of French doors to Mia's bedroom was one of the other changes the Nadborne's made to the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house so that each room had exterior entrances. A possible future revamp of the tiled office floor is under consideration, but basically, the four big rooms and galley kitchen serve the family well.

In fact, the warm-brown, lightly pickled walls of Dade County pine in every room create a soft and compatible backdrop for the many household pickings. On the pool deck, there's a tin-top table picked from Indiana. Indoors, stacked tables were picked from a Key West yard sale. Other finds include an overstuffed sofa, vintage TV cart, drop-leaf table from Wisconsin, pedestal dining- room table from a Chicago estate sale, and arm chairs from the old Flagler Hotel in Key West.

"I'm addicted to chairs," admitted Michele, of the tall and short ones dispersed randomly around the huge 30-by-25-foot living area.

But she also has a commitment to fine old lamps. On various end tables are spindle-alabaster lamps or pearl-painted, ceramic ones, all with Victorian shades.

In the master bedroom is a finely flowered china lamp on a wooden base that originally graced The Gardens Hotel.

Barbara Bowers is a writer and member of the Key West Historic Architectural Review Commission. To suggest a home feature, send an e-mail to Barbara@bbowers.com. Homes listed for sale will not be considered.