By Nancy Keates / Photography and Video by Alexia Fodere for WSJ

Bart Reines always advises his clients to go big. The Miami-based luxury home builder says it's a mistake to do a major renovation and wind up with just a nicer version of what you had before: Moving back in after a project should feel like coming home to a brand new house.

That's why, after living since 2007 in a dark, nondescript, "shabby chic"-style, 7,000-square-foot, single-story, five-bedroom house in the city's Bay Point gated community with his wife, Ariel Reines, 49, and their eight children, he spent about $4 million last year to transform his home.

"I followed my own advice," says Bart, 60, who has built homes where celebrities and financiers have lived, including Lenny Kravitz, David and Victoria Beckham and Barry Sternlicht.

The overarching goal was to make the house feel like a luxury resort, such as the Aman or Four Seasons properties the couple has visited around the world. A sort of "White Lotus" effect, Bart says. "When I come home, I want to feel like I'm on vacation. I want to live that."

The renovated home has all the features one would expect at a resort: A signature scent, called "pomegranate noir," is diffused into every room, which gives the home an identity, says Bart. The family went through a smell test and picked that scent because they say it is subtle but distinct. "People always say this house smells great," says Bart.

Every space has background music, usually tuned to the spa station on Apple Music. A path out back leads to a wooden deck with a cold plunge, sauna and outdoor shower, giving it the feel of a luxury hotel wellness center.

Inside, the home's lighting has an intentionally soothing color and temperature, with dimming capabilities. Every piece of art, every pillow, every sheet and even the kitchen utensils are curated to give a cohesive feel, something they achieved by getting rid of almost everything they owned beforehand.

The tranquil color scheme -- pastel blues, emerald green and ecru, accented with hibiscus, caramel and chocolate -- are blended into each room in varying intensities and combinations, so that even though the rooms look different, they connect with each other. Materials include lacquered goatskin parchment, quilted leather and lots of marble.

A sweeping front drive, made of tiles cast with seashells, ends in a motor court. It passes by a professional gym set up in the front lawn under a giant Ficus tree where the couple has a personal trainer work out with them every morning.

"It's about the arrival experience," says Nicola Fontanella, the CEO and founder of Argent Design, which has offices in London, Miami, Melbourne, Dubai and Monaco. She worked on the home and has collaborated with Bart on 15 other projects in Miami. She put in floor-to-ceiling glass windows and french doors in almost every room. "You need to highlight the vistas, " she says.

In the back of the house is a large covered outdoor living room, a dining table, a fire pit and a large pool with a waterslide and a waterfall. The walkways through the garden are well lighted.

The home, which remains 7,000 square feet, is designed with a lot of enticing spaces that allow his large family to be there at the same time without feeling cramped, says Bart. "Otherwise, everyone is always in the kitchen," he says. In the playroom, which is 650 square feet with a sectional sofa, a home theater and a ping pong table, each of the four youngest children, ages 6 to 16, has his or her own storage and workspace. There is a separate, large home theater off what they call the "reception room" -- it is like a living room, with sofas and tables, but that name gives it more of a resort-like flavor, says Bart.

Rather than build a new house, Bart decided the existing structure, with its high ceilings, great floor plan and above flood-level elevation, made it a good candidate for a renovation. But the couple didn't want to have to disrupt their children's lives by moving to a rental during the project, so they divided the house in half, creating a temporary kitchen to use on one side while the side with the kitchen was being renovated.

Ariel says that despite the constant activity, the process wasn't stressful because it was so well thought through. "It was actually fun. The kids loved coming home every day and seeing what was new. They learned a little bit about what Dad does," she says.

Bart knew from his experience what steps to take to expedite the process. He and Fontanella worked for about a year, starting in the summer of 2023, to design the renovation and procure all the materials and supplies, which he had delivered to his warehouse. Construction only started once everything was ready to go, and as a result it took only around eight months to finish, he says. Usually, working on a project with the family living in the house is a "bloody nightmare," says Fontanella. But in this case, because Bart was so organized, it went smoothly, she says.

Ariel, a physician, grew up in London, graduated from Harvard University in 1997 and went to medical school in New York. She met her husband while kiteboarding in Crandon Park on Key Biscayne in 2003 after she moved to Miami for her residency. They married in 2004.

Bart dropped out of Florida Atlantic University in 1984 to work full time in construction in Fort Lauderdale. Soon afterwards, a contractor starting his own company hired him to do site work. Bart quickly realized he could make more money running his own construction company, which he did starting in 1985.

The first house Bart built from scratch was for his then-wife and himself, in 1990, on one of the Sunset Islands in Miami Beach. He'd been living in the eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom Mediterranean mansion for about a month when there was a knock on the door. It was the star tennis player Anna Kournikova, asking to buy it. "The day I sold that home was the end of Bart Reines Construction and the day Bart Reines Luxury Home Building started," he says. Now he designs and builds custom luxury homes and renovations for clients, with a few spec homes on the side.

In 2007, Bart and Ariel bought their current house in Bay Point for $2.7 million. They spent around $300,000 doing a quick rehab, redoing the kitchen and the laundry room, but decided to leave most as it was, focusing instead on bringing up the four children Bart had with his first wife and the four the couple had together. In addition, Bart says, "Being in the high-end construction business is 24/7. The last thing I wanted to do was take it home." Ariel says she was happy with the house and too busy with her work to think about home renovations.

But over time, Bart started to think about renovating a few rooms in the house -- the primary suite and the living room -- to make it more current. To do that in a way that met his own standards, he saw that he would have to involve every type of subcontractor, including electrical, plumbing, home automation, window and door installation, drywall and framing and painting. "Once I realized that, I saw that this was a chance to make our forever home," he says. "Once you are gutting a room, it's not a big stretch to go ahead and build out a new area."

Now that the project is finished, the couple says they travel a lot less. They still go climbing in France and skiing in Colorado, but having a resort at home means they don't leave just to get away anymore. "We want to stay home," says Ariel.

Write to Nancy Keates at Nancy.Keates@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 13, 2025 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)

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