A showhouse you can relate to
[Times photos: Jennifer Davis]
An open wall unit designed by Joe Ruggiero subtly separates the dining area from the living room in an Asian-themed area by Susan Solomon of Norwalk, the Furniture Idea. Silk lanterns, pottery and a pagoda are on display |
By JUDY STARK, Times Homes Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 9, 2002
Rich colors, an Asian influence and a bit of whimsy fill the Florida Orchestra Guild Designer Show House, created in two townhomes in a new development in Gulfport.
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GULFPORT -- East meets West in this year's Florida Orchestra Guild Designer Show House, which opens this morning in two townhomes in a new development in Gulfport.
Some of the rooms reflect the colors of the Tuscan sun -- terra cotta and gold -- or the silvery light of Florence, or the crisp sophistication of Paris. Others draw on Asian influences: colors that range from muted to bright red, the funk of a sushi bar, the restful quiet of bamboo and palm.
The setting this year is the Villas del Verde, a new townhouse project near Stetson Law School. The two units, each with just more than 2,300 square feet, will sell for about $330,000 apiece with their upgraded cabinets, appliances and designer touches. Other homes in the 62-unit project are priced from $289,900 to $349,900.
"Some years our showhouses are so opulent people can't relate to them," said Susan Nice of Lasting Impressions Interiors, who created a guest room in one of the units. "I think people can relate to this."
Because the townhouses are interior units, windows and natural light are limited. That hasn't stopped the designers from using rich, deep colors: coffee gold in one living-dining area; gray, green, lavender and silver in one master bedroom, golden butterscotch in another; seaspray green in a guest room; crisp apple green in a study.
In a “Rita Hayworth bathroom,” Debra Devine of Home Depot used a silver-and-gold harlequin-patterned wallcovering, a silver art deco chair with a red velvet cushion, and a lambswool rug on the floor.
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There are a couple of whimsical rooms. Debra Devine of Home Depot created "my Rita Hayworth bathroom" with framed black-and-white photos of the movie star, a sheer, filmy shower curtain with a hem full of rose petals; and an Art Deco chair with a red velvet seat.
Another is a golf room created by Pat Loop of Unique Impressions. She borrowed a 3-wood to use as a drapery rod, attaching the fabric with rings attached to golf tees. Golf balls, accessories, fabrics and antiques are on display throughout. "I love doing theme rooms. They're whimsical and fun," she said.
Don't try eating the plastic sushi on display in the kitchen by Decker Ross Interiors. Designer Suzan Decker Ross hung sheer curtains at the French doors with a palm-tree motif, then had palm trees hand-painted on the kitchen tiles and ferns painted on the ceiling. With Asian pottery, a fountain and a sisal rug under the table in the breakfast room, "It has a Zen look," she said, "a real light, tropical feel."
The adjacent living and dining areas pick up the Asian theme. Susan Solomon of Norwalk, the Furniture Idea, created a bamboo valance at the window and divided the living and dining areas with an open wood bookcase where silk lanterns, pottery and teapots are on display. She added touches both ethereal and whimsical: on the dining-room table, orchids, and in a corner, a silk Buddha-belly palm.
Going to town
If you live in a townhouse or condominium with kitchen, living and dining room all one space, or if your square footage is limited, try these tips from designers who worked on the orchestra guild show house:
- If your kitchen is part of the living-dining area, avoid "kitcheny" wallcovering -- chickens, pigs, cows, teapots. Choose a more sophisticated pattern that incorporates the kitchen into the living area.
- Accessorize open kitchens to reflect that they are part of the living space.
- In small rooms, scale of furnishings is important. Don't crowd a modest-sized guest room with huge pieces.
- In townhomes that are one long room, break up lengthy expanses of wall with a bookcase or entertainment unit.
- Do you enter your townhouse by walking from the foyer through the dining area to the living area? Avoid "barricading" the living room with the back of a sofa.
- In limited space, subtly suggest the line between living and dining areas with a wrought-iron screen or an open-backed bookcase that doesn't block the light or chop the room up.
- A coffered ceiling gives a feeling of height and helps to set off one area from another -- a dining area from a living area, for example.
At a glance
WHAT: Florida Orchestra Guild Designer Show House 2002. Two new townhouses furnished and decorated by local interior designers.
WHEN: Today through March 30. Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, noon-4 p.m. Sundays.
WHERE: The Villas del Verde, new townhouse community in Gulfport. From I-275 take Exit 7 and travel west on 22nd Avenue S, which becomes Gulfport Boulevard. Pass the Pasadena Yacht & Country Club on the south side of the road and Stetson Law School on the north side. Just west of Stetson, turn left (south) at the light at 64th Street/Royal Palm onto Royal Palm and take the first left into the Villas del Verde.
TICKETS: $10 at the door.
INFORMATION: (727) 343-1582.
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