Home tour: Peek inside this chic and sunny St. Pete cottage

Stepping into this St. Petersburg cottage by local interior designer Kimmy Levell is like stepping into a high-end Florida time capsule.

The vacation home is a 1,600-square-foot bungalow built in 1925 and recently restored. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

"Everyone told me to tear it down," Levell says. But the home's connection to the land it was built on was too strong for Levell to demolish it, she says.

• The materials used to build it were all sourced within a few hours of downtown St. Pete. The floors are real pine and the walls are made from cyprus.
• There's a connection between what grows in a place and the spaces anchored there. That connection, between home and environment, creates healing energy, Levell says.

Inspiration: When designing this house, Levell let Florida guide her. There are elements from every decade that take you through Florida's history.

• There's a painting of Seminole Chief Osceola, whose tribe was forced south from Alabama to Florida as a result of armed conflicts in the early 1800s.
• There's a trio of elaborate swim caps framed in one bedroom that were typical beachwear for women in the 1950s.

• Levell used a tobacco leaf print as a nod to Tampa's cigar industry.

She intentionally used citrus patterns and bright colors to help guests feel the sunshine that people come to Florida for.

• "It allows you to feel Florida and you understand the joy of it," she says. "The typical neutral would be a letdown in this house."

Here's a look around a the sunshine state's most sunshine-y house.