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says Debbie. “We ended up giving away parts of the house.
We tried to recycle as much of the house as we could. People
took advantage of it. We were happy that a lot of it wasn’t
hauled out to the dump.”
After purchasing the lot in 2004, the couple took time to
develop plans for their ecofriendly home with the build starting
in 2007 and completed in late 2008. “Our children were
getting older,” says Ken. “Since they would be going to college
soon, we scaled back our original plans.” The Langleys’
daughter, Alli, is a senior at the University of Florida and
their son, Bobby, is a sophomore at Florida State.
Ken and Debbie pored over Florida architecture books and
toured a Coastal Living Idea House in Tampa to get design
ideas. Their style ended up being a combination of historic
Florida vernacular with a West Indies flair. “We wanted our
home to be just one room thick,” says Ken. “Historically,
Florida houses were one room thick so that when windows
were opened on each side, the breeze flowed through, which
easily cooled the house.”
The Langleys accomplished their objective. Every room
HOMES OF THE TREASURE COAST
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Debbie and Ken Langley, above with their dog Indie (named after the Indian River Lagoon), wanted their home to be warm and inviting. Designer Pati Poli
not only helped decorate the interior, she was also part of the overall design plan.