The Palm Beach vacation home that interior designer
Robin Weiss shares with her husband, Bill, might be pink, but sissy it’s not. The Bermuda-style exterior is bathed with a barely-there pastel of the girly hue.

Inside, however, Robin concocted a decorative scheme that mimics the kind of tropical drink you might order at a swim-up bar—one charged with a high level of intensity not often replicated at home.

After all, the house—built and designed by Florida architect William
Wietsma—is not the primary Weiss residence. Originally from Long Island, the couple headed west in 1976 when Bill’s job required moving his family to Wyoming. Becoming accustomed to scenic mountain views and long winters, Robin (who continues to operate a design business in Jackson Hole) veered toward warm, subdued colors and antique textures as a backdrop with Western flair. But once the Weisses decided to live part-time in Florida, she pulled out bold, bright tones for their vacation home and never looked back.

“I asked myself if I could get away with a palette that was so bright,†Robin explains. “I felt the rooms carried enough stature and grace to balance such drama. Each room was open on one side, so you were never bombarded by the color on all four walls.â€

The vibrant look begins in the living room. Robin splashed the room with vivid color, but the bones of the structure and appointments of furniture are quite traditional. Classic moldings, windows, and a fireplace were painted white as a contrast to the mottled, hot pink finish on the walls. A sofa and a pair of club chairs upholstered in an orange-and-pink toile fabric were brought from the Palm Beach townhouse where the Weisses lived before their
new home was built. A lattice-patterned ottoman placed between the two club chairs adds to the spirit of the space. To avoid having everything match, a white camelback sofa in front of the center French doors and a lacquered Asian-style coffee table lighten and diversify the room.

Traditional sensibilities pervade the dining room, too. A round bamboo table stained dark anchors the room under a gold-leafed crystal chandelier.

“I bought the chairs for my daughter, who lives in New York. But she no longer had room for them in her apartment,†Robin says, “so I sent them to Palm Beach. Then I combed the area to find additional ones until I had a set.â€