When Bethenny Frankel and her daughter traded Greenwich, Connecticut, for the South Florida sun this past summer, she brought a clear vision—and the kind of opening monologue only Frankel could deliver: “Think padded cell with some warmth,” she told her designer. “I don’t want any color. I don’t want any personality. I’ll add the personality on my own.” It was classic Frankel. In other words, the opposite of “Liberace, Versace, la cucaracha”—a reference Bravo devotees will immediately recognize as her description of her Real Housewives of New York costar Jill Zarin's apartment.
Despite her tongue-in-cheek mandate, the former RHONY cast member and Skinnygirl founder ended up with a home that feels more serene than sterile—a streamlined, contemporary take on classic Floridian design. “For me, walking into a home and understanding where you are is critical,” she says. And in this one, there’s no mistaking it—sun pours into a grand, double-height living room, palm fronds frame every window, and a long linear pool slices across the backyard.
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Frankel first spotted the house this past March, while touring other listings in the neighborhood. “I was looking for cookie-cutter turnkey places,” she says. But as she parked her car, a “for sale” sign across the street caught her eye. A quick call to the realtor revealed the property was in foreclosure—and technically off-limits. She walked over anyway.
“They were having a party—kids were swimming, someone was cooking this amazing Indian food. I wanted to sit down and eat. I was probably in there for five minutes, but it was enough to see it was a blank canvas.”
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Three weeks later, she closed on the house and hired Lauren Lindner, principal and lead designer of The LL Design. That’s when her team was given a nearly impossible timeline—the house needed to be finished in three months. “We really took that as a challenge. How do we make this look custom and high end without reinventing the wheel?”
Tulum became a major reference point—minimal, modern, a little dramatic. “This house is a reaction to my past life,” Frankel says. Her former Connecticut home was filled with antiques, grand pianos, dark colors, tufted leather, and formal rooms that went largely unused. Here, peace comes from spareness, clean lines, and a tightly controlled neutral palette.
“I don’t want extra stuff just for the sake of it, but I also don’t want it to feel cold,” she explains. “There’s a dance to that.” Frankel has no patience for meaningless décor. “A million plants, random objects, 75 unread coffee table books—it all feels insecure to me. Like, ‘I have to shove something there.’ But why? Do you connect to it? Or is it just a thing to be that coffee-table-book person?”
The exception to all that restraint is the glam room, the jewel of the home—and the nucleus of its color. Technically a guest room, it functions as an oversized dressing suite for Frankel’s clothes, bags, and jewelry. Think boutique meets boudoir.
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If you follow Frankel on social media, you already know she has a soft spot for pairing expensive pieces with more affordable ones—and her home follows suit. “Bethenny would call that ‘trickery,’” Lindner says with a laugh. Case in point: A marble waste basket “no one even sees and weighs as much as your car” costs around $1,000. Meanwhile, every piece on the primary bedroom balcony? Ordered from Amazon. “Highs and lows, baby,” Frankel says. “There are so many things that are fun to mix in that no one will ever know where they’re from.”
These days, Frankel and her daughter are settled into their new routine, just steps away from the ocean. Even her dogs, Biggy and Smallz, have embraced Florida life. “We’re all happy,” Frankel says. “Smallz chases lizards. It’s like we all retired—we all went to Del Boca Vista. We’re into shuffleboard. We found our cruise ship together. We’re so happy.”
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