When you step into the salon of Serenity
Now! (a "Seinfeld" reference), for all you know, you could be walking
through the door of a swank apartment on New York’s Upper East Side.
Chocolate-stained cherry paneling, smooth and unfettered by bevels or raised
panels, provides a strong accent to the café au lait tones in the carpet and a
beautiful contrast to the two frothy-white sofas and light-colored drapes that
are hidden away with the push of a button. The loose museum-collected
furniture includes two chocolate-brown Swan chairs, a pony-skin upholstered Le
Corbusier chaise lounge and a dining table for eight with Cab chairs. Trendy
lighting by David Weeks and Ingo Maurer lends a transcendent glow to the
nighttime ambiance for dining, dancing or cocktails at the Carrera marble bar.
The only Caribbean colors in the space are contained in an oblong Nambé dish on
the coffee table filled with M&M’s chocolate candies. Click on the Spec tab at top to see complete list of resources.
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Were it not for the salt air, when
stepping aboard the transformed Serenity Now!,
you might feel as if you’ve just stepped into a
swank New York apartment. Top: Before. Bottom: After. (Click images to enlarge)
The yacht’s completely renovated aft deck, aka "Nikki Beach,"
is meant to feel like an extension of the salon with an oversized, cream-colored
L-shaped sofa, a cherry-stained cocktail table that raises and slides in for
all-day dining, and seating for 10 with Bellini chairs. Pull down the unique
sunshades and you’ll feel and look cool.
Like the adjoining salon, the dining area saw a transformation from limed oak to
dark-stained cherry. Top: Before. Bottom: After. (Click images to enlarge)
Serenity Now!’s interior and exterior details certainly do
not look yachty, and that is exactly the way her owners wanted it. Inexperienced
in owning big yachts, Jill Lenhart and her husband decided they would rather buy
than build. The brief for their dreamboat specified an ocean-going vessel in
the 70- to 100-foot range with an airy salon and no built-ins, a country
kitchen-style galley, three bedrooms with walkaround beds and ensuite bathrooms,
an open flybridge with a 360-degree view and, needless to say, a price that was
right.
The couple share a love for architecture and design and have
plenty of experience renovating homes, so they prepared to do the same with
their boat. They were under no illusion that someone else’s boat would be a
perfect match for their tastes. Their search ended with Tahiti, a 96-foot
Westship motor yacht built in 1991 that had the bones of what they were
looking for.
The bar area sports a new look and feel, with ambient lighting, dark paneling
and stylish stools. Top: Before. Bottom: After. (Click images to enlarge)
The boat was the right size, and the large picture windows
afforded unobstructed views in the galley and salon. Another plus was the
absence of built-in furniture. The sleeping accommodations were the right
configuration, and there was a spacious open flybridge for the amazing
year-round Caribbean views and weather. The yacht’s core was intact, but the
décor was decidedly not to their taste. "I don’t want my grandfather’s boat,"
Lenhart’s husband told her.
The couple prepared for a major facelift and a gut-rehab. After
checking with a few of the larger refit yards, they were dismayed to find that
most were backlogged and couldn’t fit in their refit. Not wanting to postpone
the project, their captain made some calls to vendors, which eventually led them
down the path of "general contracting."
The new open galley has a family-friendly island loaded with stowage
space. Top: Before. Middle and Bottom: After. Bottom photograph by Phillip Bennett. (Click images to enlarge)
Lenhart took the lead in the process. "I kept pushing one of
the vendors to give me the name of a refit interior specialist," she says.
"Finally he shared with me, behind closed doors, his favorite interior
artisan."
Winfield Austin owns Windward Associates, a relatively small
company with a main shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and satellite shops
located in Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; San Diego, California;
Seattle, Washington; and Bequia, St. Vincent. Austin specializes in yacht
interiors, residential interiors, fine cabinetry, studio furniture and project
management. Lenhart met Austin and liked him right away. She felt relaxed that
he, in coordination with her captain, would make it all happen the way she
wanted it to.
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