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The (eco) Friendly Kitchen
“Make yourself at home. Here’s a glass, grab a plate, and help yourself,” says Lyn Edge. “That’s the feeling I wanted this kitchen to convey to everyone who enters.” A busy grandmother who tends her 4- and 7-year-old granddaughters each day, Lyn needed an open space where family and friends could easily pitch in and where she wouldn’t be closed off from the living areas. What she and her husband, Dr. Otis Edge, began with in their 1930s-era home in Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood, however, was the exact opposite.
Interested in relocating from West Little Rock to the Hillcrest area to be closer to their family, the Edges found a 2,000-square-foot bungalow that seemed a good fit for their needs. While the size and locale were appealing, the kitchen was a disaster. “There were two small cooking and pantry sections, a bathroom, and a screened porch alongside them with a floor that was caving in,” says Lyn. “My jaw dropped when I saw it.”
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Porch Improvement
With outdoor living season approaching, we asked exterior designer Daniel Keeley of Fayetteville-based DK Design to inspire us with suggestions for transforming a basic screened porch into a living area that’s as comfortable as any room in the house.
Keeley’s concept: “I envisioned this space as classically contemporary, with a generally monochromatic color palette of slate and gray with a few accents of white and chrome. The feeling is sleek and sophisticated, yet still warm and comfortable.”
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Contemporary Comfort
After seven years of living in their Conway home, Chris and Jennifer Crain decided it was time to give their house a design update. “It was very traditional,” Jennifer says, “and we wanted something a little more colorful and contemporary.”
Enter friend and Conway-based interior designer Tami Risinger. “Our goal became to make the space bright and full of energy, just like the family that lives here,” Risinger says. “That involved making a traditional home more modern, updating the space with abstract art and clean-lined furnishings.”
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Lively Living
When Heather Letterman bought a 1920s-era home in the Hillcrest area of Little Rock six years ago, she had a colorful vision. “I knew exactly what I wanted this house to eventually look like,” says the aspiring interior designer, who works for a pharmaceutical company. “I was constantly pulling pictures out of magazines, finding ideas for the final product.”
When Heather married Jason Letterman four years later, her dreams were realized. Jason, an aeronautical engineer, used his expertise to help lay out their extensive renovation plans. The couple hired a contractor, moved into an apartment and put their furniture into storage while their home was enlarged and updated with an open floor plan and a new kitchen.
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Dining Drama
“Dark and uninviting” is how Nancy de Bin describes the dining room in the Little Rock home she and her husband, Chris, purchased a few years ago. Eager to create a space better suited to their lifestyle, one that was elegant enough for formal entertaining yet relaxed enough for family meals with their young son, they decided a renovation was in order. And with the help of designer Scott Paterek of Massimo, they got exactly what they wanted—beginning with a heaping dose of red paint. “The color is warm and inviting but also dramatic,” Nancy explains, “and it blends with all of the warm earth tone colors that I am drawn to for tablescapes.”
To complement their choice of color, the couple also kept the other elements of the room colorful and interesting. Silk draperies in a similar bold hue line the two windows that flank the fireplace, and the mantle features brilliant rusty-colored glass tile. The de Bins, who are art collectors, also opted to hang a graphic painting found in Italy, as well as a mother-and-child painting by New Jersey-born artist Gino Hollander, to punctuate the color-saturated walls. As for the dining table, while long and simple lines give it a formal feel, tall chairs with copper backs lend a touch of whimsy, and a statement-making crystal chandelier, which hangs centrally from above, emits a warm and relaxing glow throughout the space. “The room looks lovely at night because it shimmers,” Nancy says.
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Fresh Traditional
For product designer Brad Beach, identifying trends and refining home décor ideas is a daily practice. As the senior product development director for Walmart’s Mainstays and Home Trends lines, he travels the world, visiting stores and trade shows in search of fresh designs. Those concepts weave their way into his work, and often influence his own home as well. “My style continues to evolve,” says Beach, “because of the ongoing exposure to great design ideas.”
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Patience, Paint and Paper Bags
It all began when I spied a gorgeous four-poster bed on clearance at a local furniture store. It was against all my cheap tendencies, but I saved up, took a deep calming breath and plunked down the money. It was an affordable sale price, but at the time I had to go back to the car, put my head between my knees and breathe into a paper bag while passersby stared with concern.
There was once a time when I believed decorating happened with the flip of a few catalogue pages. I thought it was as simple as taking out a pen, circling the right bed, rug and chair, and voila! A complete room would take shape. But it’s not that easy for me. Why? I’m cheap. I suffer from the proverbial “champagne taste on a beer budget” syndrome.
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Color to the Rescue
We posted the SOS on our Facebook page: Seeking a boring bathroom, a space we could spice up with paint and fabric. Will offer designer suggestions for a colorful makeover.
Candidates quickly sent in photos of their rescue-ready baths, and our color expert, El Dorado-based interior designer Andrea Brooks, selected the master bathroom in Betsy Orr’s Rogers residence as an ideal candidate.
Since Betsy’s bath features both a soaking tub and a freestanding shower, Brooks choose a spa-inspired look. She opted for a color palette of blues, greens and purples, “all known for their passive natures, calming our nerves as well as lifting our spirits,” says Brooks.
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Renew
Angela Duke’s Glenwood house stands as her family’s home base, yet it’s been in a design transition for years. “The house originally belonged to my grandparents,” she says. “Throughout the years, it’s gone through several remodels, but I never felt like it was finished.” With her son Clark living in Los Angeles and her other son, Chandler, soon to be graduating high school, she felt it was time to rethink the house. She contacted interior designer Tobi Fairley of Tobi Fairley Interior Design in Little Rock, with whom she had worked on many previous projects. “I know Tobi gets my style,” Angela says, “and I was ready to start from scratch.”
The 1960s ranch-style house has a comfortable atmosphere, thanks to the large rooms and numerous windows that offer views of the Caddo River, and Fairley’s goal was to complement the mid-century architecture with the furnishings. “She wanted a space that was both relaxing and beautiful for her, and one that would remain functional when her family visits,” says Fairley, who began her design with the color scheme. “Every woman looks beautiful in warm peach, coral and rosy hues, and I pulled the blues from the river and nature views,” she says. “I kept each space primarily monochromatic, which lends a more calming atmosphere, and I incorporated lots of original artwork.” As an avid collector, Angela enjoyed outfitted the home with works from Arkansas artists. “I joke that if I had to choose between art and furniture, I would pick art,” she says.
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