What Makes a House a Home:
Creating Serenity, Ambience, Style & Flair
By Denise ShermanSerenity, ambience, style and flair are design elements that can not only make your home a utopian retreat from the world, but a place to celebrate your very take on life, your distinctive personality and worldview. How do you achieve these elusive qualities, and what do they mean for a room? When you walk in a room that’s balanced and soothing, it exudes serenity. Add to that a distinctive atmosphere that imbues feeling and you’ve got ambience. When a room has style, it has a beauty and grace. And with flair — you know it when you see it, a room with a genius or a natural gift.
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High-toned McNeill has a self-described “gilt complex” and scoops up antiques at New York’s Christy’s and at Palm Beach estate sales. The Thorpes took down Fuquay-Varina tobacco and hay barns and used the seasoned wood to fashion a charming country store, The Rusty Bucket, complete with beamed ceilings and brick walls and filled with rustic antiques and country Americana.
Wade Adler, manager-developer of 12 Oaks, the 680-acre golf-course subdivision in Holly Springs, emphasizes the nature of the development when he talks about serenity, ambience, style and flair.
Christine C. Tingen, builder sales manager of Ferguson Bath, Kitchen &Lighting Gallery in Raleigh, works with lighting and kitchen designers who search out the design styles of their clients before coming up with dream rooms.
Manager and craftsman Henrique Dias of Stone World Marble & Granite of Raleigh talks about the skill involved in crafting a countertop, fireplace or table from fine marble and granite his business imports from all over the world.
Chris Kirk, owner with his brother and mother of Kirk Imports of Raleigh, fills his 40,000 square foot showroom with furniture from buying trips to High Point, Los Angeles and outposts around the world. Along with buying living room, dining room, bedroom, including children’s bedroom furniture in traditional, contemporary and transitional styles, Kirk scoops up unique finds from across the world in his work as a direct importer.
Kimberly A. Shore, who owns Sixpence Accents, an art and home furniture boutique located in a restored 1930s house on Chatham Street in downtown Apex, features traditional and contemporary hand-painted, rustic and shabby chic furniture, art glass, mirrors and other home accessories including a garden line. The business with eclectic offerings also has a variety of price-points. These professionals use their gifts and their inventories to create these four elusive design elements.
Serenity
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| Photo courtesy of 12 Oaks |
“Art has to stabilize a room, give it depth and meaning,” says McNeill, who envisions on the wall above the fireplace a landscape by James Daga Albinson, a realist from Sag Harbor. He recently brought the painting home to Raleigh from Christy’s.
Adler of Holly Spring’s 12 Oaks Community paves the way for tranquility with 20 miles of tree-scaped sidewalk along rolling hills lined in houses of southern classic styles: Colonial, Greek, Southern Antebellum Revival and Victorian, all with inviting front porches. It doesn’t hurt that meandering through the neighborhood is a Jack Nicklaus golf course, named one of the top 10 new private courses in 2009 by Golf Digest.
Peace for the Thorpes who live in a restored farm house named Twin Gables, six miles outside of Apex, is found in simplicity. A clutter-free room whispers relaxation. Pam sells antique trunks and chests that double as coffee tables and offers stackable boxes. All of these can be used to tuck away clutter.
And it’s true to the period. “You’re looking for that utility,” she says. “One hundred and fifty years ago our forefathers had to be judicious about using their resources. They had to be utility minded.”
Timeless treasures like the American country sofas and wing back chairs from Johnston Benchworks transport ones mood to a port of calm. The family company in North Wilkesboro maintains the Appalachian tradition of making its furniture by hand.
Round it out with rockers by Troutman Chair, another old-time North Carolina furniture maker that features joint construction, and add a few rustic antiques the Thorpes scour up on buying trips in Ohio and Pennsylvania and you’ve got laid-back down home ease.
You do want to have personal touches, says Pam, who suggests a handmade quilt to cozy up a sitting area and for charm. The shop features the works of local artisans including quilters, jewelry makers, needle-crafters, potters and even makers of homemade jellies and sauces.
Read more about creating Ambience, Style, and Flair in your home at:
