NEW YEAR’S BABY FASHION • UNDERWATER AT BRECONSHIRE WRECK • GABBY GIFFORDS/MARK KELLY • VB MUSEUM EVOLVES

JANUARY 2016

Lynn and Jim Odoms’ retirement cottage is turned upside down by the birth of their grandson.

THE BEST LAID PLANS

VOLUME XIX, NUMBER 1

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VERO BEACH MAGAZINE (ISSN 1097-2013) is published monthly. Entire contents copyright © 2016 by Moulton Publications Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. The publisher is not liable for errors or omissions. Periodical postage paid at Vero Beach, Florida, and additional mailing offices.

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JANUARY2016Jim and Lynn Odoms’

cottage by the sea was perfect for the two empty nesters.

Then along came “Baby Lucas,” and the walls began to shrink.

LaidThe

BestPlans

LYNN AND JIM ODOMS’ RETIREMENT COTTAGE IS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN BY THE BIRTH OF THEIR

GRANDSON.

WRITTEN BY ANN TAYLOR

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRIDLEY + GRAVES

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The house on Sandpointe Lane was supposed to

be Lynn and Jim Odoms’ retirement cottage, a

place where they could settle in and savor the

slice of sea-inspired heaven Lynn had so care-

fully created. With three bedrooms and an of-

fice, it was the just the right size for two empty nesters.

As so often happens, life has a funny way of messing with

our best-laid plans. In the Odoms’ case, it was news that their

daughter Alissa and her husband, Brad Wright, were expecting a

baby in May. The timing couldn’t have been better for the school-

teacher parents; but come fall and the start of a new school year,

who was going to take care of little Lucas?

“Daycare wasn’t even an option,” says Lynn, who looks af-

ter her grandson while his parents teach advanced classes at

Sebastian River Middle School. “I love taking care of Lucas; but

as he gets older and starts walking, he’ll need more space and

land to play on.”

Jim nods in agreement as he looks around at what was to be

their forever home. “Lynn found the house, and we liked the idea

that it was a few doors from the sounds, smells and sights of the

ocean,” he says, noting that his wife worked tirelessly to create

her version of the perfect “Nantucket-style” beach cottage. “At

first we were just going to enlarge the family room and raise a

few ceilings. We ended up gutting the whole house all the way

back to the studs.”

With a flair for design, Lynn knew just what she wanted. “I

had envisioned everything in my head – all of the rooms, the

blue palette and nautical touches.” She smiles, tapping her fore-

head. “Once I got started, I couldn’t stop. Everything is brand

new: the floors, cabinetry, trim, pediments, impact windows and

the swimming pool,” says Lynn, who was at the house every day

during the 11-month-long rebuild by Jim’s brother Mark. She

worked with her nephew Jared Odom to redo the swimming pool.

The kitchen is a perfect example of Lynn’s tireless search

for sources that would provide the look she was after. “I

wanted the cabinets to have a Shaker feel, similar to what

you would see in a beach cottage,” says Lynn, who add-

ed furniture-style feet and glass inserts that showcase

sea-themed treasures. She found the counter top

granite at a firm in Melbourne. “I searched through

what they had in their showroom. There was noth-

ing I liked, so I finally asked them if they had any

more I could look at. They took me to a section

where their very high-end granite was and there

this was,” says Lynn, running her hand along the

single-slab island counter top.

With custom cabinetry and shimmering granite

in place, Lynn had another artistic touch in mind.

“I wanted bubbles, the ocean and starfish above the

convection oven and stove top, so I designed it [the

With a flair for design, Lynn knew just what she wanted. She had

envisioned all the rooms, the blue palette and the nautical touches.

Lynn and Jim Odom relax with their grandson “Baby Lucas,” the one who inspired the renovation of their beach cottage.

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In the dining room, warm blue walls and nautical touches set

the stage for sharing meals and conversa-

tion with friends.

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Lynn designed the beamed ceiling, selected furnishings and

fabrics in the living room.

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The striking wall behind the four-poster king-

size bed in the master bedroom is made of

vertical wood planks and faux-painted in sea-inspired shades.

The cabana guest suite was expanded to allow for

additional furnishings.

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backdrop] and found Wet Dog, a company out of California.

Their artists followed my design,” Lynn says, obviously pleased

with the outcome.

So is Jim. He has seen his wife’s talent transform their previ-

ous homes in Colorado, the North Georgia Mountains and Vero

Beach. A software specialist, Jim was vice president of network

management for Harris Corporation in Melbourne before becom-

ing CEO of Martin Group, a technology telecommunications ser-

vice provider. “I’ve been doing software since the 1970s, before

anyone even knew what it was,” Jim says with a grin.

The couple, both born and raised in Vero Beach, moved west

when Jim joined Martin Group, but they missed the place they

always thought of as home. “We both went to elementary school

and high school here. In fact, when I was 10 years old, I used to

sell lemonade on the side of State Road 60, so for us it was a re-

ally big deal to pack up and move to Colorado,” says Jim, whose

family roots go back to 1919 when his grandparents settled in

Vero Beach.

Above the fireplace in the family room, the painting of a sailboat tacking in high winds raises via remote control to reveal a flat screen TV, more often than not tuned to the Baby Channel.

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The kitchen is an example of Lynn’s tireless search for sources that would provide custom “Shaker style” glass-front cabinetry and the island’s seamless granite counter top.

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“We kept a little condo at Grand Harbor where Lynn would

stay from time to time during the winter. One day there was a

blizzard in Colorado and I called her. She was sitting by the pool

and the temperature was in the high 70s. That winter I think she

spent four months here,” Jim says. “That’s when we knew we

needed to get back to Vero and the ocean and the palm trees,

things you don’t really think about when you’re growing up here

and can’t wait to leave and spread your wings. Once you’re away,

you miss these things so much.”

That realization prompted Jim to join former Harris col-

leagues and launch NetBoss Technologies five years ago.

Headquartered in Sebastian, his daily commute from their home

in Indian River Shores was blessedly free of ice and snow. As Jim

and Lynn began to talk about the future, the words “retirement”

and “downsizing” kept popping up. Their daughter Alissa was

happily married to Brad; there were no grandchildren in the pic-

ture; and, as far as they knew, none were expected.

Lynn once again started house hunting. It didn’t take long

before she found just what she was looking for. “Lynn put to-

gether a design book with pictures of light fixtures, rugs, fab-

rics, nautical items and searched the Internet to find things she

wanted in each room,” says Jim, who calls his wife the “Internet

Queen.” He continues, “We had to rent a storage place to hold

everything she bought while the house was being rebuilt.”

“Resourceful” could well be Lynn’s middle name as she never

tired of seeking out just what she wanted. “I’m always on the

lookout,” she says. “For instance, I found a giant clamshell sit-

ting on the floor in a shell shop in South Florida. When I asked

The artistic relief above the convection oven and stove top is exactly as Lynn designed it.

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the sales clerk if it was for sale, she said she didn’t know but

would ask her boss. When she came back and said I could buy it,

she asked what I was going to do with it. I told her I was going

to have it made into a sink for one of our bathrooms.” Lynn did,

and it’s stunning.

Another road trip took the intrepid hunter to Ft. Pierce. “I

found this cute little shop where I got to know the owner,” she

says. “One day she took me to her house where I saw this stat-

ue of a mermaid. She didn’t carry it in her store; and when she

checked, she found that it was on back order. I said I’d wait be-

cause I knew just where it was going to go.” Lynn gestures to-

ward the family room. The mermaid, surrounded with netting

and shells, smiles down from above the fireplace on a wall made

with barn wood.

“Mike LaCorte found the barn wood in Utah. He also built the

custom wall unit. I wanted it to have a Shaker feel with a little

bump out and Mike came up with drawings to scale,” says Lynn.

“The fireplace surround, which is cast stone with embedded

conch shells, is from a company I found in Stuart.” Lynn placed

a sofa in front of the fireplace. Between the mantle and mer-

maid is a painting of a sailboat tacking in high winds. Grinning,

Jim reaches for a nearby remote and clicks a button. The paint-

ing raises to reveal a sleek, flat-screen TV, tuned to The Baby

Channel, Lucas’ favorite.

“Everything you see in the house is all Lynn’s design, with

a little help from Barkley Design Group where she worked for

five years,” says Jim. “Lynn came up with the idea of the ceiling

that defines the breakfast dining area where we spend much of

our time.” With its crisscross pattern and grass cloth inserts, the

ceiling adds interest and texture.

Jim enjoys sitting at the breakfast table or on the sofa in the

family room while Lynn is partial to the enlarged master bed-

room suite. It’s easy to see why. The wall behind the four-poster,

king-size bed is made of vertical wood planks, faux painted in

sea-inspired shades. Opposite, a composite coral-stone wall fea-

tures a gas fireplace. The mantle, created by Wet Dog, shimmers

The breakfast table at one end of the kitchen entices friends and family to sit and stay awhile.

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The custom-built corner bar in the family room is accented by

bold blue cabinets.

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Jim never tires of looking out at the pool, lit up at night with colored bubblers, jets and twin

fire bowls illuminating the bronze statue of two mermaids.

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with glass, stone, starfish and shells.

“When we were expanding the master

bedroom, bath and Lynn’s walk-in closet, we

thought maybe we should make a room for

a baby. Then we said, Alissa and Brad have

been married for five years, they’re not go-

ing to have a baby. Little did we know,” says

Jim, smiling at his wife.

What they did know that next on Lynn’s

list was the cabana guest suite. Again, she called

on Mike LaCorte to transform the walls with vertical

wood planks. “I wanted to give it an old cottage feel where

you actually see the joints,” says Lynn, who designed a built-in

bureau and selected the furnishings, linens and nautical acces-

sories. As elsewhere, there’s a framed photo of a smiling Lucas.

When it came to redoing the outdoor living spaces, again

Lynn knew what she wanted. At one end of the patio, an informal

dining area with chandelier and sheer draperies defines the invit-

ing space. Opposite, sink-into armchairs surround a fire pit, the

perfect place for after-dinner sips of coffee.

The pièce de résistance is the redesigned

pool that includes a sun shelf where

Lucas can sit and splash to his heart’s

content. But it’s the striking bronze stat-

ue of two mermaids rising from the sea

and framed by twin fire bowls at the far

end that elicits “Oohs” and “Aahs.”

“I wanted a focal point,” says Lynn, who

purchased the statute from an import-export

dealer in New York that she found on the Internet.

A firm in Stuart made the fire bowls to her dimensions.

“At night with the colored bubblers and jets on and the fire

bowls lit, it’s an awesome sight,” says Jim. “Lynn poured her

heart and soul into creating this house, because it was going to

be our last one.”

“The house isn’t important now,” says Lynn. “Family is. Lucas

was a surprise, the very best kind. Our lives have changed – and

all for the better. We couldn’t be happier.” `

CONSTRUCTION Odom Construction,

Mark OdomPOOL REDESIGN

Odom Custom Pools, Jared OdomCABINETRY

E&M Custom CabinetryCUSTOM WOODWORKING

LaCortes Enterprises Inc., Michael LaCorte

Lynn created an outdoor, informal dining area with a chandelier, wood-framed rattan furnishings and a large-screen TV hidden behind an artistic wall panel.