In life, as in novels, the end of one chapter means the beginning of another. Such was the case for author Asha Elias and her new home in Miami Beach. As her family’s needs shifted, a change of address offered a thoughtful reset for her and her two young children. “It was a hopeful beginning,” she reflects. Ready to embrace a fresh start in a 1930s property, the novelist reached out to her longtime designers, Monica Santayana and Ronald Alvarez.
“Asha has been our client for more than 12 years,” Santayana says. “We started out designing her daughter’s nursery, and she became a friend through the process.” Via projects over time—from a condo to larger dwellings as their client’s life evolved—the pair gained a deep understanding of who Asha is. “She’s a free spirit, and she’s bold,” Alvarez describes. “She is a risk-taker.”