W
W ELLINGTON at Home
STORY BY DEBORAH WELKY PHOTOS BY SUSAN LERNER
Joe & Ashley Maguire
Majestic Aero Club Home Of Features Old World Charm With Modern Conveniences
On a quiet cul-de-sac in the Aero Club, the majestic home might well bear witness to a lifetime well lived. Yet behind the cascading fountain and huge wrought-iron doors belonging to Joe and Ashley Maguire, there is plenty of evidence that life is just beginning. A three-foot-tall plush pony stands guard in the foyer, a plastic retro kitchen set nestles against a wall in the family room, and included among the many custom features are several specially engineered baby gates. The Maguire home isn’t just for show, it’s for living. Joe Maguire, a native New Yorker who moved to Florida in 1989, and his wife Ashley (born and raised in Boca Raton) have three children between them — 11-year-old Natalie, four-year-old Kathryn and eightmonth-old Bryson. The family moved into their sixbedroom, six-and-a-half bath home three years ago.
“It had an ‘old home’ charm that you don’t see in many South Florida homes,” Joe recalled. “It had great bones, and the minute we walked in, we had a vision of how to transform it into our dream home.” The Maguires went straight to work, gutting the interior and starting fresh. “The foyer railing was the first major project we did,” Joe said. “It was wood, and we replaced it with iron, custom-made for this spot.” A grand piano sits under the protection of the stairway’s curve. Although neither Joe nor Ashley plays, perhaps one of the children “will take a liking to it,” Joe said. The couple added antiqued crown molding, wainscoting, trim and ceiling panels throughout the home, and replaced wood floors with 24-inch saturnia mar-
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