Homestyle | March 2012

March 2012 Des Moines HOMESTYLE 1

March 2012

A look at the impressive collection that serves as the centerpiece of one Des Moines man’s home

Hot bathroom sink trendspage 20

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Des Moines HOMESTYLE March 20122

MarchcoNTeNTS

Editor Tim PaluchStaff Writers Patt Johnson Jennifer MillerDesigner Amanda HolladayStaff Photographers Justin Hayworth Bryon Houlgrave David Purdy Eric Rowley Rodney White

To place an ad call: Kimm Miller(515) 284-8404 Des Moines Register Magazine DivisionVice President, Content Rick GreenPresident and Publisher Laura Hollingsworth

Contact us: Des Moines HOMESTYLE P.O. Box 957 Des Moines, Iowa 50306 email: [email protected] subscribe to Des Moines HOMESTYLE magazine, call (515) 284-8359.These materials are the sole and exclusive property of the Des Moines Register & Tribune Co. and are not to be used without its written permission.© 2012 Des Moines Register & Tribune Co.

Above: Inside a bathroom designed by Karin Edwards. Read more about her on page 26.

On the cover: A wall of art inside Dale Jansen’s Des Moines home. Jansen’s museum-quality print collection includes works by Andy Warhol, Chuck Close and other big-name artists. See more on page 21.

SHOP3 Add sparkle to your bath area

with easy updates.

MIX IT UP6 How to mix and match

patterns, colors and textures.

FEATURED HOME8 Alyssa and Ryan Snider gave

their country home an urban, contemporary feel.

BATHROOMS16 Adding elegance and style to

spa-like master baths.

PRINTS21 Dale Jansen’s impressive print

collection includes some heavyweights of the art world.

DESIGNER26 Karin Edwards draws on years

of education in her work.


Keep a stylish charger between dual sinks for a place to hold washcloths and hand towels. TCompany shell charger, $117, The Mansion. Beauties

add sparkle and spring to the shelves and walls of your bathroom for a quick, easy-to-do seasonal makeover

By Megan FITZgeRaLD ThoMpson • photos by Eric rowlEy

Bathing

Des Moines HoMESTYLE March 20124

shopSpoil the man in your life (or impress your guest) with a vintage-inspired shave kit in soothing ivory, complete with soap and scrub brush. $225, eden.

Pair a spring-like orchid, in a vase, with stitched floral hand towels. Orchid vase, $16, towels, $14, Von Maur.

A trio of small glass pieces are perfect for jewelry, makeup, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Glass containers, $8-$14, Von Maur, makeup brushes, $14.95, Target.

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Add extra ambiance and light with a beautiful crystal based lamp. Castilian cube lamp, $237, The Mansion.

Be sure to have your bathroom stocked with perfectly fluffy towels. Keep bars of soap in sweet scents on hand, too. Fine towels, $12.99, Target, Relax bar soap, $10, eden.

Add color and texture to a neutral wall for a bit of springtime in your rest area. Toby Penney “Unavoidable Storm” (32-by-24 inches), $3,080, The Mansion.

Stock body washes, lotions, bubble bath, candles and soaps for you and any guests. Kaleidoscope gift set, $48, Mercury glass candles, $18, eden.


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Material worldDare to mix and match colors, patterns and textures in the same spaceBy Jennifer Miller • Photos by rodney White

Y ou might be leafing through a magazine, trolling Pinterest or visiting a showroom and thinking everything looks so … cool,

so stylish. The green-checked couch is the perfect complement to the ottoman with yellow and green and blue herringbone fabric, which is fabulous with the blue toile curtains. How do they do that — mixing all those colors and patterns and making it look really good?


Cynthia Wanamaker, a Des Moines interior decorator, offered some rules of thumb:The first step, Wanamaker says, is to select the inspiration fabric — the fabric that will be the main focal point of the room — then choose at least two complementary accent fabrics.

• If the color scheme of the room is monochromatic, complementary fabrics should be of varying textures or patterns in the same color as the main fabric, or contrast in shade (light, medium or dark) with the main fabric.

• If the color scheme is not monochromatic, complementary fabrics should contain at least one (preferably the main) color from the inspiration fabric.

• If the inspiration fabric has a large pattern, good complementary fabrics would be small stripes, checks, houndstooth or abstracts. Conversely, if the inspiration fabric pattern is small, pick larger print complementary fabrics.

• If the inspiration fabric is a solid, either large or small accent patterns will work. A solid fabric also allows for greater flexibility with texture in the complementary fabrics.

Material worldBy Jennifer Miller • Photos by rodney White

the fabrics: All fabrics were provided by, and are available at The Mansion, 2801 Ingersoll Ave., (515) 280-7161; themansion-interiors.com. Prices of the fabrics shown range from $65 to $350 per yard.

Becky Rogers, showroom manager at The Mansion in Des Moines, offers these tips for mixing it up:• Let color be your constant, and then anything goes — large and small prints and patterns, surprising geometrics, textured solids, upholstery weight mixed with multipurpose fabrics.

• Play with blends of color. For example, you can go from a deep rich olive to a vibrant lime within the same room scheme.

• Themes can work, but don’t overdo it. Let one pattern really drive the theme and then mix in your textures and multi-sized patterns. Make sure to use at least one solid fabric to rest the eyes.

• If you have a neutral palette and want to add color, introduce it in pillows, throws, artwork, rugs and other accessories.

• To tone down a formal room and make it more inviting, try adding animal prints, unbalanced stripes, soft cuddly fabrics or playful patterns. You can stay within your color scheme or introduce a new color that feels more relaxing.


Allow Alyssa and Ryan Snider to give you some concrete examples.

Well, there’s the fireplace, for starters. Concrete.

And that boomerang-shaped island in the kitchen? Concrete.

Ditto for the slim dividing wall between the kitchen and the living room. Concrete from top to bottom.

“We’d seen concrete in some show homes,” Ryan says.

“And a few magazines,” says Alyssa.

“It’s something different, and we wanted that modern, contemporary style,” Ryan says of their rural Norwalk home. “With real bold color combinations. Granite and concrete, chrome and glass. More

CONTINUED >>

Couple’s new home is a little bit country, a lot contemporaryby Craig SummerS BlaCk • photos by Paul Gates

Cementing Similar StyleS

Alyssa and Ryan Snider gave an urban feel to their home in the country. Their open-plan dining room (far left) has pendants from Projects (above and below), table from Calypso and chairs from a California firm. The Blanco flexible kitchen faucet (above), from City Design, is magnetically attached to the base and can be used as a handheld. The black netting light fixture in the entry (left) is from Projects. “We were surprised the way it threw shadows,” Ryan says.

of an industrial feel.”

The three concrete pieces all look different, too:

• The fireplace: “With those two black strips it really pops it out,” Ryan says. “Particularly with the blue wall. They did a lighter texture concrete. It’s subtle.”

• The island: “The three-dimensional feel is really nice,” he says. “It gave it more definition.”

• And the wall: “They did something like an acid wash that gives it a weathered look. It brings out the imperfections.”

The Sniders started building their new home in rural Norwalk last July and moved in just before Christmas.Originally, they were looking to buy a contemporary home, but they couldn’t find one in their price range. So they bought a couple of acres and signed up contractor Paul Owens of IronCrest Homes.

“We took a floor plan he lived in himself and kind of tweaked it,” Ryan says. “His was a lot bigger home, but we downsized it.”

What they came up with was something of a hybrid.

“The house blends prairie, Frank Lloyd Wright style with a contemporary setup,” Ryan says.

And they were able to do this and keep to their budget. Well, kind of.

“We were shooting for 330 (thousand dollars), and we came in at more like 400,” he says.

The house isn’t huge, the couple says, but it lives large. Ryan says the 2,600 square feet seems bigger, and rooms are not overwhelming, so there’s no wasted space.

The open plan also creates a feeling of expanse.

The living room (above) focuses on the streamlined concrete fireplace and floating walnut shelf. The sculpture is “Out of Hand” by James Bearden. The vivid blue wall is meant to display the contemporary artwork (below and top right). Kitchen cabinets (top right) from Ador are oak. The walk-in pantry (right) is disguised as part of the cabinetry. The stairway’s metal railings (far right) were made by Pete Kellis, owner of Iowa Mufflers & Brake.

CONTINUED >>


Downstairs in the family room, the cutouts in the see-through wall mimic the size and shape of the windows. The walk-in shower in the master bath (top right) has frosted glass and Delta fixtures. The Sniders found the fixtures for the upstairs powder room (bottom right) on eBay.


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“Especially in the kitchen, some people tell us, ‘Oh, you don’t have enough space, you don’t have enough storage.’ But we have a big pantry. If we didn’t have a big pantry, we’d have to have a wall of cupboards, which we didn’t want.”

Without cupboards, there is room for two other things very important to the Sniders: 1) windows, all the better to see the sunsets; and 2) more wall space, which becomes a backdrop to their collection of artwork.

“I think our builder sometimes thought that we were crazy.” Ryan says.

Alyssa: “When I said that wall needed to be blue, he said, ‘Really?’”

And that wall is not just blue, it is blue.

Ryan: “But it makes the artwork really pop out.”

And while you may think the couple’s gray walls are evocative of the color of the home’s concrete features, you’d only be

CONTINUED >>


half-right. The Sniders took their color cue from one aspect of the building process.

“We liked the way the drywall looked and went from that,” says Ryan, who is 33 and owner of Snider Lawn Care. (He already has plans for his expansive back yard this spring.)

Anticipating the heightened view, as you might expect in a home with such clean lines, the windows have no treatments.

“Without having any neighbors,” he says, “you don’t have to worry about

blinds, about clutter.”

Alyssa, 27, works as a department manager at Catalyst Rx, a pharmacy benefits management company. Ryan’s daily commute to the office may be zero minutes, but despite living in the country, Alyssa says, her morning drive is only 20 minutes. Yes, country is that close to city.

“We have such nice views out here,” Ryan says. “The trees, the deer, the hawks.”

Says Alyssa, “It’s really comfy and cozy here.”

The trim in the master bedroom (left), which looks out onto the Snid-ers’ acreage, is maple. The windows are sized so that, as Alyssa says, “you don’t need a headboard for the bed.” The prairie-style exterior of the house (above), with its large overhangs, is a dry-stacked cast stone. “It’s more bud-get friendly,” Ryan says. Other surfaces are stucco, in the front, and Hardie-Plank, on the sides and back. “The way the house sits,” Alyssa says, “you always have a view of the sunsets.”

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Large tiled showers, granite countertops and beautiful accessories add elegance and style to spa-like bathrooms.by PATT JOHNSON

Bathroom retreats


Sue Amosson’s West Des Moines master bath includes painted vanity cabinets, granite countertops, beveled framed mirrors, marble floor tile and a television. A full-length mirror reflects the large tub that has a marble backsplash with glass tile accents. A large framed picture and hanging light fixture add to the chic ambiance of the room. The walls are a gray taupe color called Squirrel Tail by Benjamin Moore.

Photo: Justin Hayworth


Bathrooms don’t have to be strictly utilitarian. Homeowners are

looking to remake their master bathrooms into luxurious spa-like retreats.

It’s all about comfort, convenience and styles that can tranform plain-Jane lavatories into posh privies, designers say.

“We are seeing more showers with tile going up to the ceiling, more decorative tile and European-styled showers with no doors,” says Ben Trannel, owner of CASE remodeling.

Heated tile floors are replacing vinyl flooring. Utilitarian vanities in laminate and marble are moving to granite- and quartz-topped cabinets. Showers are larger, offering glass enclosures and multiple showerheads. Décor is more decorative,

with chandeliers and recessed lighting.

As bathrooms become outdated, homeowners are pulling out the whirlpool tubs once popular in the 1990s and replacing them with large showers.

“They are taking down walls to make the bathroom look bigger,” Trannel says.

When it comes to master suite bathrooms, designer Julie Jensen, showroom manager at Consolidated Kitchens & Fireplaces in Urbandale, says bathrooms are becoming showplaces.

“Everything has more of a furniture look, like cabinets and vanities,” she says. “It’s all about style.”

And smaller powder rooms are adding vessel bowl sinks with

wall mounted faucets, Jensen says.

Designer Keith Meendering, who works with ACR Construction, says small touches like crown molding, decorative lighting and framed wall mirrors add elegance and style to bland bathrooms.

West Des Moines homeowner Sue Amosson revamped her master bathroom by adding an elegant crisp black and white motif. Meendering, who designed the room, says Amosson wanted to update the look of the old bath without changing the size of the room.

Meendering replaced a traditional fiberglass shower surround with a slightly larger tiled shower with glass doors. It makes the space look updated and larger, he says. He also

added marble tile to the floor and backsplash, which has a black and white glass tile accent.

Amosson loves the results. “I started with an idea of subway tile and black and white old fashioned small octagonal tiles on the floor,” she says. “But Keith came back with the current plan. Even though it was much more expensive I decided I would really enjoy it.”

She also likes other touches in the revamped room, like the multiple shower jets, the decorative lighting and the small TV mounted near the sink.

Sondra and Tom Newkirk revamped the master bathroom in their Des Moines home that was built in the mid 1920s. The couple has lived in the house for 14 years and had

White and gray marble tile line the shower in Sue Amosson’s bathroom. The floor is a raised pebble tile designer Keith Meendering says “feels good on your feet.”

The separate toilet room features handpainted wall designs. Dark crown molding outlines the whole bathroom.

Phot

os: J

ustin

Hay

worth


updated everything but the master bedroom and bath.

“I would dream of what I wanted the bathroom to be,” says Sondra Newkirk.

AIM Kitchen & Bath expanded the bathroom from 5-by-6 feet to 11-by-9 feet. They added a spacious shower with slate floor and custom stone walls.

The new heated floor was covered with period porcelain hexagon tiles. Other touches included original light fixtures that were salvaged from other parts of the house, beveled oval mirrors over a quartz topped custom vanity and nature-inspired vintage wallpaper.

“I wanted a bathroom with all the modern conveniences but with the look and character of the rest of the home,” she says.

Ann Holz, an interior designer with Monarch Renovations, says sustainability continues to

be a driving force in bathroom design. “We are seeing improved technology in water-saving devices for faucets, shower heads and toilets,” she says. “The goal always is to offer the benefit of these devices/technologies but not to have to sacrifice for design, comfort or function. “

More current bathroom trends include:

- Wallpaper. “Wallpaper is making bold comebacks in every space of your home, and the bathroom is no exception,” Holz says. “It’s a fun way to add color and interest to a space. I love it placed above wainscoting.”

- Unlacquered brass fixtures, hardware and lighting. “This is not the brass of the 1980s,” Holtz says. “Unlacquered brass is a great choice when wanting an old-time finish or when you are looking to mix finishes because it pairs well

with most any finish or style.”

- Gray. “The color gray has been on trend for a while now but could easily be called the “new white” in 2012,” she says. “Gray walls, tubs, cabinetry, tile; any and all are good choices.”

- Ovals. “Oval sinks, oval tubs, oval mirrors. An organic shape but it’s often paired with contemporary styling,” she says.

High-tech bathroomsMany homeowners are adding bits and pieces of technology into their bathrooms. Budgets preclude many people from going tech wild, but some popular amenities include:

- Hands-free, smart faucets that automatically adjust temperature and pressure.

- Wireless remote electric toothbrushes.

- Waterproof speakers for radio and iPod use.

- Scales that measure weight and monitor health conditions like diabetes, asthma or heart conditions.

- Heated toilet seats.

Vintage wallpaper, oval mirrors, antique lighting, period floor tile and timeless accessories are part of the makeover in Sondra and Tom Newkirk’s Des Moines home. The couple wanted an expanded master bath with modern conveniences while maintaining the character of their 1924 house.

A large frosted glass enclosed shower with slate floors replaced a tiny, dark shower in the Newkirk’s master bath.

Photos: Bryon Houlgrave


Basic, set-in white sinks are losing their place in upgraded bathroom designs.

Taking their spot are glass, ceramic, stainless and copper sinks.

“The two categories of sinks that are popular are vessel bowl and undermounts,” says Julie Jensen, showroom manager at Consolidated Kitchens & Fireplaces in Urbandale.

Vessel sinks generally sit on the top of a counter and resemble a bowl. They come in all types of materials and colors, and provide a sharp design element to a bathroom. And because they look like bowls, the faucets are installed on the wall or right behind the bowl.

Kohler Co., the Wisconsin-based kitchen and bath manufacturer, says vessel sink faucets need long necks so that the water reaches the center of the bowl. A faucet neck that’s too short will cause water to hit the side of the bowl and splash.

For that reason, Jensen says vessels are more often found in powder rooms, where usage is more limited.

Undermount sinks have increased in popularity, too, because they offer clean lines, says Jensen.

“Undermounts have two seams around them and are much easier to clean,” she says. They come in a variety of shapes and materials, including popular options stainless steel and copper.

The materials, size and shape of both vessel and undermount sinks determine the price. Undermounts can start at $75 and go up, while vessels are a little more expensive, Jensen says.

Plain white bathroom sinks have been replaced by decorative bowls and vesselsby PATT JOHNSONPhotos special to Homestyle

All washed up

Top: A white stone vessel sink by Kohler provides a bowl look. Above: Undermount sinks, like this deep slanted bowl from Toto is sleek and modern. Right: Glass sinks come in both vessel styles and a decorative undermount, both from Kohler.


I t was 1979 or 80 when he got his first major print. Dale Jansen can’t say for sure when he had caught the art bug.

This wasn’t something of interest to most farm kids in western Iowa. But there he was one day,

in Omaha on a cattle-selling trip with his father, when he wandered into the Joslyn Art Museum. It was, as he says, a big eye-opener.

Dreams of becoming an artist were quashed when he discovered he had “appreciation, but not talent.” But still, he was hungry for knowledge, so he enrolled in a art history and appreciation class his freshman

Top: Images in a strongly black-and-white theme fill the back room of Dale Jensen’s Des Moines home. On the wall to the left are works by, from left, Susan Rothenberg, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold and Ellsworth Kelly. In the top row on the wall to the right are prints by Terry Winters, and on the bottom, from left, are works by Sol Lewitt, Robert Cottingham and Jasper Johns. Above: Jansen relaxes in front of some of his collec-tion. His collection of prints is large enough that he regularly rotates pieces in and out of display.

CONTINUED >>

by Kelly RobeRson • photos by DaviD PurDy

For the Love of ArtA MuseuM-quAlITy prInT cOllecTIOn Is The cenTerpIece

Of DAle JAnsen’s MODesT hOMe

Des Moines HOMEsTyle March 201222

year at the university of Iowa. It was his first step to quenching that thirst, on a lifelong journey to learn, to see, to appreciate art — and particularly prints.

his watershed moment came in 1979 – or 1980, he’s not exactly sure. Jansen, then a pediatric dentist, joined the Des Moines Art center and got to know the former director, James Demetrion. “In those years, he had a show where he would bring in a lot of prints and drawings from galleries all around that were available for purchase,” Jansen says.

Jansen bought his first piece — a frank stella print called polar coordinates — and started to get to know dealers from outside Des Moines, including st. louis. he read books and magazines about art and artists, visited art fairs and shows, galleries and museums. slowly he began buying things he liked, typically contemporary art pieces, most by artists whose work started appearing in the early 1960s.

Today, he owns an impressive array of prints, as well as a few paintings and other pieces, tidily arranged in his modest Des Moines home. There’s

“WIThIn ArT cOllecTIng, There Are All kInDs Of DIrecTIOns yOu cAn gO”

Below left: Jansen’s collection bridges the divide between realistic,

such as “Night Hawk” by Robert Cottingham, and

more abstract pieces.

Below right: Sol Lewitt can

be seen in public buildings, such as downtown’s

Pappjohn Education Center,

as well as in Jansen’s collection.

CONTINUED >>


Left: Modern furniture stays clearly in the background with these prints in the front room by, left to right, Jaume Plensa, Kiki Smith, Eric Fischl, Chuck Close, and Philip Pearlstein.Below: Sometimes Jansen groups similarly themed prints together; right now, one room has prints of mostly people, such as “Self Portrait” and “Leslie,” both by Chuck Close.

Des Moines HOMEsTyle March 201224

that first frank stella, another by the minimalist printmaker and painter, and pieces by such art-world luminaries as Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. Jansen never had a particular theme in mind when he bought a piece — it was more about likes and dislikes, with an affinity for what is considered contemporary art. But he was a good listener and always kept satisfying that original hunger for knowledge. “Within art collecting, there are all kinds of directions you can go,” he says. “I would always bounce things off of people, and with a lot of things, your taste changes. There are things I let go in the early days that I wish I could go back and get.”

part of what kept his interest in prints was the large variety of print work that artists produce. There are simple etchings on copper plates, lithography, wood block prints, serigraphs, collages. “With prints, there are so many different ways a print can be made, but it all stems from the artist doing work on a substrate material, plates, or stone,” says Jansen. “There are those artists out there that I’ve

always liked, but I like to find the emerging artists, someone that really has something worthwhile to say. I have everything from abstract to realistic, with work that maybe has a bit of an edge.”

Jansen has enough art these days that he can rotate pieces in and out — not an easy task. An upstairs eave is filled with frames in storage, and themes come and go — for example, images of people in one room, a collection of black and white prints in another. he has never really sold anything, but has traded up. “When you put different things together, you look at them differently,” Jansen says.

And because his is not an ordinary collection, Jansen, now retired, is also supremely careful with its care. each piece is professionally framed, and while his house has windows, he uses collection-protecting shades that limit exposure to direct light. he also must monitor humidity, as well as excessive fluctuation in temperature. Artificial light, too, is an issue: The wrong choice can fade artwork.

Above: In Jansen’s back room, he currently has works by James Siena,

Jasper Johns, Frank Stella (his first print purchase), Richard Diebenkorn and

Howard Hodgkins. Right: Jansen began

collecting in about 1980, and owns works by some

of the 20th century’s most notable artists, such as this print, “Unborn,” by

Francesco Clemente.


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he attributes much of his archival knowledge to his involvement with the Des Moines Art center and its print club. he is also a trustee and is currently working on the April 26 Art crazy event at 1717 Ingersoll Ave., a one-day art sale to benefit the Art Center. The event will gather works of art that people have stashed away, that they no longer want, to benefit the free admission program.

Jansen’s art passion has taken him around the world — to the Art Basel fair in switzerland, to Venice, to Bilbao, Spain, as well as to Chicago, New york and Miami.

he isn’t collecting for the investment, but for the love of art, for the possibilities it has opened to him — of people and the world beyond the borders of western Iowa and his years growing up there.

“My dad would ask how I got interested in this stuff, because my brothers and sisters were not,” Jansen says. “It has been my lake house and my country club and all those kinds of things, but I wouldn’t trade it.”


An alcove in Karin Edwards’ home has floor to ceiling book-shelves and a long banquette in front of a window. The Kiki Smith sculpture on the round table, a gift from her husband, Charlie, is one of Edwards’ favorite things. Right: Edwards’ designs focus on livability, as well as beauty. This practical bent comes, in no small part, from her love of pets. She has four dogs and a cat. Shown here are Jack the Lab, Miss Mouse the dachshund and Kitty Wearstler.

distinctive designer


‘HOMES TELL A STORY’Designer Karin Edwards’ work draws on years of education and a commitment to welcoming and practical spaces.

You might not think 17th-century Spanish and Flemish painters have much to do with a modern home

swathed in white, but after meeting Des Moines designer Karin Edwards, you’d think again.

Her newly remodeled home is more Richard Serra than Peter Paul Rubens, more spare than lush, more pristine beach than dense foliage. But there’s also something grounded, comfortable and fundamentally un-trendy about the spaces and the furnishings and the materials. Edwards describes her sensibilities this way: “I’m a traditionalist living

in a modern home.”

Though most of her life was spent in New York, over the last 12-plus years, Edwards – who has also worked as an antiques appraiser, design journalist and curator – has put her formidable education and expertise to work in central Iowa. The design business she launched about three years ago, Karin H. Edwards Interiors, is just the latest incarnation.

And the master’s degree in architecture Edwards is close to earning from Iowa State University is just the latest addition to an impressive curriculum vitae To wit: a bachelor’s from John Hopkins, a master’s in art history

by Jennifer Miller • photos special to the publication

CONTINUED >>


“I love tear-’em-up projects”


(specializing in those old Flemish and Spanish guys), a master’s in museum studies, a curatorial certificate from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and time spent studying interior architecture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Edwards calls art, design and architecture “the awesome threesome.”

They’re all connected, Edwards says, and all hearken back to something. Even the most modern of things or styles can be traced back to something else, which, in turn, can be traced back to something else, according to the self-described design-history junkie. “Art history is design history. Everything comes from a base of history,” Edwards says. “There is nothing you can do that hasn’t been done before in some way.”

There is also, apparently, nothing that can’t be done. Edwards gives effusive praise to the local craftspeople she works with for helping her do what many would say couldn’t be done – laying three different thicknesses of tile in one small bathroom, for instance, or plumbing faucets right through a mirror.

“I’m hard to say no to,” Edwards says. For one project at the Park Fleur, she needed a couch of a certain size, but it didn’t fit in the elevator. So she called the elevator company and convinced them to come help her load the couch on top of the elevator and haul it up to one floor below where it was heading. “There’s always a way,” she says.


Above and left: Edward’s kitchen features custom-made chairs at the bar and sliding marble doors behind the stove that conceal storage space. Opposite page: Designer Karin Edwards works almost exclusively on large projects that involve reconfiguring spaces.

Jim Russell of Jim Russell Design, a specialty metal fabricating company, has worked with Edwards on several projects and vouches for Edwards’ tenacity. He points to Edwards’ pushback against the modern preoccupation with focal-point hardware – screws, bolts, caps all designed to be seen – as an example. “She challenges me by insisting on using hidden or invisible hardware and means of attachment. Sometimes it makes me tear my hair out, but I enjoy the challenge. Maybe the visible hardware trend is a result of defaulting to the simplest means of solving a problem. Karin won’t settle. If she gets it in her head, it will be done – and I say that in an

CONTINUED >>



Above and right: Edwards created this bath to be a “wet room.” Everything, including the toilet paper, is protected from the shower, which runs into a subtle drain in the middle of the room. The damask tile pat-tern was designed by Edwards. Opposite page: This bedroom is warmed by two colors of wood on the walls and a soft area rug.


admiring way.”

Her transition from writer (she worked for decorati.com and Meredith) to designer started with hanging art. “People would bring me in to hang art on their stark white walls, wanting it to look like a museum. And I would think, ‘Why? This is your home.’”

One thing led to another, and hanging a collection turned into bigger projects – design projects. “I like to restructure spaces. Redecorating is just the last layer on the cake. If someone is looking for window treatments, they don’t want me. I’m not right for every job.”

Edwards’ favorite projects are kitchens and baths. “People don’t think about those rooms like they think about living

rooms. They don’t think about furnishings,” she says. And they should. Those most functional of rooms also appeal to Edwards for their challenge. “I love tear-’em-up projects, big, complicated projects. And I love plumbing in a way that just isn’t normal.”

Another thing dear to Edwards’ heart is creating closets and other storage spaces. Her home features dozens of clever storage solutions, including one whole wall of bedroom closets concealed by white, sculptural panels reminiscent of giant waffle irons.

For all the time and education invested in those bailiwicks, Edwards’ true loves are her pets – and being a pet owner informs her design to a


“I love plumbing in a way that’s just not natural”

surprising degree. Two Labs, two dachshunds (one has a digestive issue, and another is blind) and an elegant, long-legged cat have free run of the house.

“People have an idea of what is ‘pet-friendly’ or ‘kid-friendly’, or what is ‘family space,’” she says. “But you can have a beautiful, luxurious space and still have it be practical and comfortable. I will never ask you to take your shoes off when you come in. Look at my house – there’s white everywhere.” But no place is off limits to pets or people, Edwards makes clear.

In fact, the extra-wide, white-upholstered chairs at the kitchen bar were custom made to fit one human rump (husband Charlie’s) and one canine rump (Miss Mouse’s or Henry’s).

Though she is in school full time and also works full time, Edwards says she doesn’t like to multi-task, and only works on one project at a time. “I find it hard to do anything half-time, and the scale of projects I work on make them time-consuming,” the designer says.

Russell says Edwards’ talent comes from knowledge coupled with good instincts she’s not afraid to follow. “She has a way of implementing and combining her desire to be creative and her design sensibilities that benefits clients and gives her an edge,” he says.

Edwards boils the whole process down to just this: “Interior design is like curating. It’s about telling a story. Homes tell a story – at least good ones.”

TheSignsofaQualityHome.Of course, to clean up your yard a bit, we could be persuaded to combine those signs into one.Maybe something like this: “Gilcrest/Jewett: We do it all.”

Gilcrest/Jewett: Building Relationships Since 1856. www.gilcrestjewett.com

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Homestyle | March 2012