PROJECTS

In this beautiful home on Georgia’s South-east coast, we created a garden by dissecting the whole into rooms to enjoy on a Sunday morning or an evening with a drink. The live oaks were trimmed to almost mirror the bonsai collection of 50 and counting; fabulous specimens are dotted around the property. The garden design was implemented by our friend Mark Owens, whose input was so important to ensure that the flowering cycle through the year was perfect and that all the plants would thrive in the warm humid sea air.

The tree house is the perfect place to look over the “rooms” of the garden. From here you can see the niche between the staircases winding down from the area in front of the house, the fountain with reeds and waterlilies at the garden’s end and the alley with an armillary sphere, which is the center of a corridor, flanked on both sides by miniature boxwoods. The backdrop – a brick pedestal with a bronze cherub atop with espaliered pear trees on either side against the wall. 

As dusk approaches the light starts to gently pick out the rooms, the picture changes as the contrast of the lit areas against the black backdrop gives a theatrical air to the garden.

On the marsh side of the house again we have rooms – a dining-room by the grill and stove top covered with bamboo canopies on steel posts, a fire pit with cast iron fire back tiles to warm you as you watch the sunset over the marsh, and a Jacuzzi sheltered from the sun’s rays by a pavilion, built with reclaimed timbers; in the background a headless nude sculpture flanked by espaliered pears and the bronze Castor and Pollox fountain to the fore.

The whole house is built with Savannah gray bricks. The deck constructed with Ipe wood, and the Bermuda shutters fabricated of 316 stainless steel with thick cedar planking.

For this rather British room, our friend Johann installed the white oak judge’s paneling; he is always meticulous and brings a sense of Bavarian pride to everything we draw. The Bosworth mantel is part of our English cast stone reproduction collection, here installed without a shelf. We found some fine early 19^th century fire dogs and paired them with Architectural Accent’s wrought iron fire tool set, made by our friend and masterful blacksmith, Ron.

Fabulous remote controlled blinds allow you to watch television after triggering the hidden door, with full stereo for sound, which is also designed to stay out of sight. Our friend and client John, supplied the Moulthrop bowls and we found some wonderful William & Mary button back leather chairs in England to go with a perfect desk of the same period. Now we just need to find a pair of cushioned stools to replace the Eames stools!

A small vintner’s estate in Italy? No, but it is the idea behind this one near Jasper, Georgia.

The owner, a friend of ours, warmed to the idea and a plan was hatched to be executed in four phases. Vines would be planted first, followed by an avenue with an end folly, flanked by trees. We would then draw and build a shepherd’s hut, built in exactly the same way they have been built in Italy for ages: split bars in front of casement windows built into the masonry, stone walls, large plank doors with ring handles, interior plastered walls, beams and a roman tile roof, installed by a Frenchman, used to doing it in the traditional way – no nails or chips. Before putting on the roof, the hut was left open to the elements for several weeks to allow the rain to age the plaster on the stone walls inside, as well as the beams, and when we judged the time to be right, the roof went on and voila! The next phase includes a wine cellar in a crumbling structure, surmounted by a villa to the rear. As you can see, our friends are doing a fabulous job with the plantings and they are making good progress in the production of their wine for which we had the pleasure to draw the label for their bottles.

This was a project for our good friends, Tom and Sandi, whom we had done three projects for already, in Florida and Minnesota. The home was somewhat British colonial. It took two years to complete and is an example of using both rescued architectural pieces as well as new material that, when completed, made it hard to tell what is old and what is new. Projects like this tend to be timeless, look lived in and age well. Classic!

Because we were totally responsible for the construction of this home, we had to spend ten months on site with a couple of long weekend breaks. The whole property is full of wonderful details. For the exterior: a formal garden with fruit trees, flowers and herbaceous borders, fountains and classic York flagstone from the U.K. combined with cobblestones in the boathouse throughway, copper lanterns and cypress shutters. For the interior: a knotty pine library with a door as a false bookcase, English cabinets, Belfast sink and a bespoke copper hood in the kitchen, and of course, reclaimed doors throughout as well as the most appropriate hardware.

For our dear friends Ben and Julie, we advised on some of the design, worked with their great architect, dealt with all the lighting: interior and exterior, and all the mantels including the rare 18^th century French stone mantel in the great room. Sadly Ben passed away at a ridiculously young age, we miss him still.

An Omaha Haunt

Having drawn all the new interior and adapted some of the then existing exterior elevations, we set about finding all the mantels, doors, hardware and chandeliers. We were then backed by our friends Carolyn and Long, who handled all the specialized finishes in the house. All the cabinet work and joinery was custom made for this project, and all the furnishings and fabrics selected by our good friend Linda Slatter, who lives in Salt Lake City.

Typically interior designers come to us to add the “sizzle to the steak,” – as do architects and their clients. For this project we refinished and adapted a pair of 19^th century French wrought iron and oak doors to operate as barn doors, provided cabinet hardware from the world over, a late 18^th century Louis XVI carved stone mantel, light fixtures, and a carved French marble mantel with a well-appointed firebox detail.

For this restaurant we installed some 19th century English windows above the kitchen line with the help of our friend Johann. We had some virgin longleaf heart pine recovered from a building in Surrey England, together with wire glass transoms from the same site. We adapted the transoms, rebuilt the two fiddle racks and installed them blindly into the existing tiled openings. The joinery is faultless and the installation went smoothly despite the kitchen and staff being in training at the same time.