Step Inside the “Surf and Turf” Palm Beach Gardens Home of Greg and Kiki Norman
The interiors expert borrowed aspects of West Coast style to achieve a coastal, laid-back vibe
Kirsten “Kiki” Norman likes to describe the design direction of the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, home she shares with former professional golfer Greg Norman as “surf and turf.” She jokes, but there is truth in jest, as they say.
The interior designer, who has spent the past three decades working on large-scale projects in the hospitality industry—including her husband’s branded golf communities—found herself with a particular challenge when the couple purchased the 12,000-square-foot house in 2021. In a mid-Covid reckoning, the pair decided to downsize by listing their notably larger New England-style estate in nearby Jupiter as well as a 13,000-acre ranch in Colorado. Both were sold fully furnished, but Norman was left with a considerable cache of personal possessions from each house. “I almost had a heart attack when Greg told me the Florida house went with everything in it. It was full of Liaigre furniture that I had collected over the years. But I had a backup plan,” she says.
In Palm Beach Gardens, the couple acquired a five-bedroom home, built in 2009 and featuring Mission-style elements—a clay tile roof and arched doorways and windows—that took her back to California, where she once lived in Montecito. “I borrowed aspects of West Coast style and oriented the whole house to be totally laid back,” says Norman.
She began by refining the color palette inherited from the previous owners. The dining room was red, the kitchen turquoise, and the primary bedroom a sunny yellow. There were a lot of shells and white lacquer throughout. By bathing every surface in white, Norman hoped to achieve that California vibe through furnishings, fabrics, and by marrying the couple’s cherished possessions from their coastal and American West homes.
Formal living spaces have no place in the home of a couple who largely prefer to walk around barefoot. Nor do they suit a pair who loves casual entertaining, whether it’s with one other couple or a several dozen friends. So Norman ignored convention and stripped the living and dining rooms of their traditional roles, instead creating spaces long on lounging and short on hushed conversation. The centerpiece of the former living room is not a large coffee table but an enormous bar, where the party always starts. “The buyers of our former home didn’t drink, so they asked us to take it with us, which we gladly did,” says Norman.
What was once a formal dining room is now a library that pays homage to Greg’s career as the top-ranked golfer in the world for 331 weeks. “Sometimes I’ll serve dinner at the library table, particularly if the occasion is very special,” says Norman. And perhaps in the ultimate Cali-inspired move, she turned the guest house into a home gym.
An air of informality strikes the minute one walks through the door—where most would have situated a fussy foyer table in the double-height space, Norman instead invites visitors to sit—or even lay down—on a pair of chaises.
With her game plan set, Norman deftly filled the rooms with a mix of newly acquired and long-owned furniture and art. She turned to the king of California casual aesthetic, James Perse, whose furniture mimics the laid-back luxe of his namesake clothing brand. And, in an improbable stroke of luck, the buyers of the couple’s previous home decided they didn’t want the Liaigre furnishings after all, so some of Norman’s favorite pieces are back in her life.
There are surfboards and Watoosa cow heads, lampshades that resemble tumble weeds, antlers galore, mementos from travels all over the world, and photography depicting subjects meaningful to this globetrotting couple, such as horses, the sea, or landscapes from Greg’s native Australia. The work of Australian photographer Kara Rosenlund appears throughout. “I filled the house with landscapes from all over that country because my husband’s ultimate dream is to go home,” says Norman.
