The Moorings lightened and brightened the interior spaces of their clubhouses, keeping with the clean look of traditional coastal decor.

At The Moorings clubhouse, “gold and old” became “new and blue.”

“We felt it was getting tired,” says Moorings general manager Craig Lopes of the 20-year-old clubhouse, originally designed by Peacock & Lewis and decorated by Image Design. Tastes and trends have changed over the last two decades. Members want the interiors to be lighter and brighter. In terms of function, “Now all the members want outdoor/indoor al fresco dining,” says Lopes.

Consolidating clubhouse projects and listening to the 1,050 members’ wishes, Lopes and his team refurbished the upstairs and part of the downstairs and added more outdoor dining. At a cost of $2 million over a two-year period completed in summer 2022, the clubhouse, “built to have a warm feeling, like a home,” according to Lopes, now actually feels like a coastal Florida one.

Designers Kelli Larson and Kristin Nichols from Image Design formed their own Atlanta-based firm five years ago. Lopes kept them on for the freshening of the Hawks Nest golf clubhouse a few years ago and later contracted them to redo The Moorings’ clubhouse.

Included were a huge dining room, entryway, stairways, hallways, locker rooms, pro shop, meeting rooms, and outdoor spaces. According to Nichols, the design duo’s biggest challenge was “working with existing conditions,” the most glaring of which was outdated, honey-toned stained wood—everywhere. The design committee welcomed the proposed changes, and all those miles of trim received paint in the fresh coastal palette of blues and neutrals.

A new dance floor in the dining room, art commissioned from local artists, and 300 dining tables custom made in Alabama are just a few of the highlights of the massive project.

“The club started out as traditional, but we cleaned it up a bit, made it more transitional, with clean-lined furniture—but still that nod to tradition,” says Nichols.

And no gold in sight.