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A lighter, brighter design house
By JUDY STARK, Times Homes Editor SARASOTA -- At the preview last week of the Florida West Coast Symphony Association's Designer Showcase, it was astounding how many designers looked like their rooms. There was Trish Wiley of Platinum Designs in a ruched pale-blue chiffon camisole, and there was the bedroom she designed: filmy aqua-blue sheers at the windows, a trompe-l'oeil blue-sheer effect on the walls. There was Sharon Bolding of Ethan Allen Home Interiors, who created the living room with Cheri Burgess, dressed in deep amethyst, standing in a room in shades of amethyst, lavender, lilac and purple, with walls faux-finished in Ralph Lauren's metallic silver and a marbelized and silver-leafed fireplace, all Art Deco and sophisticated. There was Tre Michel of Robb & Stucky in the feng shui dining porch she created with Jessica Pitzer and feng shui expert Kaya Strum. The room is a study in soothing pale blue and white, and the designer was wearing a pale blue sweater set. Even Lance Licciardi, the show house design coordinator, wore a light-blue T-shirt just a few shades shy of the Tiffany blue he had painted the walls of the dining room, which he was turning into a perfect blue-and-white bower for a wedding reception. The Italian Revival mansion, built in 1916, offers the designers big, well-proportioned rooms that easily accommodate good-sized armoires, four-poster beds and numerous seating areas. The mansion was a show house four years ago, and it's interesting to see the changes in design thinking four years have made. The dining room, for example, with its previous dark colors and bold floral wallpaper, seemed dim and sunless, Licciardi said. Now, painted Tiffany blue with white trim (including white satin bows on the blue paneling), its windows framed in white draperies through which he was threading satin ribbon, the room is filled with light. "The house is much calmer than the last time" it was a show house, he said. The house is a showcase of imported fabrics and rugs, fine furniture, antiques and carefully chosen accessories. In the feng shui room, "Almost every single detail is placed with very deliberate consciousness about feng shui," the Chinese art of placement to channel energies in positive ways, designer Michel said. Settings around the room highlight major components: fire, water, earth, metal, trees. There are scented candles and hanging orchids. A central seating arrangement uses natural materials: chairs made of fiber from water hyacinths, bamboo-and-marble tables. Designer Robert Kevin Cassidy of Classic Interiors took a moment away from installing the reading lights above a four-poster bed in the master bedroom to pay tribute to the workrooms that executed his designs for the bed's pleated canopy, a beautifully upholstered miniature Victorian slipper chair, the pillows on a sofa and the delicate wall painting that picks out the flowers in the fabric (Q&S Designs, the Upholstery Shoppe and Bonnie Schar, Faux Works Studio). "I can design it and say, "Do this, do that,' but they have to do the work, and they did an excellent job," he said. He pointed to the cream, rose, green and yellow chintz, the "Chatsworth" pattern from Brunschwig & Fils, with which he upholstered several pieces and draped the bed. "That design is at least 25 to 30 years old," he said. "Good taste never goes out of style." In the upstairs hall, designer Gary Ficht of Pedlar's Village (this is his 27th show house), working with Susan Frick, tackled a busy, traffic-heavy space with five doorways. He painted the walls sunshine yellow, carved out several intimate sitting areas, then added a Disklavier computerized piano that spills glorious music into the foyer downstairs. It is, after all, a symphony show house! * * * What: Florida West Coast Symphony Association Designer Showcase Where: Edson Keith House at Phillippi Estate Park, U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) at Constitution Avenue, Sarasota When: Through March 17. Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily (until 6 p.m. Thursdays); 1-4 p.m. Sundays. Tickets: $15 at the door. Information: (941) 953-4252 Directions: Take I-75 south to Exit 37 (Clark Road). Drive west to U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) and turn right (north). Turn left at the second traffic light (Constitution Avenue) onto the grounds of Phillippi Estate Park. The house is just ahead on the right.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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