As midsummer approaches and the days get longer and the sun, humidity, and temperatures grow more intense, residents of Naples spread their wings, departing for cooler climes in northerly locations.
For about half of the year—from late fall through spring—John and Pam Blakely, who have owned various homes in Naples since 1996, live in the Moorings neighborhood west of U.S. 41 in a location they describe as “two minutes from everything.” They purchased the home in 2020 after deciding condo living during a pandemic was not to their liking.
When Pam first walked through the front door and set foot in a large living room, where a mitered glass picture window presented expansive eastern views over the fairways of the Moorings Golf & Country Club, she knew it was the place for them. Set on a horseshoe-shape lot, the single-story home encompassing more than 5,500 square feet had a pleasing and functional floor plan. Completed in 2006 and true to its age, the home was, explains Pam, over-the-top Mediterranean in style and dressed in dark colors, from the paint on the walls and in murals to the heavy draperies and valances to the furniture and light fixtures.
With a real estate and construction management background and previous work in sales and administration with U.S. Home Corp. (now Lennar) in Tampa, Pam, the main designer and decorator on all the couple’s remodeling projects, recognized the potential of the well-built home. “It had too many great features to completely redo,” she remarks, like the light-colored stone flooring that fit in nicely with a coastal palette. And the ceiling elevations, Pam points out, contained detailed trim work—“no longer common in new construction.” Once unencumbered, the many windows would allow ample natural light into the home. She would make it work.
Pam simplified the interior without changing the floor plan, choosing muted tones so no one detail stands out. Painting the ceiling the same color as the walls “lifts your eyes upwards,” she says, creating boundless space. Pam updated the bathrooms and swapped plush cream-colored carpeting for wide-plank white oak floors in the bedrooms and in John’s office. With warmer wood trends making a comeback, Pam chose to preserve the brown-hued kitchen cabinets and the marbled pale green granite countertops. Pam credits MaryBeth Binkley-Gill, an interior designer at Norris Furniture & Interiors in Naples, with helping her complete the space. “She was a visionary who was practical, on time, and on budget,” Pam relates.
From spring to late fall—the other half of the year—John and Pam reside in their Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, home. Located near Wilmington, the beach town, according to Pam, is very similar to Naples—especially “in size, scope, and relationship of the ocean to the land.” Separated from the dramatic Atlantic Ocean by a barrier island and intracoastal waterways, the small community with a fishing pier and white sand beaches thrives with restaurants and shops—especially in the summer months.
The 6,000-square-foot Wrightsville Beach residence—built in 2007 and situated on two acres—is a typical Carolina-style home with a wood-shingle roof that had been fully renovated when the Blakelys purchased it. “[The home] is even painted Carolina blue,” says Pam, which is a vibrant light blue resembling the color of the state’s sky. It is also the beloved shade sported by athletic teams at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Pam and John, a retired trial attorney, fill their days—in both North Carolina and Florida—playing golf, boating, and enjoying time and meals with friends and visitors.
Birding is also a favored pastime for the couple. John shares that the “most beautiful bird in America”—the painted bunting—is prolific in North Carolina. As the Sunshine State is on the flight path for several migrating birds, many choose Southwest Florida as a winter home. Sightings of the bunting are rare, but while in residence here, the Blakelys are hopeful and always have a tasty millet meal ready to welcome their fellow snowbirds.
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