Bringing the resort home

Dickersons add tropical touches to house and yard

Sherry Dickerson wanted the same color of paint on the home as was on her favorite resort. She even verified the color with the resort manager.

While some of us may have a “home away from home,” Sherry and Scot Dickerson are striving for a “resort away from resort.”

When not at Sandpearl Resort at Clearwater Beach, Florida — one of the Dickersons’ preferred vacation spots — the couple’s Clive home keeps the sunny locale very much in their minds. In fact, when they decided to paint their home, they went for the same color of paint as Sandpearl — the exact same color.

“I confirmed with the manager that the color was the same,” says Sherry.

The house, which the couple built, also features bright blue hurricane shutters and banana trees and palm trees planted out front.

“It’s decorated as tropical as possible,” says Sherry, even though it means replanting some of the flora that doesn’t survive the Iowa winters.

The inside of the home continues the theme. While the house features as many different colors as there are letters in the alphabet, the family room is yellow with a banana cream ceiling.

“I don’t like the traditional grays, browns and beiges,” says Sherry.

The fireplace, which is done in seashells the family has collected over the years, is a focal point in the home and brings another beach element into the decor. With a Margaritaville-feel to the downstairs bar and a tiki bar-like shed out back, one might wonder if a tropical retreat is being established in Clive.

Add some metal palm trees out back, a pelican fountain out front, and a waterfall with tropical plants between the house and shed, and any doubt that the couple prefers travels to warmer destinations is erased.

“People say they feel like they are in Florida on vacation” when they visit the home, says Sherry.

The Dickersons have two children, one a senior in high school and one a freshman at college. They have lived in their home for about four years. ♦