Patricia Fors' home is all about the views

by Andrea Stetson

Huge picture windows in almost every room showcase panoramic views of the Gulf of Mexico, beach and garden. Inside the four-story home on Barefoot Beach, owner Patricia Fors enjoys that spectacular scene each day from the moment she wakes up and gazes out the third-floor master suite window to the time she goes to bed.

“This has been a very happy house,” Patricia says. “It is bright and sunny. Coming from one of the cloudiest places in the United States, this has been a pleasure.”

Patricia and her late husband, Richard, moved from Buffalo, New York, to Barefoot Beach in 2002 after they built their dream house along the beach. In 2014, they constructed an addition to bring the home to 9,000 feet under air and a total of 12,000 square feet.

With so many levels and so much space, Patricia uses an intercom to buzz guests into the home. They can then walk up the stairs to the second floor, where they enter a sunny atrium that’s part of the addition. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in lots of light for the many plants that Patricia cultivates there. A wooden cradle that she once used for her children and grandchildren now holds brightly colored orchids.

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Patricia Fors’ four-story home spans more than 9,000 square feet and sits along Barefoot Beach. The home is designed so all the homes are in a U shape and all have views of the water. The home is the closest to the beach and also fronts the community garden and pool on the side. Throughout the house are windows overlooking the beach and garden.

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“I love plants,” Patricia says.

The addition also has a spacious movie theater and a formal dining room.

The movie theater has eight wide, comfy seats facing a large screen.

“We watched Netflix and different movies,” Patricia says. “We liked comedy and happy movies.”

A long wooden table and eight seats sit in the dining room, where one can dine while looking out at the Gulf and garden. The carpet under the table is from India, where the Fors had vacationed.

The addition moves seamlessly into the rest of the second story, which is the main living area. The L-shaped kitchen has a row of windows overlooking the garden and more windows facing the Gulf.

“It’s not depressing to do dishes,” Patricia says as she gestures to the gulf view.

On Barefoot Beach, the home sites are plotted in half circles, so that they form an arch with the houses on the next street, and every house has gulf views. In the center of the arch, residents on each street share a garden and pool. The Fors’ house is the closest to the gulf on the street and is also along the garden, making it one of the best properties, she says. To the south, 375 feet of greenery and a communal pool separate it from the house on the next street. On the west site, the house has 61 feet of beachfront.

“My husband was determined we be in the front,”she says.

The informal dining area next to the kitchen features more windows along with double glass doors that lead to a terrace.

“I usually sit at the dining room table. I don’t tend to go outside,” Patricia says.

The table is where she enjoys her morning coffee and the views.

From there she can also watch TV. A television set into a silver frame makes it look almost like a painting on the wall. A wet bar spans the back area of the room.

A half wall from the dining area leads to the living room, which also has two walls of windows with gulf views. The picture windows are so spotless it almost looks like there is no glass at all.

“I have a wonderful gal that knows how to hose and squeegee them, and I have no one to put fingerprints on it except when the grandkids come to visit,” Patricia says.

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Nearby a den offers another place to sit and relax. The room features large paintings of scenes from Africa and India, including a tiger, monkey and elephants. The den also has a full bathroom.

The master suite takes one side of the third floor. Four years ago, Patricia and her husband took out one of the guest rooms and enlarged the master suite. They added a sitting room and a second master bathroom and closet.

“This was affectionately known as the snore room,” Patricia says, jokingly, as she walks into the comfortable sitting area that leads to another outdoor terrace.

In reality, Patricia says, the room is used as a sitting room or reading room and as another place to enjoy the view.

“After shoulder surgery, I could sit up and not have to lay down on my arm,” Patricia says about how she recently used the sitting room.

Three guest rooms fill the other side of the third floor. All the bedrooms have bathrooms in them. One guest room has a king-size bed and doors that lead to the outside porch. Another guest suite with a king-size bed has windows facing the garden on one side of the room and more windows facing the gulf on the other side. That room also features an historic rocking chair with a red cushion. Patricia says she found it at an antique shop and had the cushion custom made. Another guest room has twin beds in cream with pillows donned with brightly colored fish. A large teddy bear sits in a wooden rocking chair.

“The (the grandchildren) fight over what bedroom to have, and they all want the one of the fourth floor,” Patricia says.

Patricia has three children and 14 grandchildren ranging in age from 7 to 26.

The fourth floor has just one guest suite with a king-size bed and a little wooden rocking chair.

Most of the top floor consists of a den and sitting area that span the gulf side of the house with lots of windows and glass doors leading to another deck outside.

“I never get tired of the view,” Patricia says as she stands on the fourth-floor terrace. There’s always a breeze there, and one can see Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach.

Inside, in the sitting area, a lamp sports a Cornell shade and a Cornell chair. Richard Fors graduated from Cornell University. The rest of the room has built-in desks and bookcases.

“My husband did his business up here. It was his office,” Patricia says.

From the fourth floor, at the top of the stairs, you can look down all the way to the first floor.

“When the kids were younger, they would send one of those balsa-wood airplanes down and then run down to see what got down first,” Patricia says.

Patricia doesn’t have to climb four flights of stairs. She has an elevator. It has an automatic door that makes it easy to open when carrying groceries or other items.

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The six-bedroom home has nine full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. It is huge and elegant, yet it is comfortable. Thick comfy couches and chairs decorate the sitting areas. Rugs along the stairs and in the rooms give it a cozy look. Even in the elevator, there are signs of comfort. On one wall is a sign that reads: “Friends are like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.”

Patricia says she absolutely loves her sunny home and especially all the views. But after her husband died a few months ago, she knew the house was too big for her. When her children and grandchildren are not visiting, it is a lot of house for one person. So Patricia purchased a coach home in Bentley Village, where she plans to move when her Barefoot Beach home sells. The furnished home is priced at $10.985 million.

“We enjoyed it,” Patricia says. “It was getting too big for us to totally enjoy it unless our kids came. The hardest thing about downsizing is deciding what to take. This has all the memories and mementos of 58 years together.”

“I will miss the view,” Patricia adds. “That is the first thing I do in the morning is look out. Even after 15 years, I still get excited when I see dolphin, and sometimes in the middle of summer, I see manatee.”