7 Mar-a-Lago Design Elements
You Can Actually Afford

Step inside Mar-a-Lago and one of the first things that stops you is the flow — room to room via graceful arched openings that frame views like paintings. Architect Marion Sims Wyeth's Spanish Revival design relied heavily on these arches to create movement and grandeur without the need for a single massive "wow" room. The arch does the work.

For homeowners, converting a standard square doorway into an arched passage is one of the highest-impact, most photogenic renovations you can do. It works especially well in dining rooms, kitchen-to-living transitions, and hallway entrances. The result elevates the perceived size of every room it connects.

Perhaps the single most recognisable exterior feature of Mar-a-Lago is its warm, rust-hued barrel tile roof — a hallmark of Spanish Revival and Mediterranean architecture. The terracotta tiles bake colour into the material during firing, meaning the shade doesn't fade the way painted surfaces do. They're also extraordinarily long-lasting: properly installed terracotta can endure 50 to 100+ years.

The estate's apricot-coloured stucco walls and terracotta roof tiles were designed by Austrian-American architect Joseph Urban, and together they create the estate's instantly recognisable "warm palazzo" identity. For homeowners in warm climates — especially the South, Southwest, and Florida — this roof style is not just achievable but practically native to local building traditions.

Walk through Mar-a-Lago's grand rooms and look up: every ceiling-to-wall junction is an event. The estate features elaborate plasterwork, egg-and-dart profiles, garland patterns, and layered cornice details that were designed to evoke European palace interiors. It's this attention to the junction — the meeting point of wall and ceiling — that makes the spaces feel finished, curated, and genuinely opulent.

Mar-a-Lago's interior is anchored by a sweeping staircase that rises gracefully from the foyer to a second-floor bridge. For two-story homes, the staircase renovation is one of the highest-visibility upgrades possible. Guests see it the moment they walk in.

Mar-a-Lago's pool is the social centrepiece of the property. The defining characteristics of this resort look are: generous proportions, beautiful coping, integrated water features, and carefully considered landscape lighting.

One of Mar-a-Lago's most distinctive material choices is coquina — a local Florida limestone. For most homeowners, this principle translates beautifully to travertine, limestone, or stacked-stone wall treatments.

The interiors are rich in plush upholstery — silk draperies, velvet settees, and crystal chandeliers. For homeowners, the translation here is about layering warm, textured surfaces.