Beauty Soars Here
W United Methodist Retirement Community
HEN IT COMES TO LIVING HER LIFE TO THE FULLEST, the sky is no limit for Gail. “As soon as I jumped from that plane and saw the beautiful earth below me, I felt euphoric and free!� Gail hopes her friends will be inspired to leap into their own joyful and soul-expanding adventures. At Arbor Acres, residents celebrate the endless variations and possibilities of beauty. What is beautiful to you?
www.arboracres.org 1240 Arbor Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104 336 -724-7921
GREENSBORO 225 South Elm Street • 336-272-5146 WINSTON-SALEM Stratford Village, 137 South Stratford Road • 336-725-1911 www.schiffmans.com
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2019 10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Grab a friend and join the Junior League of Winston-Salem for the 14th Annual Tour of Fine Spaces, featuring beautifully new and renovated homes throughout Winston-Salem. Interior designers, cabinetmakers, flooring/tiling specialists, architects and builders have come together to present an unprecedented showcase. The Tour will feature select homes throughout the area and include everything from contemporary to traditional designs. Enjoy a special culinary sampling from fantastic local caterers, bakeries and restaurants.
Advance tickets can be purchased now for $30 online at www.ticketmetriad.com/events/tour-of-fine-spaces Tickets are available the day of the Tour for $35. All proceeds support the Junior League of Winston-Salem’s vision of nurturing and educating individuals to build healthier families and a stronger community.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT:WWW.JLWS.ORG/TOUROFFINESPACES
“Outside In… A Modern Custom New home filled with sunlight and warm natural elements.”
Join us on April 6 to see these spaces and many more! ICON Custom Builders collaborated with the Kehoes and architect Quinn Pillsworth on converting their 1924 Buena Vista home into a more family friendly, efficient floor plan.
Preston Harris of Solid Foundation Construction and Melissa Jessup of West End Cabinets created a multipurpose space on Forest Drive that will exceed expectations.
Adams DesignBuild worked with the Mangin family to create an energy efficient modern farmhouse in the heart of Historic Ardmore.
ICON Custom Builders teamed up with West End Cabinets and interior designer Amanda Hiatt to transform a dark, outdated kitchen into a bright and spacious family space. The 1940 Buena Vista home was brought back to life in this fun transformation.
Come spend a day
with us
in Greensboro.
Centrally located, Greensboro is the perfect place to relax and be immersed in history and entertainment. Choose from more than 500 restaurants and shop till your heart’s content. Explore our 90 miles of trails, walk the Downtown Greenway, cheer on the Greensboro Swarm, plan a trip to the Greensboro Science Center and our downtown parks. Visit the Greensboro History Museum and our new Tribute to Women and learn about our rich history.
We can’t wait to share Greensboro with you! W W W. G R E E N S B O R O - N C . G O V
BACKYARD DREAMS COME TRUE WITH ARCHADECK Call For Your Complimentary Design Consultation 336-664-1332 Or Visit PIEDMONT-TRIAD.ARCHADECK.COM
Moorgate Collection
B E S T. D E C I S I O N . E V E R . When it comes to your dream home – making sure it is perfect means tons of tough decisions. Let our knowledgeable product experts relieve the stress and restore the fun while introducing you and your design team to our extensive collection of products from the most sought after brands.
GREENSBORO | WINSTON-SALEM
F E RGUSON S H OWROOM S .COM
©2019 Ferguson Enterprises, Inc. 0219 1114558
Request your appointment today at fergusonshowrooms.com
Custom built home, Greensboro, N.C.
INSPIRATIO N B ECO M ES R EA LIT Y
TH E TRI AD’S LAR GEST M AR V I N DEAL ER Visit our showroom: 400 West Mountain Street Kernersville, NC 27284 336-497-5429
salemwindowsanddoors.com
20 19 From the Editor
By Jim Dodson
STYLEBOOK 20 The Hot List
48 37 31
23 The Designer Beat
Spring 2019 FEATURES
48 From Traditional to Transitional
By Nancy Oakley
A designer’s challenges in creating her own space
58 You Can Go Home Again
By Billy Ingram
A family farmhouse in Winston-Salem is restored to its original glory
62 Late Bloomer
By Jim Dodson
Dean Johnson’s art of seeing beauty
68 Preservationists & Patriots
By Jason Oliver Nixon & John Loecke
By William Irvine
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of North Carolina have been leaders in the historic preservation movement for 125 years
By Robin Sutton Anders
29 The Best of Spring 31 Hidden Gem
By Jim Dodson
35 Wine Country
By Angela Sanchez
37 The Garden Guru
By Cheryl Capaldo Traylor
45 Almanac
By Ash Alder
LIFE&HOME 76 House for Sale
By Nancy Oakley
79 The Language of Home
By Noah Salt
80 HomeWords
By Carolyn Strickland
Cover Photograph by Amy Freeman
72 Hunt & Gather
8 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
By Amy & Peter Freeman
Spring 2019
BHHSYostandLittle.com/902122
BHHSCarolinas.com/909058
BHHSYostandLittle.com/915573
144 Moss Bank Court New London
639 Hoy Long Road Winston-Salem
819 Bass Landing Place Greensboro
JA R E E TO D D 336 – 601 –4892
E R I N H EG E 336 –970 –3071
MELISSA GREER 336 –337–5233
$1,895,000
BHHSYostandLittle.com/913734
$1,599,000
BHHSYostandLittle.com/915304
$1,500,000
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8 Sail View Cove Greensboro
1816 Saint Andrews Road Greensboro
687 Riverview Road Advance
M I C H E L L E P O RT E R 336 –207– 0515
X A N T I S DA L E 336 – 601 –2337
E R I N H EG E 336 –970 –3071
$1,499,000
BHHSYostandLittle.com/916782
$1,349,500
BHHSYostandLittle.com/913628
$1,250,000
BHHSYostandLittle.com/916935
8 Whaton Oaks Court Greensboro
6808 Polo Farms Drive Summerfield
3809 Camden Falls Court Greensboro
MELISSA GREER 336 –337–5233
BETH BRANNAN 336 –253–4693
SHERRI HILL 336 –209 – 8482
$865,000
$749,900
$625,000
Adams Farm 336 – 854 –1333 • Elm Street 336 –272– 0151 • Friendly Center 336 –370 – 4000 • Kernersville 336 –996 – 4256 • Winston–Salem 336 –768 –3300 ©2019 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.
Vol. 4 No. 1 336.617.0090 1848 Banking Street Greensboro, NC 27408 www.ohenrymag.com Publisher
David Woronoff Jim Dodson, Editor jim@thepilot.com Andie Rose, Art Director andie@thepilot.com
OFFERING A WORLD OF STYLE
Nancy Oakley, Senior Editor nancy@ohenrymag.com Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer CONTRIBUTORS Cynthia Adams, Ash Alder, Robin Sutton Anders, Harry Blair, Lynn Donovan, Amy Freeman, Peter Freeman, John Gessner, Ross Howell Jr, Billy Ingram, Jane Lear, John Loecke, Jason Oliver Nixon, Noah Salt
h ADVERTISING SALES Ginny Trigg, Advertising Director 910.693.2481, ginny@thepilot.com Hattie Aderholdt, Advertising Manager 336.601.1188, hattie@ohenrymag.com Amy Grove, 336.456.0827 amy@ohenrymag.com Glenn McVicker, 336.804.0131 glenn@ohenrymag.com Brad Beard, Graphic Designer Lisa Bobbitt, Advertising Assistant 336.617.0090, ohenrymag@ohenrymag.com CIRCULATION Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488 Steve Anderson, Finance Director 910.693.2497 AT THE SHERROD 1100 NORTH MAIN STREET | HIGH POINT, NC allenandjames.com | 336.886.3333
10 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
SUBSCRIPTIONS 336.617.0090 ©Copyright 2019. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Seasons Magazine is published by The Pilot LLC Spring 2019
Call us today to discuss your dream home. Build to suit lots and house plans that fit your every need are waiting for you... it’s boutique building at its best!
336.215.3499
|
w w w.g u n t e r d r e a m h o m e s .C o m
The Triad’s top producing office in 2018 for homes sold above $600,000
$1,250,000
Buena Vista
$1,249,500
Buena Vista
$1,249,000
$929,900
Buena Vista
$895,000
Buena Vista
$799,000
Arbors at Meadowlark $795,000
Arbors at Meadowlark $795,000
Buena Vista
$789,500
West End
$749,000
Buena Vista
Buena Vista
Century Oaks
$615,000
Greenbrier Farm $610,000
Buena Vista
$1,295,000
Lewisville
Buena Vista
$1,150,000
Buena Vista
2210 Brookfield Dr ID:915305 Brooke & Curtis 336 779 9212
1010 Kent Mews Mary URen 336 817 8408
Lot 35 Zinfandel St ID:914114 Eva Johns 336 408 0507
$704,900
2500 Forest Drive ID:916530 Mary URen 336 817 8408
LRBrealestate.com
5021 Hidden Lake ID:889755 Mary Preston Yates 336 779 9649
Lot 1 Buena Vista Place Mary Gettys Hardwick 336 813 3331
Lot 4 Zinfandel St ID:906428 Arlene Rouse 336 414 1919
$695,000
2301 Buena Vista Rd ID:916404 Molly Haus 336 971 9084
•
324 Windsor Oaks ID:902844 Michael Ryden 336 577 8488
534 N Stratford Rd ID:915608 Molly Haus 336 971 9084
1825 Georgia Avenue Michael Ryden 336 577 8488
810 Poplar Grove ID:910296 Betty Jones 336 978 1391
2566 Warwick Rd ID:914499 Mary Preston Yates 336 779 9649
777 Arbor Road ID:895747 Molly Haus 336 971 9084
817 West End Blvd ID:916350 Chris Wilson 336 287 3330 Phillips Ranson Team 336 354 5052
115 Northpond Lane Kirsten Ririe 336 831 7922
201 S Stratford Rd, Suite 200, Winston-Salem, NC 27103
The French Farmer’s Wife European Antiques
MODERN FARMHOUSE • GARDEN • BOHEMIAN
2018 BARN SHOW DATES: MAY 2-4, JULY 25-27, OCTOBER 24-26 • 9AM-4PM 1 9 8 7 B E E S O N R O A D • K E R N E R S V I L L E • N O RT H C A R O L I N A • 8 0 5 . 2 7 9 . 6 6 2 8
BUILDING HOMES TO FIT YOUR LIFESTYLE ...
407 Parkway Avenue, Suite I Greensboro, NC 27401
GARY JOBE 336-272-2772 336-549-1146
Springfest PRESENTS
AT GRANDOVER
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW
SUNDAY, MARCH 24 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
TONY AVENT Owner of Plant Delights Nursery and Juniper Level Botanical Gardens in Raleigh, an internationally-known plant breeder and hunter of rare plants
CHIP CALLAWAY Landscape Architect who has designed gardens from Nantucket and Long Island to Palm Beach and England
EXCLUSVE DINNER WITH TONY AVENT SATURDAY, MARCH 23 6:00 PM www.TicketMeTriad.com/events/springfest-dinner
LAURA REDD
ELLEN ASHLEY
Interior Designer who creates outdoor spaces to be cohesive with the indoor space and forms innovative exteriors that express who the client is and how they live
Gardening teacher offering an extensive course on gardening that goes through every season, Past president of the Guilford County Master Gardners
HEAR FROM NATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED GARDEN EXPERTS WATCH FLOWER-ARRANGING DEMONSTRATIONS BY RANDY MCMANUS VISIT WITH LOCAL VENDORS ENJOY AFTERNOON TEA
TICKETS FOR SPRINGFEST - $45 www.TicketMeTriad.com/events/springfest-at-grandover
The best
gifts come from the heart.
The heart of Crossnore School & Children’s Home is our children. You can share your heart with them throughout the year by purchasing gifts at Crossnore Weavers shop on our Avery campus or in our online store. There you will find beautiful handwoven wearables, table linens, home decor, and baby items. Shop online today at www.crossnore.org/store.
CROSSNORE
weavers
Avery Campus Store: 205 Johnson Lane | Crossnore, NC 28616 | (828) 733-4660 Online store: www.crossnore.org/store
Never hear
“ What on earth
were you thinking?” again.
As the oldest and most established plastic surgery practice in the Piedmont Triad, we are your best, most experienced choice for cutting edge PicoSure laser tattoo removal.
ForsythPlasticSurgery.com You, naturally. Drs. Fagg, Schneider, Kingman, Lawson & Branch ~ 336.765.8620
FPS-print_9x5.25_final.indd 7
2/22/18 10:36 AM
WE’VE GOT ALL SEASONS COVERED SPRING FLOWERS
FALL PANSIES
18 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
SUMMER TROPICALS
CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS
• We take pride in growing our own plants. • And we have acres of trees and shrubs. So many varieties, so little time.
5392 NC 150East Brown Summit, NC 336-656-7881 www.aaplants.com
Spring 2019
FROM THE EDITOR
War and Peace in the Garden Even fighting off unwelcome invaders has its upside By Jim Dodson
ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR
T
he war commenced not a week into the new year. This war is in my backyard’s unfinished Japanese garden, principally against a ruthless foe called star-of-Bethlehem. Lovely name, isn’t it? And quite beautiful in its own insidious way. Ornithogalum umbellatum, technically a member of the lily family, sometimes called bird’s milk or — more aptly, in my view — dove’s dung. Either way, by any name, I loathe it. For the record, every spring I seem to go to war against something in my garden. In recent years it was a ground offensive against English ivy or mahonia, a shrub beloved by birds and nongardening grannies that can injure you for life if you dare to get too close, turning simple gardening into a blood sport. As for English ivy, there should be a constitutional amendment restricting English ivy to university buildings and abandoned outhouses, where it may find peace and harmony growing with kudzu, its Oriental cousin and scourge of the Southern landscape. My first encounter with star-of-Bethlehem was two years ago when we moved into my favorite house in my childhood neighborhood. Our lovely neighbor to the west, a crack gardener, casually mentioned that she’d planted a bit of star-of-Bethlehem in a pot a few years back and neglected to contain it, whereupon the pretty little white flower spread like botanical bubonic plague through her perennial beds. If the word “plague” sounds a bit hyberbolic, please consider that the plant is seriously toxic to animals — a particular nightmare to horse and cattle farmers who fear outbreaks of it in their pastures down South. Last year, the delicate green shoots of dove’s dung showed up among my new plantings of Japanese maples, prompting my wife and me — as instructed by my neighbor — to spend hours on our knees trying to dig up the insidiously little hairy bulbs that seem to multiply like a bad rumor. With this year’s disturbingly warm winter — a week in the upper 70s followed by soaking rains — we suddenly had bumper crops of SOB (as I call it, shorthand) breaking out in almost every direction. When I consulted a gardening pal who is a local horticulture expert about the problem, she simply smiled sympathetically and said, “If you say its name, it grows.” Her reluctant advice: “Hate to say it, but there’s not much you can do but cut it down and bomb it with Roundup.” Even if we didn’t have two dogs and an old cat who spend large portions of their days poking around and thinking about the meaning of life in our backyard, I would be hesitant to resort to highly toxic herbicides like Roundup. So I spent the better part of several Saturdays through January and February excavating seemingly endless piles of the wretched plant and sending the hairy little bulbs to the curb — until I got the bright idea to let nature provide assistance by using massive piles of uncollected leaves from autumn’s own
Spring 2019
bumper crop to bury the beds in hopes of starving the plant of light and nourishment. Silly me. Like Tom Jefferson, I may be an old man but I am forever a new gardener who seems to learn an important lesson or two every year. What first seemed like a clever idea to let nature take care of my SOB infestation turned out to be a boon to starof-Bethlehem. In the midst of an extended February thaw that seemed more like late April — cherry trees unnaturally in bloom, dogwoods budding, azaleas even showing color — I peeked beneath the rotting leaves and found, to my horror, SOB growing wildly, insanely, the leaves evidently serving as a house incubator. Suffice to say, I removed the leaves and reluctantly resorted to the chemical approach, which may or may not yield the desired effects and still gives me pause to think about potential ramifications. That said, for the time being at least, my warring days are over, or at least on pause until I’m able to operate with an alternative plan of attack. On the positive front, last year’s ambitious plan was to clear out a jungle of overgrown thorns and shrubs — including the aforementioned mahonia-gone-wild — that obscured much of a swell backyard shaded by several century-old white oaks, ideally resulting in a canvas whereupon I could create a signature spring garden full of flowering azaleas and dogwoods and a Japanese shade garden where the dogs and I would both retreat to think about the meaning of life when the withering heat of summer finally arrives. That phase of restoring my tiny piece of paradise, I am happy to report, is more or less complete, though there remain so many other tasks to do — a pair of wooden fences with gates to build, a stone walkway to construct, even a few remaining (seemingly endless) piles of leaves to bag up and curb — it sometimes seems a bit daunting to the property’s live-in gardener. On the other hand, that’s part of the timeless allure of making one’s own garden in this world. Something is always awaiting your attention and every springtime brings a new challenge, both surprise and opportunity. If my love of getting dirty in a garden (the best cheap therapy, I find, for whatever ails you) has taught me anything, it’s that patience really is a virtue and peace of mind can come when dreaming of dogwoods in bloom or even dealing with an SOB in your garden. h SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 19
THE HOT LIST
Jewel in the Crown Get the royal treatment courtesy of rich, gemlike colors paired with gold and silver. By Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke, Madcap Cottage
Everything’s Just Rosy
Follow the design-minded crowd to the white-hot Highland House brand and snap up their rose-hued, tufted Nicholas Corner Chair No. 1524CC ($1,545). Available through Trouvaille Home, 938 Burke St., Winston-Salem, (336) 245-8965 or trouvaillehome.com.
Out of the Blue
Go big and bold courtesy of the oversized Graduation Chandelier from Currey & Co. ($3,990) with its gold leaf details peeking out from behind gradated blue rings. Hang this piece in a double-height foyer or great room and embrace your moody blues. Available through Furnitureland South, 5635 Riverdale Drive, Jamestown, (336) 822-3000 or furniturelandsouth.com.
Spots On
OK, we are slightly partial. Just launched, the Madcap Cottage for Port 68 collection of lighting and accessories includes stunners such as the Mill Reef Lamp ($613) with its peppy green-hued splotches. Available through Furnitureland South, 5635 Riverdale Drive, Jamestown, (336) 822-3000 or furniturelandsouth.com.
Bold and Beautiful
Transform a room from shrinking violet to a reckless, rampant rose with Thibaut’s Sunburst wallpaper from the Summer House Collection in Pink and Blue or Pink and Coral ($56 per single roll). We recently used this pattern in a laundry room, and the results were swoon-inducing. Available through Kim Taylor & Co., 153 South Stratford Road, Winston-Salem, (336) 722-8503 or kimtaylorandco.com.
Silver Streak
Add a big punctuation mark to any room with the two-door Mandara Chest from Bernhardt in rich silver, embossed with a textured floral pattern ($4,500). The ivory-hued interior features one adjustable/removable shelf. Available through Furnitureland South, 5635 Riverdale Drive, Jamestown, (336) 822-3000 or furniturelandsouth.com.
20 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK
Think Pink
Pantone recently named Living Coral the hue of the year, so bring the sea-kissed shade home with Sherwin-Williams’ Coral Reef SW6606 paint ($72.49). Take it from us — a rich pink makes anyone’s skin look years younger. So lavish this color exuberantly, and lap up the ensuing attention. Sherwin-Williams Paint Store, 1017 Hanes Mall Blvd., Winston-Salem, (336) 768-4540 or sherwin-williams.com.
All That Glitters is Gold
From Caracole, the stunning Bubbling coffee table boasts an open metal frame in a soft gold finish with tempered glass top ($1,673). Sadly, Champagne and gin are not included with purchase. Available through Furnitureland South, 5635 Riverdale Drive, Jamestown, (336) 822-3000 or furniturelandsouth.com.
Yellow Streak
Take a blank wall and lend it major impact with the stunning, statement-making 45-inch by 57-inch Meringue 1 by interior designer Meg Braff for Wendover Art Company ($950). Available through Vivid Interiors, 513 South Elm St., Greensboro, (336) 265-8628 or vivid-interiors.com.
Desk Set
Turn to West Elm for the perfect color-kissed accessories such as this assortment of Bright Ceramicist Vases ($14–$59). West Elm, 3316 West Friendly Ave., No. 105, Greensboro, (336) 323-7901 or westelm.com.
Mood Indigo
Add a kick of color next to a sofa with the Gabrielle side table from Woodbridge Furniture that comes in any custom hue ($2,085). Available through Meg Brown Home Furnishings, 5491 U.S. Highway 158, Advance, (336) 9987277 or megbrown.com. Spring 2019
Going Green
Bathe in the shade with this kicky assortment of cucumber-melon, handcrafted glycerin soap in various styles from The Soap Lady ($6). The Soap Lady, 106 East Main St., Jamestown, (336) 883-7627 or thesoapladystore.com.
SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 21
Salemtowne is the ideal
point
for Senior Lifestyle Options
When considering your future retirement years, do you envision staying at home as long as possible or do you picture yourself living in a retirement community? Salemtowne provides a range of options for seniors from vibrant independent living to accommodations with supportive services all within an enriching community. If, instead, you desire to age in place at home, Navigation by Salemtowne provides you with the services and security needed to do just that. No matter what your choice is, we have solutions for your lifestyle preference!
336.714.2157 · salemtowne.org
Call us today to learn more.
336.714.6848 · navigationbysalemtowne.org
“A Retirement to Fit Your Every Need.”
22 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK
THE DESIGNER BEAT
In Living Color
Vivid Interiors is a dream come true for Greensboro designers Gina Hicks and Laura Mensch By Robin Sutton Anders Photographs by Lynn Donovan
I
nspired by the blue-green ocean stretching toward the empyreal horizon, Laura Mensch picked up a shell and scribbled the word “vivid” in the sand beside her beach chair. Then she called her friend-and-neighborturned-business partner to share the name idea. “I immediately knew it was perfect,” remembers Gina Hicks. “It invoked the exact feeling we wanted to capture.” That was 2013, and the design duo were on the cusp of starting a new interiors business that would bring their vivid design style to Triad homes, one room at a time. When the two opened their doors in a historic industrial building on South Elm Street in Greensboro, customers delighted in Vivid’s selection of gifts, textiles, furniture and lighting. The newly renovated space, with 12-foot ceilings, is decorated with bright, whimsical paintings by local artists. Spring 2019
Vignettes display a combination of vintage finds and new collections, like bright yellow upholstered dining chairs from the ’60s surrounding a modern, sleek white tulip table. “It’s an eclectic mix of polished prepster with a little bit of funky quirk — think Wes Anderson films,” Hicks says. “People come in and say, ‘Wow, I wish I could live here,’ or ‘This is exactly the way I want my home to feel.’ I think people are drawn to the color, the texture and the way it just feels happy.” Often, shoppers come in on the hunt for home décor without realizing the business’s interior design side. “After having a little time to explore the shop they will ask how we work, and that is how the dialogue begins,” Mensch says. “Having our store makes us much more approachable and hiring a designer a little less intimidating.” SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 23
We do it all, so you can love it all. We design beautiful, functional spaces—and provide the quality products to finish the look. Best of all, our licensed, insured, locally owned and operated Re-Bath teams complete projects in days, not weeks. Schedule your free in-home consultation today.
Proudly serving Proudly servingthe theTriad. Triad. NC 27408. Visit our our showroom showroomatat2701 2701 Branchwood BranchwoodDr., Dr.,Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27408.
336-525-9583
REBATH.COM NC GC License No. 59212
Complete Bathroom Remodeling Tub & Shower Updates Aging & Accessibility Solutions
Rare, One-of-a-kind Art and Antiques for Every Price Range For over 40 years, we have specialized in estate settlement. Your fine consignments appreciated. Come see us today.
664. S. Stratford Road Winston-Salem
Less than 1 mile from Trader Joe’s!
24 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
336.765.5919
www.LastersFineArt.com
Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK Anybody can read lifestyle magazines or turn to Pinterest for the “rules” of design. But even if your chair is an ideal 18 inches from the coffee table and your over-the-sofa artwork is two-thirds the length of the sofa, your room can still look stilted. That’s because good design is just as much about intuition as it is about science and the latest styles. A 20-minute drive from the world’s most popular furniture market in High Point, Mensch and Hicks certainly have their finger on the pulse of design trends — but they know there’s more to it than being en vogue. “We don’t want to design with trends; we want to design with staying power,” Hicks says. When a client first engages Vivid, the design process starts with a visit to the client’s home. “When we walk into a home, Gina and I have the ability to see the colors someone has already gravitated toward, and we get a good sense of their design direction.” There’s always a telltale object in a person’s home — or in their wardrobe. “It might be a piece of art or a pillow or a picture,” Hicks says. “There’s something in there that gives us a starting point.” Both designers agree: Personal items make
the design process fun, and idiosyncrasies or slight imperfections make a space comfortable and inviting. “One of our favorite clients has crazy collections of quirky family mementos with great stories,” says Hicks. “The antiques and one-of-a-kind pieces make our hearts flutter. We like things that are different, special and unique.” It’s all about pushing and pulling: “If your scheme is monochromatic, you need to up the texture,” Mensch says. ‘If you’re doing something with a lot of color, you need to pull back in certain places.” It’s all about the give and take, she says, “which gives you balance and harmony.” Self-described “creative types,” Mensch and Hicks once took a StrengthsFinder test. The results weren’t that surprising for the two, who have always felt like birds of a feather. “A lot of our design strengths are actually the same, but our differences make us a strong team,” Hicks says. “Laura has major experience — we wouldn’t be where we are without the knowledge and design experience she brings to the table.” Mensch adds, “Gina is fearless, I am so lucky to have found
Owl’s Trail at Caleb’s Creek by D.R. Horton
Visit our model home
• Low maintenance community. scheduled to openMODEL this fall!NOW OPEN • Featuring 1 level, detached from the mid 200’s Lot sales now homes underway. • Lawn maintenance included • This Active Adult targeted community is NOW OPEN • Featuring 1 level, detached homes from the mid 200’s • Choose from 4 plans that offer 2-5 bedrooms, 2-3 baths, expandable square footage upstairs, covered rear porch and double garage • Low maintenance exteriors of either brick, stone or vinyl. • Lawn maintenance included • Square footage (without the 2nd floor expansion) ranges from approximately 1,588-1,888 sf.
Tom Baker 336-847-1870
Liza Tice Linda Weaver 336-906-2233 336-207-1387
OVER 900 ACRES LOCATED IN THE HEART OF THE TRIAD • Lakes, Greenway,Trails, Resident Club and Village • Beautiful Single Family Homes with immediate occupancy in Elk Ridge built by DR Horton
visit us at calebscreekliving.com Spring 2019
336-497-4644
For Info Contact Greer-Louis, Inc. 2102 N. Elm Street Suite M Greensboro, NC 27408 336-378-1778
What are you going
GREENWAY AND TRAILS Think outside the gym with 11 miles of planned trails right outside your door. Far more than a suburban sidewalk, the Greenway and trails at Caleb’s Creek circle the lakes and meander through the woods—giving you access to the best of the Triad’s natural world. Whether you’re looking for a nature hike with the kids, a long solo bike ride, or an early morning group training
SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 25
RESIDENTS’ CLUB AND SWIMMING POOL Greeting residents and visitors alike as they enter the Village Center, the Residents’ Club is the central meeting place for the Caleb’s Creek community. Classes, programs, and community events will all have a place at the Residents’ Club, along with a swimming pool and rooms available to rent for parties and meetings.
h e r e ’s t o fresh star ts h e r e ’s t o fresh star ts
We Are your locAl cleAning experts!
Designed to make it easier for you to find the right pieces for the rooms in your home, our well-appointed
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26 SEASONS •
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Located justjust off I-40 Bermuda Run Located off inI-40 in Bermuda
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Visit us online at mcphersondrycleaners.com Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK a partner with the perfect mix of crazy/brave.” Mensch got her start in the interior design world more than 20 years ago when she graduated from the design program at University of Charleston,West Virginia. (Formerly known as the Carleton Varney School of Art and Design, the now-discontinued program was established by the pre-eminent designer Carleton Varney, a protégé Dorothy Draper, the designer who famously refurbished the Greenbrier Resort in the 1940s). Mensch then spent years designing showrooms and furniture stores all over the country, until she and her husband landed in Greensboro for his job. “At one time I was working at the Guilford Building with three other designers, and I would look out the window and think, ‘If we had a space down there, people would know who we are and what we do,’” says Mensch. That day came when neighbors Mensch and Hicks became better acquainted through their elementary school–aged daughters. Hicks, who studied French and communications at UNC-Chapel Hill, told Mensch about her recent home renovation. “We were living in Westerwood and decided to raise the roof and add three bedrooms, a bathroom and a play
lounge,” Hicks says. “Working with the architect and contractor, I realized I loved playing with spaces and design.” Mensch not only offered encouragement but suggested the two pair up after Hicks completed Randolph Community College’s highly regarded two-year program. One year later, they registered their Vivid LLC. Now, with five years behind them, it’s not unusual for the duo to receive late-night texts from happy clients. “Sometimes we’ll hear from a client who is sitting in their room, loving it so much,” Hicks says. “They’ll say, ‘Thank you, guys, for truly getting me and making this space a reflection of who I am.” “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about,” Mensch says. “Your home is where you go to bed at night. It’s where you wake up the morning. It should be a safe haven where you can relax and truly be yourself.” h Robin Sutton Anders, a regular contributor to Seasons, is a freelance writer based in Greensboro. Info: Vivid Interiors, 513 South Elm St., Greensboro, (336) 265-8628 or vivid-interiors.com
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Spring 2019
SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 27
28 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK THE BEST OF SPRING
In the House Down the Garden Path
M
How about some silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row? Or, at least some boxwoods, iris, dogwoods and whatever else is sprouting and blooming in the Burlington area? Then head to Alamance County Historical Museum’s Annual Garden Party on May 5 at the home of Geoff Russell (601 Truitt Drive, Elon). The event, which starts at 2 p.m., features some tasty new Southern eats from Michelle’s Kitchen & Table, a silent auction and . . . (drumroll please) a talk by local landscape architect Chip Calloway. For further information, check the museum’s website, alamancemuseum.org. Tickets: (336) 226-8254
ake that “houses.” Starting at 10 a.m. on April 6 the Junior League of Winston-Salem opens the doors to some of the most fab dwellings in the Twin City and Forsyth County for the Tour of Fine Spaces. Now in its 14th year, the Tour will spotlight just about every kind of accommodation imaginable, from tried-and-true grande dames to cool contemporary cribs. Along the way, you’ll see the handiwork of the area’s top architects, designers, builders, landscapers, cabinetmakers and more. New this year? Recently renovated spaces, such as man caves; or the latest rage, gardening sheds (see page 79) and outdoor alcoves. And what would any home tour be without some gracious Southern hospitality? At each stop you can sip the latest creations from local brewers and wineries, and sample treats from caterers and restaurants. After all, these casas are, for the day, sus casas. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com
Herb-an Outfitters
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme — not to mention basil, sage, lavender, oregano and a host of other aromatics at the 2019 Herb Sale on April 18, courtesy of the N.C. Unit of the Herb Society of America. Just grab a basket, bag or box and head to Greensboro’s Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church (800 Westridge Road) any time between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. and shop among hundreds of herbs for your kitchen or your garden. Browse among the heritage plants and wares from specialty vendors, pick up some gardening tips from experts, along with educational materials, while breathing in the fresh and soothing scents emanating from the green and growing things. Info: ncherbsociety.org Spring 2019
And Speaking of Chip Calloway . . .
Or Chip Calloway speaking — alongside another N.C. garden guru, Tony Avent — there’s still time to purchase a ticket to Seasons Style & Design’s Springfest on Saturday, March 24, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., at Grandover Resort (1000 Club Road, Greensboro). In addition to listening to the planters’ banter, enjoy a nice cuppa and nibbles while chatting with exhibitors, including designers (Did we hear the name, Laura Redd?), landscapers, purveyors of plants and more. Tickets: ticketmetriad.com h SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 29
YOUR SOURCE FOR
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30 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
IN THE PIEDMONT TRIAD
2201 Patterson Street, Greensboro, NC (2 Blocks from the Coliseum) Mon. - Fri.: 9:30am - 5:30 pm Sat. 10 am - 2 pm • Closed Sunday
SHOP LOCAL Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK
Hidden Gem
Small Wonder
A profusion of plants, handmade cards and gifts sprout from Greensboro’s The Tiny Greenhouse By Jim Dodson Photographs by Lynn Donovan
P
roof that very good things come in small packages — and sometimes small places — is the perfectly named, and charmingly curated, The Tiny Greenhouse on Beaman Place in Greensboro. Tucked into a fairly anonymous brick office building between the Pig Pounder Brewery and The Music Academy of North Carolina, this gem of a shop specializes in unique and hard-to-find houseplants, original handmade greeting cards and paper goods, as well as Korean pottery, original art prints, vintage posters, locally made candles, select British toys and fine children’s books — artfully displayed in a wee 900-square-foot shop that recalls your favorite neighborhood confectionery from a much slower America. The creators of this endearing discovery are married coowners Suzanne and Edgar Cabrera, a pair of gifted interior space designers who ditched teaching interior design at UNCG and a commercial gig with a top Italian furniture company respectively after their twin sons, Max and Miles, were old enough to attend school. “The shop was something we’d always dreamed about doing — creating a little place where we could sell unique things we designed and made ourselves, including greeting cards and things made by others locally,” explains Suzanne, a daughter
Spring 2019
of North Carolina’s mountainous Avery County. She met Edgar through friends after he — a native of the Dominican Republic — relocated from New York to Raleigh in 2000. Edgar’s particular passion for growing spectacular houseplants stems from his early childhood in the Caribbean “where everything was green most of the year,” he cheerfully relates. He explains how what started with an interest in growing a few houseplants has swelled into a full-blown expertise that fills every nook of the Lilliputian shop — including its tiny bathroom — with gorgeous and exotic houseplants, the Latin names of which trip off his tongue with impressive ease. The Tiny Greenhouse — aptly named for an actual tiny greenhouse Edgar (also a gifted craftsman) built in their backyard off Pisgah Church Road — opened on January 1, 2017, with a selection of their own greeting card designs and “three houseplants I brought from home,” quips Edgar, 28. “It wasn’t the biggest of openings in the dead of winter,” allows Suzanne with her sweet mountain-cured drawl, “but it had special significance to us. 2016 was a difficult year for both Edgar and me — we lost family members — so it was nice to start a new year on an optimistic note by starting our business. “We love it that regular customers drop by to see what’s new. Something new is always happening here — new cards SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 31
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32 SEASONS •
STYLE
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1079 HANES MALL BLVD. WINSTON-SALEM | 336-765-2977 (MON-SAT 8A.M - 5P.M • CLOSED SUN)
Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK for every season and special occasion, and especially in the plant department,” she adds, smiling at her husband as he shows off his unique eco-friendly daily watering system. Indeed, for a plant lover and soul in search of a unique greeting, what a tiny paradise it seems — racks of clever cards, beautiful antique prints, and exotic foliage everywhere you look, including gorgeous philodendrons and various kinds of prayer plants, noble euphorbias, fiddle-leaf figs, a large section of succulents and a pair of hardy foxtail ferns. For the record, during a visit just before deadline time, our plant-loving eye fell covetously on a particular rare begonia from Holland that will take us back to this tiny jewel of a shop for a plant very soon. h The Tiny Greenhouse is open weekdays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Located at 1331 Beaman Place, Greensboro. Phone: (336) 420-3064.
Fine linens and accessories for the discerning customer. ________ 99 Reynolda Village Winston Salem, NC 27106 336-722-8807
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Spring 2019
SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 33
From Our Kitchen To Your Table For 30 Years
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34 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
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1107 N. MAIN STREET • HIGHPOINT • 336.889.0400
www.aboutfacedayspa.com Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK
WINE COUNTRY
What’s on the Plate Soul mates for fine wines By Angela Sanchez Photograph by John Koob Gessner
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heese and wine are natural partners, and wherever there’s good wine, good cheese is sure to follow. It’s a partnership of land, stewardship and artisan craft that’s been around for hundreds of years. If you walk into a small family-owned winery in Spain or Italy you are likely walking into their home. The winery is on the attached property and the vineyards are either there or nearby. No matter the time of day, you’ll be served cheese from their own making or from a nearby farm, simply cut and served with a locally made charcuterie, fruit or olives — perfectly paired and thoughtfully prepared. We always have a cheese board for family and friends, either before dinner or as a simple meal, and wine is there to complement. For me, a cheese board starts as an idea. The parts and the presentation should be equally fabulous, making it as appealing to the eye as to the palate. Start simply and build from a good foundation. Just like choosing a great wine to enjoy and share, you need to know your company. Are they adventurous eaters and drinkers, or less so? Regardless of who you are entertaining, take a classic approach to building the tray — three cheeses: one hard, one soft and one blue. If you have guests who don’t care for blue cheese, try a classic Stilton from England or Maytag Blue from Wisconsin. One trick is to add a little local honey or jam to serve alongside. If you are having some great Italian wines like Prosecco and Sangiovese and or Nebbiolo, you can choose three Italian cheeses. My favorites are Pecorino Toscano (a six-month aged sheep’s milk cheese), Robiola (a soft, mixed milk cheese containing goat, sheep and cow’s milk), and Gorgonzola Dolce (a nice semi-soft blue cheese made of cow’s milk). To keep it simple add walnuts or marcona almonds from Spain, a few pieces of quality dried fruit like Turkish apricots, and seasonal fruit like berries and figs in the summer or pears and apples in fall. I like to offer a mixed medium for cheese “carriers.” A cracker with a light addition of rosemary and olive oil and a baguette cut into pieces and served toasted or plain. Keep it simple, interesting and tasty. Open the wines 10 to 20 minutes in advance — except a sparkling —and bring the cheese up to room temperature 30 to 45 minutes before serving. If your company eats meat, add a little charcuterie. Charcuterie is the “art” of preparing meat in various forms by preserving it — prosciutto, salami, bacon, sausages and pâté, to name a few. I like to use two meats: speck, smoked prosciutto from Alto Adige in Italy, and sopresatta or salami, like Milano, made with white wine and black pepper. The salty and herbal flavors of the meats can pair well with wines that have been oak-aged like a California chardonnay or Spanish Priorat made
Spring 2019
from grenache. Classic pairings of pâté and Champagne are always a great addition. Try adding cornichons, tiny French pickles, and olives. For a larger party, offer an additional cheese or cheese spread. A fresh chèvre from a local source is a good spreadable option, or perhaps a well-made pimento cheese spread, low on the mayo, can be a fun, regionally inspired complement to the mix. In addition to wine, offer a well-made craft beer to pair with the charcuterie and olives. Stout or a wheat beer, like hefeweizen, pairs nicely with cheese and salty meats. With a larger group always cut a few pieces of cheese in advance so your guests will know how to cut and eat it, otherwise
you’ll be staring at a solid block of cheese all night. The thing I love about a cheese board is how easy it is to make it your own. Add fresh herbs from your garden in the summer or your mom’s homemade jam to pair with the cheeses. Whatever you like will be sure to delight. You can choose the wine around the cheese or the cheese around the wine. Make it an “All American” board with cheeses from the United States paired with wines from California and Washington, or go full French or Italian. Keep it simple or go all out. Snack or meal, you can’t go wrong. h Angela Sanchez was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese. SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 35
TRUNK SHOW THURSDAY APRIL 11TH 10 AM - 6 PM A great opportunity to order those special hard to find sizes
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Spring has arrived at McCalls 111 Reynolda Village Winston-Salem, NC 27106 | (336) 723-9419 Monday - Saturday 10 a.m - 5 p.m. 36 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
New Garden Landscaping & Nursery has been the Triad’s trusted partner in creating beautiful, livable landscapes since 1977.
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Teamwork, outstanding service and quality workmanship are the cornerstones of our many long-term relationships. See what New Garden can do for you.
(336) 665-0291 newgarden.com Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK
lily-of-the-valley
THE GARDEN GURU
Flora’s Abode
Springtime fuels a gardener’s obsession, where the lessons we learn can be applied to life By Cheryl Capaldo Traylor
E
arly morning garden tour, cup of coffee in hand, house shoes shuffling along the garden path, I observe and reminisce about each plant I pass by. Who gifted that first bluebell; who gave the bloodroot? I kneel on the earth to sweep aside winter’s residual leaf litter and look for signs of new life. All winter long, bulbs, tubers and roots worked hard without our knowing anything of the important chemistry — no! miracle — taking place below ground. I continue my search, now crawling along the path and straying into garden beds, lifting a lily-of-the-valley to peer into the hanging bell-shaped flower. My touch releases its fragrance, and I remember this flower is a symbol of humility and charity. It is also poisonous, which helps to remind me of the giver. The lessons we learn in a garden can be applied to life. I straighten a few stones and pull some weeds, using my fingers as garden tools. My coffee is cold. I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. It’s past noon. I am a gardener obsessed.
Gardening Heritage
I come by this obsession honestly. Both grandmothers were avid gardeners; one grew bleeding hearts and irises, and the other garlic and basil. The gardening gene skipped a generation as my refined mother insisted it was “man’s work.” She couldn’t understand what inspired me to jump out of bed at 5 a.m. and rush outside to the garden before my daughters woke up to get ready for school. My husband once facetiously suggested it might make more sense for me to sleep in the garden, right in the loamy beds, since I stayed outside until twilight, looking
Spring 2019
through slits in my eyelids — reptilian style — trying to bleed the last few minutes of sunlight. What can I say to defend myself? Not a damn thing. I’m guilty as charged.
My garden
I’m more of a plant collector than a garden designer. My plot of land is small, but packed with all of my favorite plants. Besides, the size of a garden doesn’t matter. What matters is the heart put into creating and nurturing one’s own piece of paradise. My postage stamp–sized garden is my haven away from the daily barrage of despairing media and tedious small talk. I’m a little embarrassed, although not much, to admit I have created an enclosed garden with a 6-foot privacy fence. My shaded hortus conclusus, Flora’s Abode, is an introvert’s escape from society. I planted a flamboyant sunny border outside the fence for passersby to enjoy. Garden writer Sydney Eddison says that gardens are a form of autobiography. Indeed.
The Plants
Virginia Woolf wrote that as we grow older we enjoy spring more than autumn. Although I don’t completely agree, I do know with winter’s last exhale I become a creature awakening from hibernation. Spring, the season of renewal and resurrection, is a herald of hope. I search for flowers with the enthusiasm of a child hunting pastel eggs on Easter morning. My patience is rewarded when I spot spring beauty (Claytonia virginica). I have only one tiny bloom each year, but I wouldn’t trade that single SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 37
INTERIOR DESIGN
RE S I D E N T IAL
COMMERCIA L
336.665.0188
PHOTO: NANCY RAY PHOTOGRAPHY
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38 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
Spring 2019
jack-in-the-pulpits
spring harbinger for every rose plant in Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Many of my favorite spring flowers are those ephemerals that last only a day or two then fade as quickly as they appeared, back into the earth until next spring: bloodroot, twinleaf, crocus and toothwort. Here today, gone tomorrow; such is life. I especially like the wee blooms that you have to lie flat on your back, body stretched out on the cool brown earth, one eye closed and gaze up into, like lemon-yellow fairybells (Disporum flavens) or lavender lungwort (Pulmonaria). One of the most amusing plants in my garden is wild ginger with its concealed little brown jugs. Arisaemas — jack-in-the-pulpits and cobra lilies — also lighten my mood in a way that surprises me. Graceful, yet sturdy, with a strange beauty that’s hard to explain, the alien-looking blooms add a pop of unexpected joy under tall oaks.
Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK There’s no such thing as a typical spring day, but I guess the same could be said of all the seasons. Esteemed plantsman Allen Lacy once said, “In a well-made garden every day is new.” Fresh blooms come, old blooms disappear. Hellebore blooms linger into spring. Once a rainbow of colors, now all greentinged, still beautiful, still dignified, like mature Hollywood dames standing beside the new season’s starlets, brightly-dressed Indian pinks (Spigelia marilandica) and glamorous columbines (Aquilegia). Poppies, love-in-a-mist, and larkspur are among my favorite spring-blooming annuals. I used to grow seedlings on a heating mat and nurture them through long winter days. Years ago, Peonie - Flora’s Abode I decided to give that up in exchange for more time spent outside. My farmers market provides a wide variety of annuals, and I appreciate the farmers’ time and tenacity to grow the seeds that I no longer choose to. There’s only so much time in a gardener’s life, and every minute that I renounce inside is a minute I can spend elbow deep in soil. The trilliums I remember from my West Virginia childhood were tall with maroon, three-petaled flowers. Daddy called them wakerobins. They looked nothing like the short little sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum) that I grow alongside mayapples, another childhood favorite.
SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 39
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40 SEASONS •
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& DESIGN
1 3 1 We s t F o u r t h S t r e e t , W i n s t o n - S a l e m N C 2 7 1 0 1 www.fourthandtrade.com | 336-893-8320
Spring 2019
False rue anemone
To witness the unfurling of fiddlehead ferns is an act of devotion similar to the benediction of bees as they whirl around spicy-scented viburnum blooms. Like the bees, I dart from rose to rose taking in the intoxicating perfume. I favor the old-fashioned varieties, like Rosa “Louis Philippe,’ and ‘Zephirine Drouhin,’ but I also grow Knock Outs. All peonies are welcome in Flora’s Abode. I grow several of the tree form, although I have more success with herbaceous hybrids. “Sarah Bernhardt” and “Bowl of Beauty” dazzle a lightly shaded corner near a thicket of butteryellow Kerria. False rue anemone (Enemion biternatum) shares a bed with true rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides). I’m not sure I could distinguish between the two anymore. Dressed in white and shades of pink, they dance in the breeze under towering oak trees. Barrenwort (Epimedium) and starflower (Ipheion uniflorum) sway nearby with more inhibition than the extroverted rue anemones. Hardy orchids in the Bletilla and Calanthe families also grow beneath the oak. Their
STYLEBOOK leaves often suffer frost damage, but never the bloomstalks. When April arrives, she brings happiness in the form of irises: cristata, fulva, germanica, japonica, louisiana, sibirica, tectorum, to name Bletilla only a few. Iris cristata, a diminutive form, is my favorite of all the species. Near the irises, green tips of hostas push up through the awakening soil. My favorite, “Sum and Substance,” opens up with leaves larger than my head. Spring-blooming shrubs, Fothergilla gardenii, Corylopsis pauciflora, and Aesculus pavia, bring a higher layer of interest to my perennial-heavy garden. Chinese fringetree (Chionanthus retusus) flowers earlier than our native species. Its fragrant blossoms fall to the ground creating the look of fresh snow, or as one garden visitor suggested: coleslaw. How to stop gushing about this obsession? Indulge me one minute longer; I must mention Anemonella thalictroides “Cameo,” a double form that I paid more for than I will ever admit. And would gladly pay even more again. Also, the priceless flowers — bluets, bleeding hearts and trout lilies — that hold a special place in my garden, or perhaps heart is more apt.
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Spring 2019
SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 41
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1800 N Main St, Suite 124 | High Point, NC 27262 | 336.804.5599
42 SEASONS •
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Spring 2019
STYLEBOOK The Losses
Tulips are of utmost importance in the garden, writes revered Southern gardener Elizabeth Lawrence. She advises the best way to have them is to spend as much money as possible on them every year because they never return like their first-year glory. Alas, even after taking her advice for years, I cannot grow the oft-venerated bulbs. Two decades ago, while Mom was here on a visit, I told her about my black thumb for tulips. My mother, in a rare show of “man’s work,” pressed a spent grocery store tulip bulb into my garden soil, even as I stood by and explained it would never grow. I’ll be darned if year after year that scraggly red tulip doesn’t struggle to push its way up through the soil. I can only smile at Mom’s posthumous way of saying, “See, I told you so.” I miss her feistiness. A prized dwarf Japanese maple once graced my garden. It gave up the ghost during an unusually dry and hot summer. The loss still lives in my heart, like the pup that’s buried where the maple grew. Both, once young and full of life, are now gone, leaving bittersweet feelings of longing and love intertwined with my heartstrings. One cannot speak about a garden, or life, without mentioning the deep losses that have pierced our hearts and punctuated our years.
Wildlife
It’s not only plants that inspire my gardening ecstasy, but also birds, squirrels, frogs and creepy-crawlies. Together they create a symphony inside these gates. Splash! goes the frog as he jumps into the small pond as I walk by. Bees buzzzz. Peck-peck, shuffle-shuffle as robins hop forward, then backward, kicking up dirt in search of unsuspecting earthworms. Squirrels scold when I approach too close to their dinner tables, also known as my birdfeeders.
Another Day
After a long day in the garden, I run a tub full of deep, hot water to soak in, adding a hefty scoop of Epsom salt. A friend once told me a gardener can tell how successful the day was by the color of the evening’s bathwater. Is that true? Perhaps so. Afterward, I fall asleep in my recliner reading something that makes my heart happy and gives my brain more gardening ideas to dream about. Often, it’s a classic like Pamela Harper’s Time-Tested Plants or Henry Mitchell’s One Man’s Garden. Tomorrow I will be back in my garden. Each day the sun rays intensify, and I know that one day soon summer will arrive with its unbearable heat, suffocating humidity and swarms of mosquitoes, chiggers and ticks. I’ll complain, but will still be out there every day covered in bug repellent with a homemade frozen collar wrapped around my neck. It’s what we Southern gardeners do. Like the plants in our gardens, we learn to adapt and thrive in all kinds of weather. And eagerly await the arrival of the season to which we are best suited. h
Cheryl Capaldo Traylor writes about nature, local happenings, and the unsung brilliance of everyday people. She finds inspiration in gardening, hiking and reading. She blogs at Giving Voice to My Astonishment (http://www. cherylcapaldotraylor. com).
View INS P IR ED BY THE
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A luxurious sixty-five feet of continuous open living space, peaceful pond with dock and a private trellised courtyard.
VIVID i n t e r i o r s
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SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 43
312 Harvey Street • Winston-Salem, NC | Near Hanes Towne Village, Just off Stratford Road Monday-Friday 10-6 | Saturday 10-4 | 336.829.1173 | facebook.com/carolinavintiques
ANTIQUES | VINTAGE | FARMHOUSE | DISTRESSED | REPURPOSED
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Visit our retail store, where we carry home décor, gifts and fashion! Interior Design Services Available 153 S. Stratford Road Winston-Salem, NC 27104 (336) 722-8503 @kimtaylorco 44 SEASONS •
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STYLEBOOK
Spring Almanac By Ash Alder
I
f the flowering cherry tree could speak, she wouldn’t tell of her own beauty. Words could never capture it. But with her powder-soft voice, she might sing of the spring garden: banksia rose spilling over with fragrant yellow blooms; copper mobile, whirling beneath the redbud; early tulips, dizzy from the tender kiss of nectar-drunk hummingbirds. She might sing of bluebirds or violets or dancing in the rain. Or maybe she does. Can you hear her? Voice like a siren. Sultry as a whisper at the nape of your neck. Listen. She serenades the squirrel babes, blind and naked, whose mother built their nest with stuffing from the patio cushions. At twilight, she hums low while the pregnant doe clears a row of tulips sweet as candy. Sunny jonquils harmonize with whippoorwill — Look-at-me! Look-at-me! — but the deer moseys onward. As cherry maiden stifles laughter, all the world sings back.
Gifts for Mama
Spring and the heart sings of somersaults, cartwheels across the lawn, dandelions tucked behind the ears of children. Spring is the season of sweetness. The pick-your-own-strawberries, soft-spring-rain, butterflies-in-the-garden kind of sweetness. And magnolia-blossoms-for-Mama. This year, Mother’s Day falls on Sunday, May 12. I think of the hundred-yearold ferns in my grandmother’s sunroom, the ones that belonged to her florist mother, and how love, when nurtured, grows and grows. A few seeds of inspiration for the beloved matriarch in your life: • A sprig of dogwood • Pickled magnolia petals • Lemon basil • Gifts for the garden: dahlias, wild ginger, climbing lily • Stepping stones • Wildflower crown • Peach, pear or nectarine tree • Basketful of dandelion (for wine) • Eternal love
Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. — Geoffrey B. Charlesworth
While the Azalea’s Still Blooming . . .
Plant the eggplants, beets and melons! Pumpkins, squash, green beans and peppers! And if you’re looking for a downhome summer — the white bread and black pepper type — sow the cukes and maters in the soft, cool earth.
The force of Spring — mysterious, fecund, powerful beyond measure. — Michael Garofalo, Cuttings Spring 2019
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Downsizing • Organizing Home Staging • Estate Disposal From planning to implementation, we manage your move every step of the way.
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Spring 2019
Spring “It is spring again. The Earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
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From
Traditional
A designer’s challenges in creating her own space
Transitional
to
By Nancy Oakley • Photographs by Amy Freeman
A
part from the fierce barking of a protective 9-year-old Cockapoo named Gracie, one would never guess that designer Patti Allen’s Greensboro condominium — an oasis of calm, with its soothing palette of creams, blues and neutrals — was borne of chaos. With their three children grown and having left the nest, she and her husband, Ralph, sold their Irving Park home of 14 years a few years ago. “We decided to downsize, and I had this bright idea that I was going to do this mid-century modern house,” Patti says wryly. But the vicissitudes of life intervened, their parents’ passing, for one, not to mention the demands of the couple’s careers: Ralph works for Glen Raven, selling Sunbrella fabrics to the home furnishings industry, and Patti is one half of the High Point — based interior design business Allen and James (the other half being her longtime colleague from their tenure at Furnitureland South, designer Stephanie James Goldman). “It was just overwhelming,” Patti recalls of the situation.
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Since the Allens were renting an apartment for that in-between phase of moving from one permanent residence to another, there was still time to change course. So Patti put in a call to pal and Realtor Katie Redhead of Tyler Redhead & McAlister, to see if there were something more manageable on the market. And it just so happens there was: a newly renovated condominium with a back patio overlooking one of the par-3 holes of Greensboro Country Club’s Donald Ross golf course. “We walked in, and Ralph saw it, and the tension just lifted from his shoulders,” Patti remembers. Where life had once intervened, divine intervention, she notes, now stepped in. But divine inspiration? Surely it would come easily to a crack designer used to working with clients from all over the world, from Saudi Arabia to Silicon Valley, Vermont to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and points in between. But as Patti allows, “It’s crazy! You make decisions all day for people and you can’t make them for yourself.” Not only that, she says for six months boxes of stuff accumulated over a lifetime, along with boxes of her parents’ belongings, were stacked in the condo’s dining room adjacent to the front hall. She would have to be more ruthless in downsizing than initially anticipated. “Every weekend, I would come home from work, dig in these boxes, get all this stuff out,” she recalls. The items that stayed were ones that resonated: treasured antiques, such as a massive library table that’s occupied every house the designer has ever lived in; original artwork, from traditional landscapes to frothy abstracts; coffee table books about art and design; travel souvenirs, including a set of distinctive blue-and-white Portuguese tiles, and various shells from beach vacations. And, of course, family mementos stayed. The children’s artwork, photographs of Patti’s parents’ wedding day and two framed paintings of camellias that Ralph’s grandmother painted adorn one of the guest bedrooms done in muted pink and neutral hues that Patti has dubbed “The Shrine.” Obviously, her decisions were also limited by the space that builder Jim Wolfe of Wolfe Homes had gutted and reimagined before the Allens bought it. “He took it to the studs,” Patti says, motioning toward a narrower hallway just beyond the entrance, to accommodate storage space abutting a central, open kitchen area. Elegantly appointed with white marble countertops, white cabinetry and white subway tile, it is set off by warm, exposed beams over the island Spring 2019
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that add just a soupçon of rusticity. The adjoining den area is comfortable in scope and appears larger, owing to French doors that open up onto a patio and the sloping par-3 beyond — a sweeping lawn, in effect, without the hassle of yard work. “We don’t even have a rake!” Patti laughs. Upstairs are the two guest bedrooms and a master, and above that, a bright, cozy loft area punctuated with skylights. In addition to paring down contents of her life, Patti wanted to create an environment that wouldn’t assault her visual sensibility after working with paint colors, fabric swatches, furnishings and accents day after day. “When I come in, I just want it to be more relaxed,” she admits. “No fuss.” The main thing, she emphasizes, was scale. “I wanted to have a certain amount of seating. I’ve got three kids, nobody’s married yet, but I wanted, when they are home, to have places. And Ralph and I like to entertain,” she adds. So she offloaded her larger upholstered pieces to her children. (My kids were like, ‘Don’t bring me any more. I cannot do any more!’” Patti laughs — though one of her daughters admitted to several satisfying naps on a recently acquired sofa.) She replaced the pieces with a smaller sofa and armchairs — all upholstered in neutral and deep blue fabrics from, where else? Sunbrella. “It’s nice; it doesn’t feel like awning fabric anymore,” she says, patting the arm of the sand-colored sofa, laden with textured throw pillows in similar muted hues. “I knew I had to put Sunbrella fabric on everything since Ralph’s in that business. That’s what brought me to North Carolina — kicking and screaming.” Growing up in Augusta, Georgia, she developed her mother’s fondness for furniture and design. “I used to watch her. She’d move stuff in a room all over the place,” Patti remembers. It was no surprise, then, that the designer would enroll at University of Georgia’s furnishings and interiors program. While there, she would fuel her other passion: art history. “I love art history and took a lot of art history classes. I’ve always gravitated to that a lot.” For 20 years, working and living in LaGrange, outside Atlanta, with its trove of antiques stores and showrooms, and later at Furnitureland South after her move to the Triad, Patti developed a classic, traditional style. Timeless pieces are scattered throughout her new nest: a large Oriental rug in hues of pale blue and cream with touches of coral. “This rug, I’ve had forever. It’s a hand-knotted rug. I felt committed to certain things, because I had spent the money on them, and I liked them,” Patti says. It’s also practical. Because they’re 100 percent wool, hand-knotted rugs wear well and are easily cleaned. The rug served as a starting point for designing the new space, as did some of those antique pieces, such as the large library table, situated against a corner wall behind the sofa. “I had all these darker wood pieces. I just kind of let those be the spotlight,” the designer explains. They also provide contrast to striking blue-and-white Chinese vases. And to a sprinkling of bright gold accents, some painted, some metallic, that appear throughout: in the interiors of the pendulum lamps suspended over the kitchen island; in the gilt frame of an antique barometer by the front door; and in various gold frames for some of Patti’s favorite pieces of artwork, such as the French Impressionist-style landscape she found in an Atlanta antique store 30-odd years ago and even in a seascape she picked up in Carmel, California. The latter hangs in the dining room, painted in a bold shade of teal. “I wanted a little color,” Patti notes. “Of course, all these rooms blend; you couldn’t stop and start with paint in here. I actually wanted to paper that space, and I could never pull the trigger on a paper that I loved. So I said, ‘You know what? I’ve always loved blues and greens.’” She opted for a clay-based paint from the English line, Farrow and Ball, because it creates depth. And indeed, the hue seems to shift and shimmer as sunlight streams through the floor-to-ceiling bay windows of the room. “That color changes all day long is based on the lighting,” Patti affirms. “And at night. At night that room I really love.” With brighter accents —
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a chandelier with metallic spires resembling antlers, a leopard print accent chair, ornate wall sconces and yes, the Carmel seascape in a new, simpler gold frame with a wide cream mat, so the image almost seems three-dimensional — the room sings. The darker teal backdrop makes the relatively small room “more dramatic,” Patti observes. It also adds a subtle contemporary vibe, which permeates the condominium, as evidenced in the relaxed loft upstairs, with its blocky ottoman and comfy sofa for watching TV; a funky geometric lamp in the downstairs hallway; playful curios, like the ceramic sardine, another souvenir from Portugal; or the Lucite coffee table with a wood inlay from Century. “You’re seeing more and more of it today,” says Patti of the transparent material, which she has also used in the matching lamps in the creamy, monochrome master bedroom, in little boxes for mounting curios, such as shells or pieces of coral. Lucite and its sister, acrylic, create “a little bit of an edgy look,” she says. These slight touches inform Patti’s style, which she says is evolving from traditional to “transitional,” a trend she’s seeing among Allen and James’ clientele. “I have clients well into their 70s and I had a lady in her mid-80s buying a bunch of stuff. And she goes, ‘I’ve got something to live for.’ That made me feel good. I’m like, ‘If this is going to make her happy, I’m happy to help her do it.’” And happy to continue tweaking the new nest, where there’s plenty for the Allens to live for — visits from children, a trip to Africa in the works. They are making a few final touches to the back patio, which has just enough green space to putter around in while golfers putt out on the nearby green, and will add more room for entertaining visitors heralded by the ever-watchful Gracie . . . when she isn’t sound asleep in the sun on her new home turf. h Nancy Oakley is the senior editor of Seasons and its flagship, O.Henry. Spring 2019
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You Can Go Home Again A family farmhouse in Winston-Salem is restored to its original glory By Billy Ingram Photographs by Mina von Feilitzsch
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L
ast time I caught a glimpse of Sides Mill Farmhouse, it was in the rearview mirror of a ’72 Dodge Dart Swinger. The year was 1978. I was moving out of state, but I wanted to say goodbye to my Aunt Johnnie, who resided there. Her husband, Berk Ingram Sr., had passed away years earlier and, sadly, she would follow not long after my visit. That afternoon, Aunt Johnnie and I sat around a table on the screened porch where a light breeze and the chirping birds accompanied our talk, one that I knew would be our last. I told her how much their Fourth of July family reunions meant to me growing up, held on the bucolic grounds surrounding her tidy three-bedroom country home. Those yearly gatherings certainly drew a crowd. You see, both Johnnie and her sister “Peach,” my grandmother, married Ingrams. On that very porch, at one of those reunions, I sat perched like a fly on the wall as Peach, Johnnie, and aunts Jukka and Billie held court, keeping everyone within earshot in stitches. These were prim and proper ladies right down to their white gloves and sensible shoes, but one story I never forgot was about how Aunt Billie, in her 80s and apparently opposed to wearing undergarments, got upended by a whirlwind and deposited on her backside just as church was letting out. Growing older, it becomes painfully clear that any opportunities to revisit familial places steeped in half-century-old memories can only come in the form of snapshots and weathered recollections. And yet today I find myself pulling up to the driveway of Sides Mill Farmhouse with my cousin Berkley Ingram von Feilitzsch, gazing up once again at that magnificent home, fully restored to Spring 2019
her former glory. Even the majestic magnolias, azaleas, boxwoods, dogwoods and prickly mahonia remain flowering just where I remember them being. This stately two-story, three-bay homestead with gabled roof was erected in 1870 for Levi and Nancy Sides atop a south-facing hill above the family’s Salem Flour Mill, situated along the eastern bank of Muddy Creek, where today Winston-Salem and Clemmons rub elbows. Levi himself molded and fired the 1-inch x 1-inch bricks from sand and clay dug from adjacent creek beds for his home. It’s one of the few surviving structures from what was the Hope Church region of the Wachovia Tract when Moravians first put down roots in the 1750s. The rooms are somewhat large for a household of this era the floors are warm-hued heart pine planks while signature Moravian arches greet you entering the living and dining rooms. In the 1940s, the structure was expanded to include a downstairs bedroom, indoor kitchen and plumbing, along with a side porch, in what may have been a William Roy Wallace remodeling. Wallace arrived in Winston as a teenager to help construct Reynolda House and Village and went on to design many notable local architectural treasures like R.J. Reynolds Senior High and Reynolds Auditorium. Berk Ingram Sr. and his wife, Virginia (Johnnie to her friends and family), purchased this home in 1954. The Ingrams had three children — Berk Jr., Stebbins and Virginia, all very successful in their chosen fields. Cousin Berkley’s father, WWII veteran Berk Ingram Jr., was living with his own family in Winston when “Big Berk” bought the former miller’s house. Besides his varied local business ventures, Berk Jr. served as president of Old Town Country Club for a term and was responsible for getting Jim Leighton his position as SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 59
PHOTOGRAPH BY AMY FREEMAN
Berkley Ingram von Feilitzsch
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the Demon Deacons’ tennis coach from 1962–84, the winningest coach in program history. Local art enthusiasts may remember Virginia Ingram as one of the five Winston-Salem printmakers whose works are on permanent display at Salem College. In a distinctive Asian-inspired style, she illustrated books for John F. Blair Publishing, most notably those unforgettably necromantic woodcut images for two legendary compendiums of North Carolina’s most famous restless spirits — Ghost Tales of the Uwharries, published in 1968 (reissued in 2007) and The Flaming Ship of Ocracoke and Other Tales of the Outer Banks in 1971. In 2004, Virginia was honored as Sawtooth Center’s Artist of the Year. When I visited this home in the 1960s and ’70s, a row of sunflowers delineated the edge of Aunt Johnnie’s enormous garden, where she harvested just about every vegetable you can imagine. What I recall most was the horseradish she cultivated and prepared; every summer we would get a jar. Fresh, mealy, hot as wasabi, even a small bit would induce that pleasing stinging sensation up into your nostrils. Everything Johnnie and Berk grew was hearty, Berkley tells me as we tour the grounds. “My grandparents were one of the first here to utilize the Rodale’s method of organic gardening.” Her canning room below the kitchen serves as a laundry room today, but the shelving is still in place where jars of Jerusalem artichokes, watermelon pickle, dilly beans and, of course, homegrown tomatoes (pronounced toe-mät-toes) awaited company calling. The lawn behind the home that her grandparents maintained has been allowed to grow wild again. “These woods are where Virginia took me when I was a little girl,” Berkley recalls. “She would show me lady slippers and Jack-inthe-pulpits, little teeny plants. You can easily miss them but they’re an amazingly beautiful native species. I think that’s what really started my appreciation of nature, because she had such an appreciation of it.” A row of rocking chairs line an open-air brick patio in the back, offering an unobstructed view of what is rumored to be the oldest walnut tree in Forsyth County. The wooded area behind that tree was farmland in the 1800s, today serving as a wildlife preserve where deer, rabbits and wild turkeys roam freely. “We’re trying to maintain native species,” Berkley says. “A self-sustaining, seven-layer garden where you have everything working together; nature works that way anyway. Native plants will feed hundreds of species, all the way from the roots to the tops of the leaves.” Scattered about are remnants of a long ago agrarian past. Ruins of a springhouse lie in the northeast corner of the property. Concrete pilings from the old mill and the dam that 150 years ago generated energy to run the operation lie strewn alongside the banks of Muddy Creek at the western edge of the property. A dilapidated structure built off a free-standing tool shed was Virginia Ingram’s first art studio, one that Berkley hopes to reimagine with a modern twist. “This would be a really nice retreat for a writer or artist, for one or two people,” she muses. We’ll probably do a lot of glass at the back so it looks like you’re out in the middle of the woods.” Nearby, a bamboo forest, planted in the 1950s, rises up from the ground with stalks thicker than any I’ve ever encountered, thriving alongside the Ingrams’ now covered-over fish pond, one they framed out of the foundation for the mill’s chicken house. Seeing it again reminds me of one of those family gatherings when Dad called out to us, “What are you kids makin’ such a racket about?” I yelled back that our sister had fallen into the pond. “That’s all right then,” Dad answered nonchalantly before returning to his conversation. Her family relocated to Springfield in 1971 when her father, Berk Jr., accepted an executive position at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. “I remember coming here for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and in the summer,” Berkley says. “Winston was always home for us.” After retirement, her father returned to his hometown in 1983. After Berk Sr. and Johnnie passed away, Sides Mill Farmhouse was rented out to individuals with less than favorable results. The house was Spring 2019
between tenants when Berkley and her husband, Heribert von Feilitzsch, drove down from their farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia, to check on it. Heribert had never toured the home before. “He’s walking around and said, ‘This place is cute as a button. Let’s buy it from your cousins and renovate it.’” They began that laborious process in 2017, modernizing the infrastructure — new appliances, bathrooms, central air, Wi-Fi — without disturbing the integrity of this historic abode. “I didn’t want to change any major aspect of the house,” Berkley says. “I like the story the wood tells.” Relocating to this area wasn’t at all a part of their plan. “We built our house in Virginia and we love the farm. But we came down and stayed here during the renovation and realized that Winston had blossomed into this super cool city.” During the reconstruction process, Brookberry, the former residence of Bowman Gray Jr. in nearby Lewisville, caught their eye. “I recognized it,” Berkley says. “And Heribert said, ‘Let’s go look at it.’” Brookberry is now their home and current restoration project. As for deciding to list Sides Mill Farmhouse as a short stay destination via Airbnb, “Our experience with some of the long-term renters wasn’t particularly positive,” Berkley notes. “You lose control of the place.” When this 5 1/2-acre wonderland was out in the country, in the middle of nowhere, the only sounds you’d hear would be the rushing of Muddy Creek after a big rainstorm or the occasional car passing by. Now it’s fronted by a busy, four-lane South Stratford Spring 2019
Road. As such, the only significant change, other than additional closet space, was installing sound-rated windows manufactured in Germany (the couple’s primary business), made necessary by increased noise from the street. “They have a super high energy rating,” Berkley explains. “It’s actually bullet-resistant glass with a sound rating of 42. Typical sound ratings are 34.” Indeed, the interior and the screen porch, now glassed in, are whisper quiet. In that regard, “It’s a different place than it was 50 years ago,” Berkley notes. “But it’s close enough to Winston and Clemmons for people that just want ‘home’ when visiting their relatives or coming here for a sports event or the hospital. They love it.” The walls of Sides Mill Farmhouse (sidesmillfarmhouse.com) serve as a gallery for the woodcuts and watercolors of Virginia Ingram, although she passed away in 2015. Included are her earliest and final works. Given her artistic contribution to those editions of Southern fried ghost stories, it would be entirely fitting if this place were haunted. Instead, it’s imbued with a not-at-all malevolent but nonetheless ethereal presence. “Everyone I had ever loved in my family, who’s now deceased, was at one time in this house,” Berkley points out. “And a lot of times they were all together. Sometimes when I walk through these rooms I still feel the spirits of the past.” h A former Hollywood movie poster designer and internet pioneer, Billy Ingram is the author of five books, including Hamburger², a collection of stories (mostly) about Greensboro’s colorful past. SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 61
Late Bloomer Dean Johnson’s art of seeing beauty By Jim Dodson
“F
lowers restore something vital in me,” says Paul Dean Johnson with a gentle smile. “I might even say they make me believe in God. Georgia O’Keeffe said flowers should be painted large. And then there’s the famous Monet quote – ‘Flowers and more flowers and never enough!’ But, of course, Monet was mad for flowers.” And so, in his own deeply and grateful way, is artist Paul Dean Johnson. In his cozy basement studio in Pfafftown, a radiant sunflower set against a brilliant blue sky sits on the easel awaiting the artist’s finishing touches. Just outside the door in his home office stands another easel bearing a stunning unfinished oil of a purple coneflower shown from the perspective of a passing bee. His visitor — a gardener — is gently gobsmacked. “Glad you like it,” says the artist. “It still needs work. Jean Marie [his wife]
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says it’s a little too technical. She’s probably right. She always gives it to me straight. I’ll be softening it somewhat, making it more natural.” A blazing fireplace cuts the chill of this late winter day, and Johnson’s oversized botanical paintings inject the additional warmth of approaching Carolina springtime to his handsome office in the form of a spectacular rose of Sharon that occupies most of an inner wall behind the studded leather couch, with a bold sunflower acrylic anchoring the adjacent wall. Next to this hangs a framed inscription: “The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you refuse to take the turn.” Whatever else may be true, Dean Johnson’s diverse and accomplished life as an artist, teacher, successful marketing executive for the furniture trade and historic innkeeper has followed many a bending road home. “Not so long ago, if you’d have told me where I would be today, I probably would have laughed and Spring 2019
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said ‘not a chance.’ But the thing is,” he adds after a thoughtful pause, “this is exactly where we needed to be. The universe seemed to fully understand that.” Ultimately the road in question brought Johnson and Jean Marie to a place they scarcely could have imagined a decade or so ago — to a seemingly ordinary yellow brick ranch house in the unincorporated village of Pfafftown that the couple never even laid eyes on until the day before they purchased it in late 2017. “The house was a real surprise,” he allows with a soft chuckle. “We’d looked at dozens of houses across North Carolina, from Cary to Winston-Salem, where I have a history. But this wasn’t anything like we’d had in the past or expected in the future.” “I couldn’t even pronounce the name of the town for the longest time,” chips in Jean Marie with a laugh. “But it’s worked out beautifully. I love living here. It’s like we’ve finally found home.” Indeed, the story of their long and unexpected journey to Pfafftown is one of homecoming and something akin to an artist’s spiritual rebirth. To begin with, the creative pair — who gave up the award-winning historic inn they’d spent 14 years (and a small fortune) restoring and operating in picturesque Norfolk, Connecticut, before relocating to North Carolina — has completely transformed the 3,000-square-foot ranch house into a living palette of sophisticated color, eclectic charm and floral serenity. Filled with favorite furnishings and select antiques from estate sales and auctions over the years, every room evinces a warm and curated intimacy, invariably highlighted by one of Dean’s stunning paintings of flowers in bloom. The entry atrium, for instance, could double as the foyer of a small private British Museum, dominated by a stuffed peacock and a massive gilt-framed painting of lush, creamy, pink-tinted roses in riotous bloom, a passage that leads to an inviting sitting room furnished in elegant Victorian style, a comfy couch and divan above which hangs Johnson’s dramatic rendering of a monarch butterfly. There are also exquisite drawings of a lady slipper, a passionflower and a conch shell. Centered on an adjoining wall, however, hangs a stunning oil painting of a deep red rose that has special meaning to the couple, who have been together for 26 years. But let’s finish the walking tour. Jean Marie appropriated the house’s former dining room for her home office, where she works as a communications specialist for one of the nation’s leading medical firms. Lustrous red Orientals cushion underfoot, a stout Victorian revival desk, an ornately carved screen from India and splashes of Modern art give the room an an air of a cozy bungalow. The adjoining kitchen Spring 2019
is done in soothing hues of cream with a sunny bow window, a sign from their former enterprise – Mountain View Inn — hanging over the sink and, nearby, Dean’s abstract of a rhododendron on the wall. Through a separate door is the narrow sunroom that the former owners used as a storeroom. It came with “vomit green walls and a Carolina blue ceiling,” Dean explains with another laugh. “My sister-in-law came to visit and we spent the entire time redoing the room in quieter tones.” Today, the elegant sitting room is where Dean greets the day each morning with his green tea and grateful meditations. But more on that, too, in a moment. If a house is essentially a thumbprint of the lives that shelter there, then perhaps the most important transformation lies down the unusual circular stairway in the foyer to the basement where Dean the painter is once again at work. You might even say reborn. “Where does this passion for flowers come from?” asks his visitor, admiring that unfinished coneflower once again. Johnson points to several photographs of his mother and father displayed on shelves of the handsome bookcase that crosses the room with artifacts from his journey, honest faces from America’s heartland, his forebears on the edge of the American prairie. “Out there is where it really started.” He was an only child of a hard-working couple from Batavia, Ohio, who got stuck on the farm when the Great Depression hit. “My father was a laborer, maybe the hardest working man I ever saw. He was bright, incisive, no bull whatsoever. He could have been anything if the Depression hadn’t trapped him. His love was music. His favorite thing was to get dressed up and go into town on Saturday night and dance.” Dean’s mother ran the farm and grew flowers, looked after home, Dean and his father. “She was the hardest-working and most disciplined woman I ever knew, the biggest influence on my life. She taught me about hard work. I started sketching things when I was still pretty young, but neither of my parents knew anything about art, nor any relatives that I knew of. Maybe there was an ancestor.” Wherever it came from, art classes at tiny liberal arts Cornell College on a hilltop in Iowa unlocked the door to his passion. Able to travel the world for the first time, he visited the great museums of Europe on five dollars a day. Next stop was an M.F.A. at the Pratt Institute, the celebrated Brooklyn college known for its architecture and design programs. While he was there, one of SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 65
PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN DONOVAN
Johnson’s pieces captured “Best of Show” at the distinguished Memphis Brooks Memorial Art Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee, awarded by a judge from the Whitney Museum of American Art. He went on to teach drawing and design and art appreciation in Springfield, Missouri, at Drury College, and then Missouri State and the University of Delaware. Along the way, he won several regional and national awards, before migrating to the commercial world of home design, joining Armstrong World Industries to forecast color and design for the burgeoning commercial furnishing industry. A colleague introduced him to a man named Jack Glabman, marketing director of Chatham Manufacturing Company’s furniture division. Glabman hired Johnson to handle marketing for the company in the Northeast. “He was a real character, a tough old Jewish guy who was a throwback in many ways, a kind-hearted man with boundless energy who eventually informed me he was moving to Winston-Salem and thought I needed to move there, too.” The move was one of those bends in the road. Contrary to what he expected, life in Winston-Salem of the 1970s was a charming surprise. The Johnsons lived in a pretty house off Peace Haven Road, raising their two sons and enjoying the cultural gifts of the city. “There was a strong artistic vibe here even then, especially in music. I remember strolling through a street festival down on Trade Street and coming upon Muddy Waters just sitting there strumming his guitar. We had a pleasant chat. People were so friendly. I thought we might stay here forever.” That lasted five years. After a divorce, Johnson moved to Connecticut and became a salesman for Chatham, bumping up his income as he embraced the bachelor life. “Basically I left my wife with everything from the divorce. Looking back on those years, I made a great six-figure income and gave myself a single social life I missed because of my young marriage.” He pauses and glances at the coneflower sitting serenely upon on its easel. An unfinished painting is like an unfinished life. Both need time and revision to reach full flowering. “Looking back, I can see that was a time in which I was searching for the kind of happiness that in the end is fleeting. I had money and freedom and met lots of attractive women but it all left me feeling . . . empty. What was clearly missing from these years, though it was always in my heart and mind, was my art.” Unexpectedly, at his lowest point, the muse or God — or both, he says — began to whisper his name, to call him back. “One night I had this thought, kind of a vision in which I saw myself running a beautiful inn and having the time to paint the way I always believed I would someday paint, every day. Don’t ask me why, I had this powerful urge to paint a flower, a beautiful red rose, thinking that I perhaps would someday give it to the woman who was destined to be the love of my life, my true soul mate.” He smiles. “Funny, huh? Well it happened. That was the second part of my epiphany.”
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hey met in the buffet line of a swanky singles event in Greenwich that neither planned to attend. Call it serendipity or the universe playing Cupid. Also divorced, Jean Marie had a demanding career as a human resources director and corporate communications specialist, and finding a second marriage wasn’t in her plans. Friends had to convince her to go. Dean, who decided to attend on the spur of the moment, spotted her as she entered the hall, maneuvering himself in the buffet line where she was headed. “I just had this powerful feeling about her. I said ‘hello’ and it went from there. I remember thinking, ‘Good heavens, someday she could be my wife.’ The feeling was that strong.” Spring 2019
“I saw him across the room. I wasn’t looking to get married again. But who can explain these things,” Jean Marie adds with laugh of her own. “I just knew that we belonged together.” One of the first things Dean gave her was his painting of the deep red rose. They married in 2005 and bought the Mountain View Inn a short time later. For the next 14 years, restoring and running their award-winning country lodging dominated every aspect of their lives. “I had a nice studio and thought I would paint, but it never seemed to happen that way. My art came a distant second. It had to. When you own a popular inn, your life is not your own. The inn owns you. There was always something. You wake up with the phone ringing and it rings until 10 o’clock at night.” Jean Marie operated a vintage clothing shop in the Inn. “It was fun. I loved the people but the inn took over our lives completely. It took everything we had, time and money and energy. Something had to change. I could see that we needed a new place, and Dean could too. He needed his art.” So they sold the inn and began the search for the next bend in the road that brought them home to Pfafftown. Dean began painting again and recently began showing some of his new portraits of flowers at Artworks Gallery on Trade Street in Winston-Salem. Jean Marie continued her career while transforming the house that transSpring 2019
formed them. Together they’ve found peace of mind, great neighbors and a book club that meets in their Victorian sitting room. She places it all into lovely perspective. “It’s been a 27-year journey for us, one we’ve grown closer throughout. I love how his passion for painting has returned with a renewed energy and commitment. It’s hard to describe what Dean puts into a painting of a flower. It comes from deep within him, a pure feeling the way he goes through life, honoring beauty. We made a deal when we came here. I would do my thing and he would finally devote the rest of his life to his art — those flowers.” To that end, his goal is to develop enough new work to fill a larger exhibit of his paintings, a bouquet of huge painted flowers that would put anyone in mind of Georgia O’Keeffe or the perspective of a bee passing through the garden in springtime. Several galleries have expressed interest. Though he suffers from gradual hearing loss, Johnson entertains the idea of perhaps teaching again — the art of seeing beauty where it exists. “Mine is a life of deep daily gratitude,” he explains simply before getting back to work on that gobsmacking purple coneflower. h Editor Jim Dodson’s garden ambition is to grow coneflowers like the ones in Dean Johnson’s paintings. SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 67
Preservationists
& Patriots
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of North Carolina have been leaders in the historic preservation movement for 125 years By William Irvine
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enealogy is big business these days. Ancestry.com and other online tools, as well as the hit television series Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots, have inspired millions of Americans to become more interested in their forebears. Family — everybody’s got one. Certainly no one is as well-versed on this subject as the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of North Carolina, which has served as a quiet but dynamic force in the preservation of historic properties across the state since its founding in 1894. From their offices in the Burgwin-Wright House — which they purchased in 1937 to save from demolition — the Dames have been celebrating North Carolina’s early history through public programs, scholarships and preservation for 125 years. With more than 1,700 members statewide, the North Carolina chapter is the largest of a national association of state societies.(There are 44 state societies with more than 15,000 members nationwide). And the Dames are going strong — the organization has seen a resurgence of interest among younger members, many of whom are daughters or granddaughters of the current Dames. Long before the general population saw the importance of the Port City’s architectural heritage, the Wilmington Dames were sounding the trumpets. Beginning in 1899, they made an annual pilgrimage to St. Philip’s Church in Brunswick Town, traveling downriver by steamboat for a community picnic on the site of the towering ruins. They have erected monuments and markers throughout North Carolina to honor historical Colonial figures and places. The Dames brought a preservation proposal before the Wilmington City Council as early as 1930; a similar ordinance would not be approved until 30 years later. “We were way ahead of our time, but Charleston beat us by a year,” says Joy Allen, the executive director of the North Carolina society. Here are four important North Carolina houses that owe their existence to the preservation efforts of the Dames.
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The Burgwin-Wright House, Wilmington The Burgwin-Wright House barely survived the wrecker’s ball. Built by the prosperous merchant and plantation owner John Burgwin in 1771 on the foundations of the abandoned city jail, the house passed through a series of owners in the 19th century, among them Judge Joshua Grainger Wright, whose family owned the house through the Civil War. After the last owner of the house died in 1930, the property was conveyed to the Wilmington Savings and Trust Company as trustees. At the time the house was a wreck — the lot next door to the house on Market Street was a used-car lot and remained so until 1967, when the Dames were able to purchase the land. Alden Hopkins, the landscape architect from Colonial Williamsburg, created the initial plans and blueprints for the re-creation of an 18th-century garden that has replaced it. In 1937 the structure was purchased by the Colonial Dames for $21,000 and during World War II was known as the Lord Cornwallis Officer’s Club and Lounge, and used by armed forces officers and their families. After the war, the basement was rented to the Junior League as a tea room, and by 1948 the Colonial Dames owned the house outright, debt-free, and decided to restore it as their headquarters. After several periods of restoration — the most important being the 1992 removal of the Colonial Revival portico and its replacement by a periodappropriate reconstruction — the house stands today as one of the most important surviving 18th-century houses in eastern North Carolina. Spring 2019
The Fourth House, Old Salem Established by Moravians in 1766, the town of Salem had its modest beginnings in a row of half-timbered houses along the main street that were named chronologically in order of completion. The Fourth House, completed in 1768, was first home to Charles Holder, a saddler, who lived in the house until his death in 1808. In swift succession came a cabinetmaker and a handful of other owners until the arrival of a trolley line in 1889, when a regrading of Main Street required that Fourth House be moved to the back of its lot. Over the next decades, the neighborhood suffered much neglect, and by 1936, the Fourth House was the only house of the original row still standing, and the oldest house in Winston-Salem. The establishment in 1950 of Old Salem, Inc., a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the restoration of the old town, changed everything. By 1966, Old Salem had restored 23 buildings. The Colonial Dames were able to purchase the Fourth House for restoration, and under a long-term lease agreement, Old Salem maintains the property and today rents the house to private tenants. Its architectural significance as one of the few half-timbered houses in America is due to its rescue by the Colonial Dames and Old Salem, which has studied the construction techniques of Fourth House to reconstruct First, Third, and Fifth Houses along the main street.
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Haywood Hall, Raleigh John Haywood, the first treasurer of the new state of North Carolina, began construction of the Federal-style Haywood Hall in 1799 and lived here with his wife, Eliza, and their 12 children until his death in 1827. It is a rare example of a historic house that has remained in the same family — with a few contemporary renovations: indoor plumbing; a two-story addition that housed at different times family law and doctor’s offices; and a schoolroom was moved and converted to a library. The Colonial Dames inherited the property from John Haywood’s granddaughter in 1977 and have restored Haywood Hall to its former glory, funding new roofs, chimney repairs, rewiring and painting. Much of the family furniture and portraits remain, providing an elegant time capsule of upper-class life in 19th-century Raleigh.
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The Joel Lane House, Raleigh Born in Halifax County and an early pioneer in the Piedmont, Joel Lane was a man of many accomplishments. A representative to the Provincial Congress in Hillsborough, he served as a justice in the county court and a lieutenant colonel of the militia during the Revolutionary War. He was also one of the first trustees of the University of North Carolina and offered the university a square mile of his land near present-day Cary for the site of the campus (the offer was declined). Built around 1760, Lane’s house predates the founding of Raleigh and is consequentially the city’s oldest dwelling. It was here that commissioners from the General Assembly met to determine the location of the state’s capital in 1792; they inevitably purchased 1,000 acres of Lane’s property and established the state’s permanent seat. Joel and his second wife both died in 1795 and the house passed through several owners until it was purchased by the Wake County branch of the Dames in 1927. After a period of benign neglect, in 1968 the North Carolina General Assembly and the Colonial Dames financed an eight-year restoration project. The site has been open as a house museum since 1976. h William Irvine is the senior editor of Salt magazine, a sister publication of Seasons. Spring 2019
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HUNT & GATHER
Glass Half-Full and Refilled Sunday Funday at Winston-Salem’s West End Mill Works By Amy and Peter Freeman
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ure, we all love a little bubbly on New Year’s Eve, an explosion on the Fourth of July, and St. Paddy’s encourages us to party until we’re green. But hands down, Sunday Funday is the best holiday on the calendar — and the only one that comes once a week during the entire year. Taking a cue from a certain editor (who shall remain nameless), and her merry band of cohorts, who routinely gather every Sunday at The Tap at West End in Winston-Salem, we asked ourselves: Why let the drudgery of Monday ruin the waning rays of the weekend? Make it a fun-day celebration! And there’s nothing like heating up the day by poking a stick into a white-hot flame burning at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Our Sunday Funday begins at The Olio, a glassblowing studio and community arts education enterprise located in the Twin City’s West End Mill Works, off Northwest Boulevard (theolio.org), where Rebeccah Byer, resident glass artist and founding executive director, is busy sculpting silicon craft and instructing three apprentices with varied levels of glassblowing experience. Along with Artistic Director Sarah Band and two attentive shop cats, the studio currently has nine apprentices, and offers workshops and classes for curious newcomers. When we arrive, a chilly breeze wafts under partially cracked overhead doors lining the studio, cooling blasts of hot air escaping from glowing furnaces. The Eagles classic “Witchy Woman” is playing in the background as these ladies dance with the alchemy of water, flame, smoke and sand. The creative juices are bubbling over, as is the molten glass, formed from small wisps of air introduced through a blowpipe. Half expecting a chorus of “Double, double boil and trouble,” instead we hear instructive chants like, “Be one with your pipe” and “give it a little puff,” that give rise to objects d’art and other fanciful items available for purchase in the adjacent retail shop. After browsing the collection of glass jewelry, ornaments, cups, glasses and art pieces, my clearing mind is drawn to one of Sarah’s anthropomorphic creations vaguely reminiscent of an O’Keeffe skull. A few bucks later and we’re off to a brilliant start to Sunday Funday at the West End Mill Works.
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The alley of the complex serves as a connective courtyard between the Mill Works’ various shops. It is a gathering place in its own right, where folks of all ages — families with strollers, singles, old curmudgeons, even canine companions — are reveling in the Funday day off, their footsteps crunching on the pea-gravel walking surface, among a delightfully mismatched collection of found objects. Here, weathered picnic tables meld comfortably with Phillippe Starck–designed molded chairs, and discarded hobbyhorses, string lights and industrial fans are given a new festive act. Where rollers once processed flour for Hoots Milling Company in these repurposed buildings of galvanized sheet metal, weathered concrete block and rusted steel — listed on the National Historic Register — the aromas of artisanal chocolate, chilis and gin, and the sound of heavy breathing fill the new commercial village. Pick up a bar of Bolivian Wild or Peruvian Ucayali at Brasstown Chocolates, or tuck into a sinful quesadilla at Claire Calvin’s popular Tex-Mex cantina, The Porch. And speaking of grain, Sutler’s Spirit Co. was a pioneer among the current wave of N.C. distilleries. If you’re the more virtuous type, you could catch a yoga class at The Breathing Room, but for our money, the aptly named Hoots Roller Bar & Beer Co. is the ticket. The brand-new, Pacific Rim Food Truck pulls up beside the brewpub’s patio, proffering pho and other Asian-inspired treats to a gaggle of Gashopper guzzlers — Gashopper IPA, that is, an enticing potion named for the Gashopper service station down the street. Wandering past owl figurines (Hoots, get it? Owl bet you do.), a Baywatch pinball machine and a vintage diving helmet atop the bar, we’re convinced that we are in the right place to hail the week’s end. As we drift toward the amplified sound of classic rhythm and blues, swaying to its beat, we think we might stay for a while . . . or mosey over to The Tap later and keep this weekend rolling. h Amy and Peter Freeman include among their pastimes mindless wandering. Amy, a photographer, and Peter, an architect, are perpetually in search of new gigs, fresh digs and fun swigs.
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LIFE&HOME
HOUSE FOR SALE
Katy Did It
Rustic charm abounds at a historic mill house in eastern Guilford County
“D
By Nancy Oakley
own by the old mill stream, where I first met you . . .” So goes the chorus to the old ditty, an early 20th century chart-topper and a standard among barbershop quartets today. The song’s popularity likely owes something to its nostalgic yearning for place: a stream ruffled by the rhythmic churning of a mill wheel. One can’t help but wonder if a similar yearning stirred the imagination of one Katheryn “Kate” Pettygrew, the daughter of a wealthy Mississippi planter. In 1930, while visiting family in eastern Guilford County, she chanced upon an old sawmill on Little Alamance Creek and decided to make it her home. “She was a pioneer in sustainability, reclaiming materials,” says Wick Jacobi, owner and creative director of Diesel + Dust Brand Imaging in Greensboro. He lives in the 4,000-square-foot mill house off McConnell Road with wife Sabrina and their teenage son, and recently listed the property. “She used lumber from nearby structures that was likely milled here, in essence, bringing it home again.” Sabrina adds, “She really enclosed the mill.” Quite a feat, considering the mill was constructed around
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1835 and is believed to be the oldest in North Carolina. For years, it was owned and operated by Oliver Boone, who is buried in the cemetery of Alamance Presbyterian Church. At different times, the mill carded wool, ginned cotton and made handles of plows known as Troxler cultivators. Among Kate’s many innovative touches was to use the handles as stair railings. By 1920, the structure had fallen into disrepair, as lumber mills often did, Sabrina explains, because “they were open to weather, unlike grist mills that protected what was inside.” For anyone to convert an industrial property into a residential one was unheard of in rural, Depression-era North Carolina — unless, like Kate, you had wherewithal, imagination and gumption. “She moved to the property with a helper, a gun and a dog,” wrote Greensboro’s News & Record columnist Doris Dale Paysour in 1990, when the mill was a stop on a house tour. Kate would transform the place, adding a screened porch, installing a large stone fireplace in the 30-by-30 living room, and a secondstory bedroom. “[It’s] an incredible piece of history capturing the creativity and care of someone,” Wick noted, reeling off another ingenious detail: “The upper cabinets in the guest house Spring 2019
[formerly the mill’s office] were built from shutters of a slave cabin decommissioned from a museum.” According to local lore, the changes prompted locals to wonder, “Who did what to the mill?” And the response, “Katy did.” Which is how the property acquired the moniker Katydid Mill. The Jacobis wonder if the mill house were used as a lodge, given its rustic accents, such generous use of pine paneling. “It looks like a hunting lodge, and she had about 40 acres,” Wick notes. And though the house occupies nearly 3 acres today, he says there is still a profusion of wildlife: “You’ll see fox, deer, bobcats, large turtles — like in the mountains around Asheville.” Certainly, it was quite the hub of social activity. After moving in a dozen years ago, the Jacobis acquired a log filled with signatures of visitors — many of them well-known in the Triad — who paraded in and out of Katydid: Greensboro society columnist Anne Cantrell White; Mrs. William Y. Preyer; Mrs. Charles Vanstory; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Burnett (who developed the O.R.D. during World War II); Mrs. A.W. McAlister; Mrs. Charles Hagan; Mrs. Frank A. Stith of Winston-Salem. A multitude of guests passed through from farflung places, such as New York, Connecticut, Virginia, even Buenos Aires. After the Jacobis moved to the mill, some of their elderly neighbors, now long gone, would stop by and share memories of the place. “One lady in the 1940s recalled sitting on the breezeway sipping mint juleps,” Sabrina says with a chuckle. Another old-timer remembered the place before Kate bought it, regaling Sabrina with childhood tales of ice-skating on the frozen mill pond in winter and opening its sluice gates, unwittingly setting millworks in motion. According to his descriptions, Sabrina says, “The mill pond used to be bigger. Kate narrowed it, made it more English, romantic, with stone [mill] races.” The older gent also remembered a glass floor above the mill wheel, after Kate renovated the place. Today the wheel is concealed and it is a newer one, installed by a previous
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owner, the late Ruth McCracken, longtime director of the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, who bought and moved in during the winter of 1985. Nearly a decade later, as she recalled to the News & Record, “It was so cold, the dog’s water in the kitchen froze.” McCracken replaced the old boiler, septic system, some siding and, of course, the water wheel that turns underneath the kitchen, which she also enlarged. By the time the Jacobis moved in, the kitchen was due for an upgrade. They added all the sleek accouterments to it, replaced the roof, pulled up old carpet and linoleum, and did extensive renovations to the guesthouse, where Sabrina’s parents often came to stay. With their two older children still at home at the time, the mill house easily accommodated the family of five, with its casually elegant wood interiors, four bedrooms and three baths. And just as in Kate Pettygrew’s day, the surrounding hardwoods and view of the millpond have provided the perfect ambience for outdoor entertaining, made easier by a number of places to cook. “I have an oven in the guesthouse, an ovenand-a-half, a convection oven-and-a-half in the house,” Sabrina laughs, before pausing. “It’s funny; people ask us, ‘Will you miss the water?’ We only notice it when it’s not running.” For as much as the Jacobis have loved the run of the mill in their not-so-runof-the-mill home, the nest is emptying. It’s time to move on. Time for someone else to move in and make new memories in this place rife with fox, and deer and turtles, whose past bears the echoes of grinding of saws, the clink of ice in mint julep cups . . . and the ever-present rhythm of a water wheel. Vital Details: 4246 McConnell Road, McCleansville Priced at $949,500 Contact John-Mark Mitchell Mitchell Prime Properties (336) 722-9911 gomitch.com h
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starts with a home!
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LIFE&HOME
THE LANGUAGE OF HOME
The Garden Shed Be it ever so humble or fancy, a garden shed inspires both pleasure and escape By Noah Salt
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ome years ago while knocking around rural England, I was invited by old family friends for Sunday brunch in Shropshire and discovered the secret to a long and happy marriage — a good garden shed. “Would you mind stepping to the bottom of the garden, Love, to let his lordship know that our guests have arrived?” asked his ladyship of almost half a century. “I haven’t the foggiest what he gets up to in his little shed,” she confided with a dry smile. “And frankly, I am bloody well determined never to know. A little mystery and daily removal is good for a marriage.” Like many British householders, the elderly chap in question, a retired civil servant, was a devoted gardener, as both his fine garden and impressive shed reflected. At one end of the 10-by-12 wooden structure sat a wide potting table bearing various pots, hand tools and garden supplies. Rakes and shovels were ranked with military precision along a wall above a spigot and large utility sink. At the opposite end of the shed, however, I found his lordship nodding in a comfy damask armchair, an open volume of Auden’s poetry on a Queen Ann side table and the London Sunday Times steepled on his chest. He awoke with a cheerful bluster of greeting and insisted that we share a welcoming snort of French brandy before “hobbling up the winding path to feed.” When I complimented him on his literary pied-à-terre, he boomed at me, “It’s nothing of the kind, dear boy! This is a true gardening shed where the business of re-creation is a daily affair — including my own!” Not long ago, the BBC online reported that Britain has more garden sheds per capita than any country on Earth, and that two-thirds of all Britons own one in some form or another. Of those who don’t, 44 percent wish they owned one. A similar survey revealed that 62 percent of Brits wouldn’t consider buying a property unless it came with a garden shed. “In Britain,” said the author of the BBC report, “the shed at the bottom of the garden is far more than a place to store tools. It’s an institution — a domestic oasis where owners seek refuge, an outlet for individual style and, increasingly, an office outlet.” Writers seem particularly susceptible to the lure of a quiet garden shed retreat. Children’s author Roald Dahl used to write in a 6-by 7-foot (1.8m x 2.1m) shed he described as his “Little Nest,” where he would go to work at 10 a.m. every day with a woolen blanket over his lap to keep him warm. Dahl’s shed was inspired by — and built to the same dimensions as — the garden shed poet Dylan Thomas used for writing. Thomas called his shed “my word-splashed hut.” Here in backyard America, a similar passion seems to finally be taking root. Check out your local big box home supply and you’re likely to see a variety of garden sheds ranging from rustic metal to mini-chalet queued up for inspection along one end of Spring 2019
the parking lot. Depending on one’s personal taste and budget, some garden sheds actually come pre-wired and plumbed and equipped for making it a man cave retreat or home office, as well. For the D.I.Y. homebuilder, Pinterest and the HG Network offer no shortage of photos and plans for elaborate custommade garden sheds ranging from the basic storage unit for tools and supplies to larger affairs built to serve as guest houses in a pinch. We know of a handsome property purchased in Greensboro’s swanky Irving Park neighborhood largely because of the adorable garden shed at the rear of the property, which began life as a playhouse for the family’s two young daughters. After the children grew up and flew the nest, the homeowner turned the miniature house into a garden shed, where he loved to spend time alone after working on his lawn. “It was a great place just to sit and relax, to have a drink and remember my girls,” he reports. “They really loved that little house, and so did I.” A younger couple that recently purchased the property decided to give the shed yet another transformation, a third life as a miniature guest cottage. Whether you’re his Lordship of Shropshire or the family’s nostalgic lawn man in a world spinning faster by the day, a garden shed’s greatest appeal may be the unique combination of practical utility and feeling of brief escape from one’s busy life that only a little house at the end of the “winding path” can impart. h SEASONS • STYLE & DESIGN 79
LIFE&HOME HOMEWORDS
Love Is a Many Splintered Thing Especially between handymen and their clients By Carolyn Strickland
O
ld houses have always spoken to me. And sadly, I tend to buy the ones that can barely put together a sentence. Termite-infested. Bad plumbing. Missing a kitchen. Sign me up. Over the years I have purchased nine houses that were in need of extensive therapy. While other women I know have fond memories of old boyfriends, mine are of handymen. Although I never felt any physical attraction for them, or even knew most of their last names, my love was no less real. Don’t judge me. My first handyman love was Kenny. He had no chin, weighed about 95 pounds and had twinkly blue eyes, and with a knack at stripping paint that was awe-inspiring. I loved him for weeks. I would wait for him each morning, coffee in hand, and watch the magic happen. I liked to think his hyper-focused work stemmed from a willingness to please me. Turned out it was methamphetamines. Edward ripped out a wall of termite-eaten wood, reframed it and sheetrocked it expertly in three days. All while smoking thousands of cigarettes and blaring AC/DC on a portable paintdrizzled boom box. I’ve never been a smoker, but to this day, the smell of tobacco and the song “Highway to Hell” reminds me of progress. And termites. Then there was Shorty. He was 4’11” on a good day so I fell in love with his self-deprecating sense of humor and his ability to fix plumbing while whistling. And he easily fit into a crawl space. My heart beat faster each time I saw him, until I didn’t. Rumor has it that he married one of his clients and moved to Argentina. Jealousy consumed me for about an hour. Billy was an elderly interior painter. Despite his failing eyesight, he could cut a straight line into a wall with no need for taping. I worshipped him — until he showed up one day asking for money for a job he had never done. “I meant to do it,” he ex-
80 SEASONS •
STYLE
& DESIGN
plained, “so you should pay me anyway.” We broke up after that. There were hundreds of other crushes. Yes, dear reader, I was very promiscuous with my house renovations. If the handymen did good, conscientious work, I was instantly smitten. A bad tile job and things got ugly. I would kiss and tell all over town about any careless work. The best, however, was Lewis. Lewis was able to fix an interior leak that no one else would even attempt. He was patient, focused and brilliant. In fact, he was almost perfect until one day he casually dropped into a professional conversation that he had pet ferrets. These are the meanest animals on Earth, the only ones who hunt for sport. The Menendez brothers who killed their parents kept pet ferrets under their beds, for God’s sake! Lewis then mentioned that his ferrets raced around his house in their own remote-controlled jeeps. This was already too much information. But then the clincher — they were “show ferrets.” One of them won first place in the softest fur division, he told me proudly. At that moment, something changed. This was the strong, silent, handsome man whom I imagined spending evenings at home in his woodshop crafting artisan furniture. Not blowdrying ferrets. Lewis had seemed like a lasting love. No longer. He might just as well have asked to use my bathroom because he had to “tinkle.” Lewis, my favorite and best, suddenly felt like a distant memory. I could no longer be with him. Love, like houses, is a complicated thing. Choose carefully, and know when it’s over. I miss Lewis. I miss them all. Sparks will eventually fly again, I’m certain of that. “Just open your heart and remember to breathe,” I tell myself. The end. For now. I still need a good electrician. h Carolyn Strickland is a real estate agent at Leonard Ryden Burr in Winston-Salem. Spring 2019
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