Columbus Monthly Home & Garden Spring/Summer 2021

A WELL-PLANNED ESTATE GARDEN IN BEXLEY • WHIMSICAL TOUCHES IN A NEW HOUSE

SPRING/SUMMER 2021

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A COLUMBUS MONTHLY PUBLICATION

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2021 Sping Home & w Garden Sho PAGE 47

PRESENT TENSE New homeowners modernize the historic LeVeque farmhouse

WHILE WORKING AT HOME One couple updates their entire Arlington house

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Contents SPRING/SUMMER 2021

STYLE NOTES

FEATURES 18 HERITAGE PRESERVED The former LeVeque farmhouse gets updated.

26 WHIMSICAL SURPRISES An Upper Arlington new build offers plenty of fun.

32 WORKING AT HOME Two guys update their entire house during the pandemic.

38 ROOTED IN ANTIQUITY A Bexley estate garden gets a major renovation.

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47 SHOW PREVIEW A preview of this spring’s Dispatch Home & Garden Show

A Well-plAnned eStAte gArden in bexley • WhimSicAl toucheS in A neW houSe

Spring/Summer 2021

Don't Miss

A Columbus monthly publicAtion

this:

2021 Sping Home & Garden Show Page 47

IN EVERY ISSUE 4 Editor’s Note 6 Editor’s Faves 50 What is Home?

55 Top 25 in Real Estate 56 Closure

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

Present tense New homeowners modernize the historic LeVeque farmhouse

C1_COVER_SS_HG.indd 1

While Working At home one couple updates their entire Arlington house

2/4/21 11:25 AM

ON THE COVER: New owners have updated the former home of Columbus icon Katherine LeVeque.

COVER PHOTO BY TIM JOHNSON

PHOTOS: TIM JOHNSON

10 A Bedroom Refresh 12 Mood Enhancers for Home 14 The Importance of Staging Your House 16 Home Alone for a Pandemic

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FROM THE EDITOR

A Safe Home The former home of Columbus icon Katherine LeVeque, a longtime owner of the LeVeque Tower Downtown, is featured in this issue of Columbus Monthly Home & Garden. Its new owners, Beth and Josh Fenton, have made significant updates and put on an addition.

What strikes me is this. The former LeVeque home near Africa Road in southern Delaware County was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. The home’s original structure was built in 1841 by anti-slavery activist Samuel Patterson and at one time functioned as a United Methodist Church.

This was a safe house for formerly enslaved individuals fleeing northward to freedom. It, and others in our region, is an important landmark in this country’s history.

Today, this former LeVeque house and most others have become safe places for the families who dwell there as we run out the end of this pandemic. Thanks to each gracious homeowner, you’ll read some interesting stories in this issue. Perfect places for isolation, all of them.

But that brings up another point.

As small—and some large—businesses struggle through this COVID-related recession, the unsung heroes in this issue of Columbus Monthly Home & Garden are our advertisers. We are overjoyed that so many have joined us during this time of economic uncertainty.

I hope in the upcoming months of good weather that you have plenty of reasons to pay them a visit. What glorious shopping we hope there will be in the days ahead, not the least being the Columbus Dispatch Home & Garden Show. See pages 47-48 in this issue for details.

I hope that your springtime brings you much joy and peace.

PHOTO: TODD YARRINGTON

Sherry Beck Paprocki Editor

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

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EDITOR’S FAVES

Paint Your Way Make way for a range of colored furniture that is on the market this spring. Red, yellow, mint and more. These happy hued pieces are best sprinkled in with your existing décor to brighten a dull space. Just one small punch of color is all you need for a big impact. —Sherry Beck Paprocki

Grace two-drawer open shelf side table, $599 at Ballard Designs

Stretto red entryway cabinet, $699 at Crate & Barrel

Van five-drawer dresser, $1,049 at West Elm

Etienne nightstand, $799.99 at Frontgate

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

Dayna side chairs (set of 2), $699 at Ballard Designs

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Belmont mint kitchen island, $499 at Crate & Barrel

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The 65th annual Home & Garden Show will operate as safely as home improvement and retail stores that are open for business. You can read our full Safe Operating Plan online, designed to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved – it includes these practices.

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Programming Just craftsmen and experts from local home improvement companies, no stages for workshops/demonstrations, no celebrity appearances.

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STYLE TRENDS

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A Bedroom Refresh

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Researchers recommend we spend one-third of our life sleeping.

If we’re in bed for eight hours a day, shouldn’t we be surrounded by comfortable things? As another isolated winter comes to a close, our bedrooms continue to provide the private place to relax and unwind. Dedicate this space to luxurious comforts.

If they make you rest better, it’s worth it. —Ana Piper 4

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1 Ace single globe wall sconce, $119 at CB2 2 Stonewashed Belgian linen flanged pillow, $104-$269 at RH 3 Hand-knotted floral melange abstract pillow cover, $129-$429 at RH 4 Graydon shagreen shelter bed, $2,831-$3,985 at RH 5 Bradford chaise lounger, $899-$1,199, at West Elm 6 Breah burlwood nightstand, $429 at CB2 10

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

PHOTOS: 1, 6, COURTESY CB2; 2, 3, 4, COURTESY RH; 5, COURTESY WEST ELM

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STYLE TRENDS

Kindle a Spark Mimicking nature with sights, sounds and smells will help find joy at home.

In these desperate and unusual times, a healthy dose of nature can buoy spirits and promote well-being.

But then, so can sitting on the other end of the sofa.

It may sound far-fetched but doing something as simple as changing your seating position can change your posture and perspective, which in turn can bring new energy and positivity, says Rebekah Matheny, an associate professor of interior design at Ohio State University.

“We are moving beings,” Matheny says.

“There is empirical research that shows when you alter one element in a space, it visually distracts us, and that’s a good thing. It creates a new spark in our personal energy.” This can be 12

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

easily achieved by moving a plant, a piece of art or an accent chair.

Increasingly, home and building designers draw inspiration from nature—its sights and colors, sounds and scents. Matheny says human beings have a psychological need to connect with nature, which has been formalized into a principle called the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design.

Harvard naturalist Edward O. Wilson coined the term biophilic, which literally means “love of life,” in 1984 to describe what he saw as the human need and affinity for nature. Proponents say biophilic design, now a concept used in the building industry, helps reduce stress, enhance

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES

BY LAURIE ALLEN

creativity and clarity, and promote healing and well-being.

Matheny says people can use the principles of biophilic design to bring more comfort into their homes by introducing fresh plants and flowers, and using nature-inspired patterns in fabrics, flooring and wallcoverings.

“It doesn’t have to be overt,” she says. It can be suggestive of nature through a subtle leaf or branch pattern in a sheer curtain or wallcovering, for example.

Designer Julie Paulino likes to play recordings of singing birds or moving water. “Those [are] sounds that inspire you to relax,” she says. “It’s all those beautiful sounds you don’t hear when you are indoors.” Soothing music is another option.

Peggy Smith, a designer and owner of Howard Brooks Interiors, says color definitely is a mood changer. “Lighter, happier colors really do affect someone’s disposition,” she says. “Gray is going away. We’re seeing more beiges again, which brings back a warmer tone.”

Also, shades of green and blue create a visual connection to nature, Matheny advises.

“How do we make our new normal a bit more joyful?” she asks. “It doesn’t have to be an overall rehab.”

According the designers, smaller ways to create comfort at home include: USE SCENTS Matheny says scent can both energize and calm, depending on the aroma and time of day. An app-controlled aroma plug-in containing two different scents allows people to breathe in one scent in the morning and another later in the day.

CAREFUL LIGHTING Designers dig dimmers for turning down the visual volume in a room. Small table and floor lamps are recommended over harsh, overhead lighting. Smith likes to put lamps on timers so homeowners don’t return to a dark house in the evening.

GOOD ORGANIZATION Paulino recommends making the bed each morning, keeping your office area decluttered and writing in a daily gratitude journal.

COZY COMFORT It’s still cool, so cozy it up with throws, rugs, candles, art and other objects that make you smile.

VISUAL GREENERY People without green thumbs, take heart. It’s OK to use lifelike artificial plants and flowers, provided they are high quality.

Watching an unhappy plant wither and die isn’t a mood lifter, Paulino advises. Do whatever works best for you when it comes to green growth.

WINDOW VIEWS Looking outside is an ideal way to redirect focus and ignite feelings of well-being.

IN THE PERIPHERY Matheny says it’s also important to pay attention to what’s in your peripheral view as well.

Seeing a vase of flowers, a beautiful candle or natureinspired wallpaper out of the corner of the eye can kindle imagination and creativity.

SPRING/SUMMER 2021 COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN

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STYLE TRENDS

Stage Your Home Decluttering is a lot of work, so start your home-selling process early by focusing on the task.

BY ANA PIPER

“Use this time to purge items you no longer use or need,” she says. “Plus it will be less you have to move when the house sells.”

Remember those bins of holiday decorations you haven’t used in the last three years? This is the time to throw them out.

Make the process more manageable and rent a dumpster for a few days. The dumpster has dual purposes: to dispose and to give you a deadline for finishing the task.

We’ve probably all heard that removing personal photos is another key to selling your home but be sure to consider the surroundings after personal items are put away.

Riemenschneider suggests painting the walls a neutral color. “If they are already neutral, still put a fresh coat in the main living spaces,” she says. “It will help the house look fresh, bright and clean.” After creating a blank slate with the walls, it’s time to address furniture.

Typically, for staging purposes, we have too much of it in any room, so be sure to

edit and keep pieces that serve a purpose in the overall layout of the room. Experts say there are key rooms to stage in your home.

Focus your attention on the most lived-in spaces. According to the NAR’s staging report, the most important rooms to be staged are the living room, the kitchen, the master bedroom and the dining room, in that order.

Curb appeal is a weighted factor for potential buyers deciding to look at your home. The first photo they will see online is typically the exterior front of your home, and it takes just a few seconds to decide if they will look closer at interior photos which could lead to an in-person showing.

Be sure your landscaping, front porch and driveway are clean and tidy. A fresh coat of paint on the front door may be a good idea. “While the showing agent is unlocking the [lockbox] the buyers are looking at the exterior so you definitely want to make a good impression,” says Riemenschneider.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The process of selling, packing and moving may seem like a daunting task, but what can you do to prepare your home for sale before it even hits the market? It’s no secret that homes that have been staged either professionally or in some respect by the sellers typically sell quicker or possibly sell for more money than originally anticipated.

In a research report by the National Association of Realtors, 83 percent of buyer agents confirmed that staging a home made it easier for buyers to visualize the property as their future home.

After years of making your house a home, you’ve undoubtedly collected more furniture and accessories than you know what to do with, so where do you start?

The entire staging process most likely feels overwhelming. Lindsey Riemenschneider, a professional stager and owner of C&B Staging and Redesign in Columbus, notes that the first step to manage the staging process is to declutter and then declutter some more.

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

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Home Alone Older people may be more resilient when it comes to dealing with social isolation. BY SANDRA GURVIS Last June, in the middle of the pandemic, I moved all by myself from Columbus to Bradenton, Florida. I’m not going to divulge my age, which hit another milestone in January. But here’s the thing: Being older and alone during a worldshattering situation is not as bad as you might think.

Geriatrician Dr. Carla Perissinotto, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco recently described the differences between loneliness and social isolation.

“Loneliness is more subjective—a feeling, an assessment that social relationships are lacking,” she says. “Social isolation is objective, as in measure of connections to family, friends or the community.”

So while I may have been physically alone during those first few weeks in my new location, I kept busy online, connecting with business associates, friends and family through social media and platforms such as Zoom. My mental landscape didn’t 16

change much although my physical environment certainly did.

“One 85-year-old is not the same as another,” observes Paula Span, who writes the New Old Age column for The New York Times and recently addressed the topic of “Aging and Alone During COVID-19” in a webinar presented by the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism. “Some may be running marathons, while others can barely move.”

Certainly, income, access to technology and resources, and general physical and mental health are differentiating factors among the older population. “Because they have lived through and seen so much, older people are more resilient, especially when they have a sense of purpose, such as volunteering and caring for family, two things that were taken away by COVID,” says Span.

She paints a worst-case scenario of an older person in a nursing home or other institutional environment alone in a room

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

being given boxed meals—a virtual prisoner of a COVID lockdown. Each day is the same and they rarely if ever see anyone except for gowned, masked staff. “No wonder the death rate from COVID is so high in these places and keeps increasing the longer the pandemic goes on,” continues Span.

According to a study from the University of British Columbia, younger adults had more concerns about COVID-19, while those aged 60-plus fared much better mentally and emotionally. Bottom line, it appeared the older the person, the better they felt they were coping with the pandemic.

Perissinotto also recently participated in a study that showed while technology and medical intervention are useful to older Americans, “there should be allowances for safe, in-person interaction when needed,” she says. This could range from regular, socially distanced visits with a “bubble” or pod of COVID-free family and friends to spending time with therapy animals to doing outdoor activities, even in cold weather.

As for me, I count my blessings this year.

I’m following epidemiological guidelines to continue avoiding COVID-19, occasionally gather with new friends, and regularly go outside for gorgeous walks in my new natural habitat.

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES

STYLE TRENDS

BY LAURIE ALLEN | PHOTOS BY TIM JOHNSON

Heritage Preserved In southern Delaware County, the former LeVeque farm has been modernized to accommodate a family of five.

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

STAIRWAY STYLING A former aqua-colored iron stairway was repainted in black as homeowners attempted to modernize the historic dwelling.

SPRING/SUMMER 2021 COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN

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A

modern family of five is honoring the past and protecting the future of a historic Westerville home that once was a stop on the Underground Railroad and more recently was owned by the late Katherine LeVeque and her husband, Fred.

Homeowners Beth and Josh Fenton worked with Steller Construction last year to complete a major kitchen renovation and 2,900-square-foot addition to the 6,000-square-foot home, which they purchased in 2016.

“It was love at first sight,” says Beth, upon seeing the home in southern Delaware County. Not typically a fan of older homes or farmhouse style, she finds this one quite engaging. Now located at the end of a culde-sac in a neighborhood of high-end homes built more recently, the historic house has its own distinct style, as well as an interesting history. It was built in 1841 by anti-slavery activist Samuel Patterson and at one time functioned as a United Methodist Church in addition to being a refuge for individuals who were fleeing slavery.

Patterson often invited known abolitionists to speak at his services. His activities eventually led to the naming of nearby Africa Road. The LeVeques purchased the property as newlyweds in 1955 and added several hundred acres in subsequent years.

After she spent a lifetime preserving and updating the space, as well as selling off some of the land, the last 5 acres and the home were sold after Katherine LeVeque’s death in 2014. (Columbus real estate icon Fred LeVeque died in a plane crash in 1975.)

When they purchased the home, the Fentons wanted to keep many of its original elements while making it a warm and functional space for their family of three boys, one dog and three cats. The couple, for the most part, chose not to knock down walls or long-standing features such as wooden doors and fireplaces. As a result, exposed brick walls, wood paneling and original doors and hardware add layers of intrigue that contrast with its modern updates.

Beth acknowledges the house was large to begin with but says her family “pretty much uses every room, every day.” Even most of the seven fireplaces are used on a regular basis.

The centerpiece of the renovation is the kitchen, which previously had served as the home’s dining room. The room’s original, large fireplace—believed to have been used for cooking at one time—lends a historic feel to a thoroughly modernized kitchen that now has a large island, light-colored cabinetry and top-of-the-line appliances, including a 35-cubic-foot stainless refrigerator. Because of the refrigerator’s size, “the kitchen was pretty much designed around it,” Beth notes.

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

MODERN CONTRAST Modern furnishings were selected for a seating area situated near the stairway. At right, the home’s kitchen underwent a complete renovation and now features high-end Dacor appliances.

SPRING/SUMMER 2021 COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

White, custom cabinets feature shaker doors and sleek brass hardware that give the room a clean, modern appearance. The large, custom-stained oak island doubles as family dining space. The cabinets, crafted by Dearing Cabinetry, LLC, are at the top of Beth’s list of “favorites” in her new home. “They are so solid, and the carpenter spent weeks here, working on the little details [to achieve] perfection,” she says.

Floors are a premium, select grade of Appalachian oak hardwood finished with Mystic Taupe High Gloss stain. The color provides a lighter contrast to the slate hearth at the fireplace and flooring in the adjacent sunroom, and it solved a design dilemma.

The house has various types of wood used in its original construction and the LeVeque updates. “There is so much wood in this house, there was no thought of matching it,” Beth says.

Steller also transformed what was the original galley kitchen into a butler’s pantry, a secondary messy kitchen and a family foyer, also known as the mud room. An original fireplace and door add historic

character, there, but the dark and cramped feel has been eliminated and replaced with a picture window, plants and a spacious locker area featuring white cabinetry and benches.

The Fentons widened a doorway between the kitchen and sunroom, making the kitchen appear larger and filling the space with abundant light and views of the property, including a greenhouse that Katherine LeVeque added to the property. With decorative windows and a large spiral staircase, the sunroom has a conservatory feel, and is where the former lady of the house’s influence is very much present, explains Beth.

“Some of the things she did I just marvel at,” Beth says, noting a grand light fixture in the sunroom.

LeVeque transformed an old gas lantern by turning it upside down and having it wired to become a functioning, one-of-a-kind statement piece. A tealcolored wrought-iron staircase with a scroll pattern of blooms and petals is another LeVeque trademark.

The Fentons have updated it with black paint.

ARCHITECTURAL DELIGHT The former LeVeque farmhouse includes many unique characteristics throughout. At left, the domed dining room can host formal affairs, but also serves as a space for the new owners’ three sons to do their schoolwork.

SPRING/SUMMER 2021 COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN

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Relics from the historic LeVeque Tower appear in the solarium at the opposite end of the house.

There, ornate bronze panels and metal wall decorations from LeVeque Tower elevators add visual texture and interest. With its domed glass ceiling, round windows and brick walls, the room harkens to another time and place, yet was used as the family hub during the recent kitchen renovation. It now serves as dining room and homework space.

The new, two-story addition begins near the kitchen area and includes a large, walk-in-pantry with brick accent walls; a spacious, windowed laundry room; two full bathrooms; a home office; a four-car garage; and a yoga studio. Beth, who is a yoga instructor, envi24

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

sioned the space as a classroom, but the COVID-19 pandemic altered those plans. She still hopes to use it for its intended purpose but has taken advantage of its openness and light for her own practice at home.

Her husband’s office occupies the second floor, with a large, open work space and seating area. Josh, who owns a security software and consulting firm, has a “designer’s mind,” says his wife. He built a large light fixture for the domed solarium when they couldn’t find exactly what they were looking for. He also was responsible for choosing a unique light fixture in the addition’s hallway area, as well as the Dacor kitchen appliances.

“He’s the true chef in the family,” she says. “When it comes to cooking, he’s the fun one.”

LIGHT AND BRIGHT Walls throughout the structure were painted in light colors, giving the now nearly 9,000-square-foot home an air of brightness. Here, a refurbished sitting room, a home office and the homeowners’ new yoga studio offer a modern take on the historic home where fleeing, formerly enslaved people were once hidden as they escaped north along the Underground Railroad.

The couple delights in the unique touches— light sconces, a blue delft tile fireplace surround in the piano room, a demi-lune niche in the main living room—found throughout the house. Beth is especially fond of reliefs built into the brick wall surrounding the outdoor pool.

“There are so many fun little quirks here,” she says. “We love this house so much.”

One of her favorite features is the Dutch door in the family foyer, with its original hardware.

“My husband keeps saying we need to get rid of [the door] because it is so drafty and not energy efficient, but I love it,” she laughs. “I’m holding out.”

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m s i i c h a l W FILLED WITH

SURPRISES

A collaboration between a homeowner and her longtime designer results in an Upper Arlington home that has a distinct artistic flair.

BY LAURIE ALLEN • PHOTOS BY TIM JOHNSON

W

ith an artist’s eye and quilter’s dexterity, Sandy Ross has woven together her love of family, nature, the color orange and small surprises into the new home she and her husband Andy recently built in an established Upper Arlington neighborhood.

The house that preceded the Rosses’ was a long, narrow structure when Michael Edwards Building and Design bought it in 2018 and split the property into two lots. The Rosses’ all new, 4,400-square-foot brick residence is both airy and cozy, thanks to high ceilings, plenty of windows and a warm color palette.

The couple moved into the home from their previous one in Delaware County last year, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck Central Ohio. They lived near Marysville prior to Delaware County, Sandy says, but she felt the time was

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right to move back to the city. “I can walk to the library and my cousin’s bakery,” she adds. The bakery is the venerable Tremont Goodie Shop.

To help create the home of her artistic dreams, Sandy re-enlisted Peggy Smith of Howard Brooks Interiors, with whom she has worked on several of her previous homes. “I love to design and decorate … Peg’s job is very difficult with me. I have all these things in my mind that I want to get out,” she says with a smile.

A wish for the new house was to introduce more of Sandy’s favorite color, orange. In the living room, she and Smith accomplished that with the addition of two large Leathercraft sofas in a shade of orange that is neither overly bold nor bashful. The same leather was used to reupholster two “perching chairs” by the media wall, which contains bookcases and a TV hidden by sliding wooden barn doors.

WHITE AND BRIGHT The woman of the house worked with designer Peggy Smith to insert her favorite color, orange, into the new home. Beyond, the modern kitchen fits into a well-designed nook just off the living room.

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ORANGE THERAPY A cozy fireplace lights up the far side of the living room. Orange benches add additional seating for the space.

Below, left, the artist’s studio well suits the woman of the house.

Tall cream-colored cabinets on either side of the large fireplace were custom crafted in North Carolina by the Guy Chaddock Company and “provide a wonderful anchor and balance for the room,” Smith says. A light-colored Oriental rug defines the seating area, and floor-to-ceiling draperies in cream with a cut-velvet trim frame and soften the windows.

Flooring in the living room and adjacent areas is white oak custom-stained an ash blond tone, grounding the home in light and warmth. In the kitchen, Edwards built custom cabinets in a color called “Snow Bound” to match the Farrow & Ball paint color on walls and ceilings and keep the space light.

Clear, seeded glass pendants, brass hardware and quartz countertops finish it all.

A soft marble backsplash that “is calm, but with movement” was designed in a French Gothic style and resembles vertical fish scales, Sandy says.

Sandy’s penchant for weaving together decorating themes is visible in the adjacent dining area, where a lacquered wood table sits atop cowhide rugs, surrounded by linen-covered Parsons chairs and modern, clear “ghost” chairs.

“I’m not a dark and heavy person,” says Sandy, who wanted to achieve “visual comfort” in her new home. At night, she closes the patterned sheer drapes at the front windows. “I want to keep it light inside, without the dark coming in,” she explains.

The home’s entry hall is distinctive, beginning with the custom-framed collection of eggs that hangs opposite the front door. Inspired by a display she spotted in a Chicago antique store years ago, the retired science and health teacher—as well as nature lover—set out to create her own egg display, using ostrich and emu eggs she and her husband blew out with a bicycle pump. She acquired colored chicken eggs from organic farmers and purchased swan, guinea and rhea eggs from a company that sold them already blown. More traditional art surrounds the shadowbox.

“I kind of like surprises,” Sandy says.

Her love of surprises influenced other 28

design choices, such as pairing a handwoven Persian rug on the entry floor with a Stark leopard-print runner used on the adjacent staircase.

Nearby, a custom, three-door cabinet made by Kindel Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, serves as an anchor for a large collection of landscape art on the wall above. Most of the art in the couple’s home is by Ohio artists and family members, including Andy’s mother and the Rosses’ sons.

The powder room on the entry’s opposite side is a delightful mash-up of design. Walls

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

are covered in a Manuel Canovas pattern of intricately detailed Japanese purses in deep jewel tones, juxtaposed with a charcoalstained farmhouse vanity with stainlesssteel sink and industrial-style brass fixtures and riveting. Edwards Building and Design crafted the piece based on a photo Sandy had saved from a magazine.

“I think you really have to have fun [in decorating],” she says. “Most people are afraid to try new things.” That sense of playfulness is apparent in the master bath with its white birch tree wallpaper, an oil hung at bathtub eye level and a whimsical

EGG SHELLS The homeowners created a fabulous display of blown eggs, including those they blew out from ostrich and emu, and others they found already blown.

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black-and-white-checked, gold-antlered moose head on a commode wall.

In Sandy’s studio, the birch wallpaper serves as a perfect counterpoint to a visual wall of green, created by a dense row of towering ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae outside.

Although “it’s a postage stamp compared to my last house,” Sandy says, the studio accommodates a large drafting table, quilting and art equipment, as well as small-scale mock-ups of her larger projects. One of her most memorable projects was a quilt commissioned by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for an anniversary several years ago.

Her husband’s office is papered in burntorange grasscloth and features built-ins that house dozens of small machines he designed and made through the years, including a scale model of an external combustion train engine he saw in a Swiss museum. “He is trained as a lawyer, but has an engineer’s brain,” Sandy says.

Her multi-faceted talent takes many forms as well. She loves not only to cre30

ate but to re-create. For her grandsons’ bedroom, she re-purposed an older Ethan Allen bunkbed by taking it apart and creating two twin beds and painting them lime green. A mid-century modern chair has been recovered in purple fabric, while the same chair in a nearby guest bedroom is peacock blue.

Perhaps not too surprisingly, the birch wallpaper emerges again in the bedroom and large windowed closet, which Sandy converted into a special space for her grandsons, complete with a tent. “They call it the secret cousins’ room,” she says. Her granddaughter has her own cozy nest—another closet Sandy transformed with pink-striped wallpaper hung horizontally, a wall-sized pink flamingo she painted and a glass lily pad ceiling fixture.

The attention paid to the home’s interior extends outdoors as well. She wanted a “warm and cozy” courtyard feel for the entry and had two narrow, bluestone terraces built in front of windows on either

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

SPRINGING SURPRISES One of the home’s bedrooms includes a warm peach tone on its walls. Various spaces in the home add a sense of whimsy, including the pink flamingo in the closet at bottom, left, which was designed as a play space for the homeowners’ granddaughter.

side of the front door. Concrete and steel faux bois benches sit at each of the windows, and large urns hold seasonal plantings and décor. Her favorite season is fall, with its harvest of all things orange.

The rear yard is located off a screened porch near the kitchen and is styled as a Japanese garden with supersized granite tortoises, pagodas and large boulders unearthed during construction.

Piece by piece, the mixed-media quilting artist and her longtime decorating partner have stitched together a home rich in detail, visual comfort—and a few surprises.

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Designing Duo Two Upper Arlington guys with plenty of creative cred rethink their space amid the pandemic.

BY TAYLOR SWOPE | PHOTOS BY TIM JOHNSON

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COZY AND CALMING The updated living room in the home of Matt Coultrip and Andrew Miller includes white walls and other calming colors.

ast year will likely be known as the year we mostly stayed home. Living through a global pandemic has changed so many aspects of daily life. Time typically spent in offices or traveling was quickly traded for time spent working (or not) at home.

It is not surprising, then, that extra time at home allowed people the focus to reconsider the styling and use of their interiors spaces.

Andrew Miller and Matt Coultrip began to rethink their décor shortly after the stay-at-home order was issued by Gov. Mike Dewine last spring.

Coultrip, who leads global store design for Abercrombie & Fitch, has a 5-year-old son whose playroom also served as his dad’s home office. When Coultrip’s work transitioned to home indefinitely, he and Miller knew it was time to rethink their space.

Miller, who has worked at RH and other local businesses, now owns Tru Grit Design, a full-service firm that offers custom interior design for existing homes and new builds. Their shared creative expertise made this a passion project for the couple.

The two men agreed on a modern farmhouse approach to style and décor as they spent the pandemic reimagining spaces throughout the home. They started with the office, relocating Coultrip’s son’s playroom to the lower level since Dad was now at home more.

Office cabinets were painted charcoal to create a contrast against the lighter wall color throughout the room.

The room’s furnishings include a mix of pieces from Elm & Iron, West Elm and vintage finds from antique stores. Some things, they already owned. For example, Coultrip has had his desk chair, used in a former office, for nearly 20 years.

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The built-in desk was an addition made when Coultrip purchased the home in 2012. The surrounding shelves are now artfully filled with a mix of vintage and purchased pieces. “We both have a lot of family heirlooms,” says Miller.

Designing built-in shelving can be a creative challenge. You want the space to feel complete but not too crowded. “Visually, it’s about symmetry,” says Miller. It is important not to overload the space.

Stacking books is always a good place to start; you can add a décor piece on top for more detail. Miller also recommends adding some greenery—faux or real—to liven up the space.

“Even as a professional designer, it is challenging for me, too,” he says. “It takes a lot of finesse.” He suggests that it is also important to balance color throughout shelving décor.

The couple says this room also serves as a guest room. A nearby sofa has a pull-out mattress and a full bathroom is nearby. The sofa, though, also makes this a comfortable sitting room for entertaining other guests. “We recently had a friend over and drank martinis in the office,” he says. “It’s a cozy, nice place to hang out.”

Throughout the rest of the house, Coultrip and Miller agreed that they wanted to move away from the gray color used in the home, deciding instead on varying shades of white with black, navy and other subtle accents.

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OFFICIALLY AT HOME During the shutdown last spring, when Coultrip’s travels were temporarily curtailed, his home office took on greater importance.

The room now doubles as a guest room with the pull-out sofa that’s been incorporated. Below, the home’s eating spaces—both formal and casual—exude plenty of personality.

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In the dining room, for example, the couple decided on new textiles to refresh the space. Repainted in pure white, alabaster was chosen for the trim.

Coultrip and Miller agree that subtle changes such as the paint change, or adding new curtains or a rug can positively and dramatically elevate a room’s design.

The modern kitchen was completely demolished and renovated when Coultrip purchased the home, so little work was needed. “When you have a clean slate, it is interesting and quite challenging to come up with a layout,” he explains, adding that he sketched a plan that ultimately led to the current kitchen’s design at nearly midnight one evening.

“Usually those types of moments come in the middle of the night,” adds Miller, laughing.

More recently, they worked with a contractor to update the backsplash. It was previously white subway tiles, which they replaced with 2-by-4-inch gray subway tiles that resemble cobblestones. “It totally transformed the space and added more depth with the white cabinets,” says Miller.

Even the nearby mudroom was updated to meet their desired farmhouse aesthetic. They repainted all walls and replaced a door leading to the garage. New, glass lighting was added beside the door, and both doors in the space were painted black to align with a more modern look.

The design goal for this multi-functional space— which also serves as the laundry room—was clean and simple. A rattan bench was added to bring in more texture, and the original blueprint of the home is framed, adding a personal touch to the space.

Coultrip and Miller both love wallcoverings, so they added a new design in the home’s entryway and up the nearby stairwell. Additionally, wallpaper was used in Coultrip’s son’s room to create an accent wall. Miller says people are “coming around more to wallcoverings,” in part because modern coverings can be relatively easy to apply.

One of the couple’s favorite additions to the home during its quarantine makeover is the vertical batting on the living room walls. “We wanted to add some sort of interest in the living room,” says Miller. They also purchased new sconces to flank the fireplace.

“The glow of the wall fixtures makes the space feel warmer,” says Coultrip.

“People don’t realize how much lighting does for a space,” adds Miller. “It is like the jewelry that accents your outfit.”

After a year-long collaboration, the two are enjoying their refreshed spaces. “We play our design eyes off of each other,” says Miller, adding that their independent sense of styles complemented each other to make the home uniquely their own. Both men agree that they find inspiration from many different places.

“I work in corporate retail and design, so I am always looking for what’s next,” says Coultrip. He adds that his day-to-day design focus helps him apply inspiration to personal spaces, too. Miller is personally inspired by travel.

STAR POWER An accent wallcovering filled with stars is used in the room designed for Coultrip’s 5-year-old son. At left, a kitchen that was completely renovated in 2012 was updated again with a fresh backsplash of small tiles.

“It is a passion of mine and I have done a lot of it,” he says. “There are so many different styles of architecture, interiors and textiles to appreciate.”

The pandemic not only inspired the couple to redesign their home, but also led Miller to finally start his own design business, which was a goal for many years. Like so many other people, he was laid off early in the pandemic and was encouraged by family and friends to finally take the leap.

Although it has certainly been a challenging year, Miller says he has been able to find silver linings.

“You realize what is important,” he says. “You realize your passions.”

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Rooted in

The historic gardens at a vintage Bexley home are restored with the help of a seasoned and sensitive landscaper.

BY TERESA WOODARD PHOTOS BY TIM JOHNSON

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Antiquity

A HOMEOWNER’S SECRET Formal gardens on a Bexley estate have been refurbished and updated over the last decade.

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A

A Bexley homeowner was shopping in Powell one day when she was smitten by the English landscape outside an interior design store. Thinking that its tailored style would translate well to the 90-yearold stone home that she and her husband owned, she walked into the store to inquire.

“Who the heck did your landscape?” she remembers saying. “I need his number.”

The shop owners were happy to oblige, and the homeowner called noted interior and garden designer Kevin Reiner to discuss the first project. It was a project that has led to a decade-long effort to transform the Bexley estate’s gardens section by section.

For Reiner’s first gig, they focused on an unused pool area.

“We have this pool in our backyard,” the homeowner told Reiner, “and we haven’t opened it for eight years. It leaks, and we really need to figure this out.”

Reiner was a good match for the job, bringing along a homegrown passion for historic properties. He has renovated six of his own houses including several featured in national magazines. A few of his homes have been in the middle of Granville where his gardening prowess has been on permanent and public display for a number of years.

Thus, Reiner was undaunted when it came to tackling challenges like the Bexley home’s leaky pool or an antiquated irrigation system. He also leaned on his deep horticulture experience to advise on the property’s historic trees, boxwood parterre and rose garden.

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

EXPERT FINESSE Landscape designer Kevin Reiner renovated sections of the garden over many years. The first project, at right, was to replace the home’s swimming pool with this well-balanced landscaping that better fit the homeowners’ lifestyle for entertaining during warm weather.

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Through the last couple of decades, Reiner’s reputation has bloomed in Central Ohio. But his botanic interests were sparked at age 12, when his dad helped him build his first greenhouse. He then worked his teen years at a nearby nursery and went on to study horticulture at Cornell University. After graduation, he marketed ornamentals for an international seed company and managed indoor horticulture operations at Granville’s Timbuk Farms before launching his own design firm in 2005.

For Reiner, this pool transformation ended up being proving grounds. He advised the couple to fill in the unused rectangular pool and, in its place, create a space for hosting large events. The new landscape would then also enhance outward views from the home’s living areas.

Thankfully, the couple had access to quality contractors through their home building business. Thus, they had the bottom of the pool cut out, retained the walls and shape, but then filled the void with layers of gravel and topsoil to ensure good drainage. Reiner and his team added a central lawn, a surrounding bluestone patio, plenty of boxwood spheres with columnar boxwood accents, and terraced beds with giant ‘Sagae’ hostas. Additional annual flower displays and flower-filled urns were added for seasonal interest.

“We had balance and rhythm with all the boxwoods yet accents of color during the entertaining season,” says Reiner.

Next up was the outdated irrigation system. The system update presented challenges as Reiner and his team wound water lines under patios, around stone walls and beneath large trees.

“It was quite an endeavor to get irrigation everywhere,” says Reiner “and there are limitations in some spots, but that’s what happens on historic properties.”

From there, Reiner continued working with the couple on a project basis.

“Instead of gutting the whole garden, we went space by space,” he says. “The benefit to that is we got to know the property together and see it through the seasons. The collaboration was great.”

First off, Reiner said he had to respect the home’s stunning Tudor architecture and the classic design of the garden.

“It had such great bones!” he exclaims.

His first step was to assess if any historic elements needed to be changed. Together, he and the homeowners decided to retain all

the stone walls and boxwood hedges while enhancing other elements, such as the arborvitae hedges. Reiner says they were getting too much shade, so his team thoughtfully removed a tree or two to gain more sunlight.

Another design challenge was finding a balance in texture, color and scale. Reiner says the existing perennial beds were losing impact as they aged. Some became too busy with overgrowth and more aggressive plants ended up blanketing some areas.

To make the front beds more impactful, they updated them with a fresh perennial plant palette. For the car court, they lifted the tree canopy to allow more light into the beds, then planted masses of white ‘Honorine Jobert’ anemones, blue hostas, Virginia bluebells, spring bulbs and miscanthus grasses.

“Masses of ornamental grasses were a love of the homeowner, so I juxtaposed the grasses’ fine texture with the boldly shaped boxwoods,” says Reiner.

For seasonal color, he created pockets for plantings of flowering annuals like red begonias in summer and purple pansies in fall.

Beyond the car court, his team recently updated a large border extending in front of a stone wall. Here, they added a purple-

A PROLIFERATION OF HOSTAS A variety of hostas, below, were layered into a shaded spot that also includes shrubbery and more. At left, the glorious azalea that blooms in spring frames a duck that is a frequent visitor to the property.

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URNS OVERFLOW Reiner and his team tend to the gardens year-round, creating seasonal urns that line this walkway.

themed planting of ‘Millennium’ alliums, Siberian irises, Japanese forest grasses, ‘Denim ’n Lace’ Russian sage, ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ catmint, ‘Midnight Masquerade’ penstemon and ‘Steel Blue’ angelonias.

Along the property’s most visible corner, the homeowners charged Reiner with finding an alternative option for the large bed’s annual displays.

“This was getting a little crazy,” says the homeowner as she explained dozens of flats of annuals were planted there each year.

Reiner recommended a more sustainable, yet equally impactful, design of recurring perennials and shrubs. He kept the boxwood hedge and added contrasting layers of chartreuse hostas in front, then cascading golden deutzia shrubs and dogwood trees behind.

In the birdbath garden, they chose to mass flowering shrubs for greater impact.

Here, they framed a central birdbath with ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas and ‘Chardonnay Pearls’ deutzia along with boxwoods and more ‘Sagae’ hostas.

Not all projects involved a simple solution. One intimate garden challenged Rein44

er and the homeowners to think through options and make compromises.

“I love this little kitchen area, but it’s not right,” said the homeowner at one point, recalling the intimate bluestone dining patio shaded by a large Japanese zelkova tree.

Reiner proposed taking down the tree to allow more sunlight for other plants. While the homeowners stood firm about not wanting to remove trees on the property, they made occasional exceptions such as the removal of this overgrown tree, hoping that more sunlight would allow Reiner to redesign the area into a more functional space.

Reiner and his team replaced the tree with hedges and added shrub roses, perennial geraniums, oakleaf hydrangeas and boxwoods.

“Now, they can enjoy an intimate space for two that’s in scale and very inviting.”

Besides updating gardens, the homeowners rely on Reiner and his team to take meticulous care of the garden’s existing shrubs, hedges and trees, including a giant sycamore and two mature ginkgos.

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

A boxwood parterre, for example, takes a four-person landscaping team a full work day to trim each spring as well as cover in winter for frost protection. Reiner’s talented team also neatly prunes the English ivy along the home’s exterior and maintains the garden’s historic rose and azalea collections. Recently, they’ve added some new azalea varieties to the existing ones. Still, Reiner says the showiest ones are those that have been there forever.

“We celebrate that bold color in spring and are not scared of it,” says Reiner. “It’s so impactful.”

Today, the gardens are at their peak, but Reiner notes that’s temporary.

“Gardens, even historic ones, are always evolving and needing adjusting,” he says.

“Thankfully,” he adds, “these wonderful clients understand there are going to be changes, because trees grow, shrubs grow and tastes change.”

A CROWNING GLORY The sprawling purple azalea offers the best of the lawn’s springtime show.

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Home & Garden SHOW PREVIEW

The annual spring expo, adapted for the COVID-19 pandemic, still offers information and inspiration for homeowners.

PHOTO: EMMA FRANKART HENTERLY

BY EMMA FRANKART HENTERLY

THERE’S NO DENYING that the coronavirus pandemic has altered life as we know it in 2020 and 2021. But with vaccine rollout beginning and life starting to return to normal, the spring Dispatch Home & Garden Show is evolving to ensure a safe, educational experience for all.

“The safety of our guests and vendors is our No. 1 priority this year,” says Stephen Zonars, general manager of the expo. “That’s why we’ve implemented every protocol recommended to us by Columbus Public Health and then some. We’ve remodeled for safety, going above and beyond best practices to put on a show

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION that provides all of the information and expert advice that guests expect while reducing the potential for community spread of the virus.”

To that end, this year’s show, held March 6–14 at the Ohio Expo Center’s Bricker Building, will look a little different from years past. Instead of stage presentations and cooking demonstrations, expect a streamlined focus on local craftsmen and experts eager to help homeowners with their indoor and outdoor projects.

“Small businesses have been especially hard-hit by the economic effects of the pandemic,” Zonars says. “This year, we’re supporting local by focusing on local companies that may be struggling more than the big-box stores in our region. The vast majority of vendors participating in this year’s show are family-owned and -operated right here in Central Ohio. We see this show as a way to help local businesses stay in business.”

The Home & Garden Show is partnering with the Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio to ensure that each vendor at the expo has a BBB rating of B+ or higher, guaranteeing that guests will be able to connect with quality, trustworthy experts for their indoor and outdoor projects. Whether you

need advice for a DIY project or start-tofinish design and execution of a remodel, the show’s vendors have you covered.

Local pros will be on hand to help with your needs for flooring, kitchen, bath, windows, landscaping, furniture and more.

One thing that isn’t changing in 2021: the show’s beloved indoor gardens. This year, six local landscaping companies will each build a stunning backyard getaway that showcases ways to upgrade your outdoor living space, from an at-home outdoor theater to a sleek alfresco workspace that converts to a bar just in time for happy hour.

Safety procedures will include temperature checks for vendors and show employees; a robust contact tracing infrastructure; hand sanitizer stations throughout the venue; social distancing measures; a digital ticketing system; a strict mask or face shield requirement for everyone 2 years old and up; additional staff to enforce safety protocols; and capacity limits regulated via a timed ticketing system that allows guests to choose a timeframe to attend the show. (Guests can adjust their time selection, pending availability, in advance if needed.) Online resources for each vendor will also be available for guests who have health concerns.

How to Go

This year’s spring expo takes place March 6–14, 2021, at the Ohio Expo Center’s Bricker Building; visit DispatchHomeAndGardenShow.com for each day’s hours and to choose a time slot to attend. Parking is accessible from East 11th Avenue only.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children and must be purchased in advance online; there will be no onsite ticket sales. Visit Central Ohio Lowe’s locations for a $3-off coupon code to use when purchasing your tickets online.

Visit DispatchHomeAndGardenShow. com for information, updates and to purchase tickets. Don’t forget to “Like” the show on Facebook (facebook. com/DispatchHGShow) and follow @DispatchHGShow on Twitter, too.

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WHAT IS HOME

Cabinet Fever How a kitchen project resulted in cake for breakfast.

The pandemic turned us into our own kitchen installers. Exploring this new home renovation project, I did some quick math to understand that we could save a bundle by installing our own cabinets.

“Doing our own work will be easy,” I told my husband. “It isn’t brain surgery.”

Had the pandemic lifted, this endeavor probably would have never happened. But we were working and living together, just the two of us, 24 hours a day. Never in our lives has this occurred. After three months of consideration, my husband agreed to the project. We joked about pitching a TV show called Badass Designers. That was very premature.

I sought help from the Home Decorators Collection website (homedecoratorscabinetry.

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homedepot.com), and followed the directions posted. I tediously made measurements in our kitchen and then developed a fluid relationship with the young designer named Eric on the other end of my emails and phone calls. Working with a kitchen designer wasn’t very different from working with the designers who create these pages for Columbus Monthly Home & Garden and affiliated magazines.

You get three tries to make your project perfect before they get really irritated with you.

I promised my husband that we wouldn’t deal with many wall cabinets. Wall cabinets are passé in many kitchens, with current styles opting for simplicity. People who buy houses now apparently want to see things on shelves. Thus, I selected a few, tall curio cabinets and some shelving.

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES

BY SHERRY BECK PAPROCKI

The digital questionnaire asked about my budget. I low-balled it, so when Eric called and said a kitchen of our size could cost twice as much as my budget, we were all good. “Let’s do it,” I said.

The first sign of my depression occurred when the delivery truck drivers failed to notify us that they had dropped two flats of 12 cabinets in a parking space in front of our building. When we noticed them just sitting there, we rushed outside into the drizzling October rain to find the cabinets, barely covered with plastic, in a neat pile. My husband grabbed his new flatbed with wheels, I grabbed the oversized cargo wagon from our storage unit, and one by one, we began hauling each cabinet into our space.

The unfurnished guest bedroom, unused during the pandemic, became our staging area. I called 1-800-Got-Junk to cart away the debris that would gather over the next several days as we demolished the kitchen.

That was in lieu of getting a permit to bring in a dumpster. That evening and the next day, my body ached and my muscles recovered after hauling my share of the 1,000pound load from the parking lot, into the elevator and then into our home.

The masked and socially distant plumber was scheduled to detach our faucets a few days later. My husband used a sharp, new saw to cut apart the old countertop. Part of our deal was that he could buy any new tool that he wanted to accomplish this installation task.

On my way out one day, I was accosted by an unmasked neighbor with a walker who complained about the noise coming from our place the evening before. She wasn’t very nice, but we likely hadn’t been sensitive to her situation living home alone. (Later, she apologized, explaining that she spoke to us after returning from her attorney’s office where she had updated her will.)

The masked electrician came and went, unhooking wires from any cabinets where they were located.

Our schedules went like this: My husband awoke really early haunted by each day’s new challenge. He’d spend an hour or more roaming around all the cabinets throughout the house, doing the mental work his next cabinet step required. As though installing our own kitchen wasn’t enough, we also decided that installing two bathroom vanities at the same time made sense.

By 8:30 a.m., or so, we would settle in with our laptops to work throughout the day. On occasion, he would bounce out

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WHAT IS HOME of his office at noon and announce, with drill in hand, that he was about to make some noise. (We had become sensitive to our nearby neighbors’ concerns, so avoided late evening work.)

During one “lunch hour” as I politely tried to ignore his construction work, I heard my husband say, “Oh, no.” Rushing toward the kitchen, I found him on a ladder holding a cabinet and the microwave oven, both falling off the wall. After a panicked 15 minutes in which we took turns trying to hold this bundle, both were removed. We were both still standing. The newish microwave was secured for reinstallation later.

Evenings meant another hour or two of work, massive hauling of cardboard to the recycling area, sweeping and dusting so that my dust allergies wouldn’t worsen.

Early on a Friday, the plumber finally arrived to detach a total of three sinks—this would be nearly a waterless weekend for us except for the master bathroom. Just like Glinda the Good Witch, the plumber was here and gone. He’d keep the ticket open for the following week, when he would return and reinstall, he explained.

By the end of the weekend, my renova-

“

Early on a Friday, the plumber finally arrived to detach a total of three sinks—this would be nearly a waterless weekend for us except for the master bathroom. Just like Glinda the Good Witch, the plumber was here and gone.

tion depression had turned into a roller coaster of emotions: happy when all base cabinets fit together well, sad when I realized we would not have water in the kitchen for at least four more days, even sadder when I realized I forgot to put coffee pods into my Shipt order.

It was election week in November. On Monday, I complained to all the people digitally texting me, reminding me to vote.

“I’ve done it!” I responded, taking out my renovation crankiness on them.

Online, I looked up the one last wall cabinet I had overlooked for our kitchen. Well, truthfully, now I needed to order a few more because we’d changed the location of those curio cabinets due to their close proximity to the stove. We surmised that we could handle a total of four wall cabinets.

”

The days of autumn wore on. I edited pages. I emailed with writers who would help produce this issue of Columbus Monthly Home & Garden magazine. I laughed when one homeowner sent me a note explaining something about underpants, an obvious autocorrect as he tried to email me from his phone. I was desperate for humor.

My husband worked at his desk, keeping our renovations out of the picture during his Zoom calls. We waited for the plumber, who always arrived too early in the mornings. The electrician returned again and again, usually in the evenings, after leaving his regular job. We replaced ceiling fans, light fixtures and such. When the plumber finally restored water in the other bathroom we saw it as a special treat for the weekend.

Both bathroom vanities were now in place.

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CENTRAL OHIO’S LEADER FOR www.columbusbuilders.net UNILOCK PAVERS & ELDORADO OUTDOOR KITCHENS 52

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

PHOTO: SHERRY BECK PAPROCKI

The kitchen was measured for countertops.

At the last minute, the measurer noted that the window between the kitchen and dining area would need to be “shaved” a bit lower to accommodate cabinet height.

I saw my husband’s jaw muscles clench.

“Just what exactly do you mean by shaving?” he started, launching the measurer into a full-fledged explanation about removing a two-by-four, cutting down the drywall and then reinstalling a two-by-four at the right height.

“Do this without removing cabinets,” the measurer warned. “Or I’ll need to remeasure and it will delay everything.”

By now we had celebrated a big anniversary, giving each other new countertops as a gift. Holidays were fast approaching. The plumber, Louis, now a friend, advised that a “temporary sink” in our kitchen wouldn’t be worthwhile due to costs involved. We made the best of it, praising the benefits of bottled water since there still was none flowing in the kitchen.

The electrician, Alex, also a friend now, was in our home even more often than Louis. We kept our social distance and shouted over the noise. Both men made successful attempts to keep our unwieldly

SPRING/SUMMER 2021 COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN

53

ideas of luxury living while under renovation at bay.

I grumbled as I Swiffered that latest round of sawdust. I quickly pulled out my wallet when my daughter-in-law suggested a Thanksgiving meal at their home, with dinner provided by Whole Foods.

One of my superpowers, as I tell my husband, is planning our lives for three or six months into the future. (I’m not sure how he feels about this, by the way.) This should keep me optimistic, right? But as he swung his new drill around the kitchen one rainy Saturday, I watched YouTube videos about floating wall shelves that would be the final phase of this project.

Floating shelves would be no easy task.

(Let me be clear. There was no easy task in all of this renovation.)

We were planning a week in Maine during Christmas to visit our daughter and her family. The minute the counter installers caught wind of this, it was a holiday reprieve for the busy men, who pushed our installation back three weeks.

At a quaint inn in Maine, we gladly pulled out our wallets to pitch in on a restaurant-provided family holiday feast that we ordered “to go.”

It was Jan. 14 when the countertop was installed. That week I proofed a story for the February issue of Columbus Monthly.

“Small—or manageable—projects are key,” explained Kelly DeVore, who chairs the interior architecture and design program at the Columbus College of Art & Design.

We had tackled not a small, nor a manageable, project during the pandemic.

Floating shelves with installation “made easy” by an Etsy vendor somewhere in Kentucky were finally on order.

While on the Etsy site, I also ordered a custom sign from a vendor somewhere in North Carolina. “Cake for Breakfast,” it says. That’s the name I decided on years ago for a restaurant I likely will never open.

Cake, indeed.

The oven is preheating.

New, Modern, Amish Crafted 38 N State St, Westerville, OH 43081 amishoriginals.com 54

COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

PHOTO: SHERRY BECK PAPROCKI

WHAT IS HOME

REAL ESTATE

Top 25

real estate transactions

Subscribe to

JULY 1–DEC. 31, 2020

PRICE

ADDRESS

BUYER/SELLER

$4,300,000

7010 Lambton Park Rd., New Albany

7010 Lambton Road Real Estate Trust from LJHB LLC

$2,562,500

14 Highgrove, New Albany

St. Pete Intercoastal Concepts from Jan E. & David M. Singer

$2,375,000

9 New Albany Farms Rd., New Albany

Shelia S. Davis, trustee, from K9 Morse LLC

$2,300,000

2580 Sherwin Rd., Upper Arlington

Barry Kohn from Dundee Court LLC, trustee

$2,035,000

4348 Sunbury Rd., Galena

Jiechun Liu from Jack O. & Joan E. Peiffer

$2,000,000

4199 Walnut St., Westerville

John K. & Lisa M. Vasconi from Douglas K. Forster & Kristin L. Daer

$2,000,000

2285 Yorkshire Rd., Upper Arlington

Georgia Gia & George A. Bavelis, trustees, from Kent D. and Laura A. Stuckey

$1,950,000

8080 Tillinghast Dr., Dublin

Kasiraja Sathappan, trustee, from Saeed & Mojgon Hadjarpour

$1,875,000

2670 Edington Rd., Upper Arlington

Sequoia97 LLC from Christina M. Hall

$1,800,000

342 E. Elm St., Granville

Mote of Dust Holdings LLC from Dennis A. & Denise A. Blankemeyer

$1,781,691

10125 Sylvian Dr., Dublin

Khaled & Anmar Grace Abou El Fadl from Judith Ann Kander

$1,720,000

1534 Powell Rd., Powell

Lawrence A. & Rachael A . Lynn from AWG Properties LLC

$1,710,000

2635 Asbury Dr., Upper Arlington

Michael Edwards Building & Design Inc. from Pamela Joanne & Philip J. Dion Jr.

$1,680,000

8488 Dunsinane Dr., Dublin

Curtis Loveland Trustee from Dana L. Bork

$1,680,000

4635 Hull Farm Lane, Upper Arlington

Pamela Joanne & Philip J. Dion Jr. from Brian R. Grim

$1,650,000

6755 Merchant Rd., Delaware

William S. & Ashley Flores from Lennie D. Rhoades & Marcia J. Perry

$1,650,000

2 Albery Loop, New Albany

Ronald & Terri Greenbaum from Ingrid R. & Harvey Brownlee Jr.

$1,650,000

994 Jaeger St., Columbus

Kristie Nicolosi & Steven Lagos from CBI Investments LLC

$1,650,000

3898 Baughman Grant, New Albany

Arthur & Samantha Scherbel from Andrew Fox Bohutinsky & Elizabeth M. Siemer

$1,650,000

2000 Jones Rd., Granville

Andrew Paul Joseph & Kristen Marie Merlo from Stephen M. Antritt

$1,625,000

230 S. Parkview Ave., Bexley

Joseph & Anna Gasbarro from Andrew & Kathryn Jenks

$1,625,000

2395 Club Rd., Upper Arlington

Andrea L. Sidwell & Brad J. Hays from Lahinch LLC

$1,600,000

2559 Tremont Rd., Upper Arlington

Douglas J. Mangen, trustee, from Lauren J. Freitag, trustee

$1,600,000

2156 Cheshire Rd., Upper Arlington

Matthew J. & Cynthia P. Skaruppa from Brant E. Poling & Jennifer L. Myers

$1,600,000

80 Maplewood Dr., Granville

Michael R. & Susan A. McNeil from Earl C. & Charlotte J. Koops

Subscribe or renew your annual subscription to Columbus Monthly for $18.

Go to columbusmonthly.com or call 877-688-8009.

As provided by Columbus Dispatch researcher Julie Fulton. Statistics are gathered from the greater Columbus area, including Franklin and parts of other surrounding counties.

SPRING/SUMMER 2021 COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN

55

CLOSURE

An interior door at a home within Sessions Village is unique in its character, as it is situated among 29 homes in this exclusive community across from Wolfe Park on East Broad Street. Designed by architect Robert “Roy” Reeves nearly a century ago, Sessions Village resembles a Norman-style village in France. Replete with quaint lanterns and cobblestone streets, each home features a unique style of French design.

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COLUMBUS MONTHLY HOME & GARDEN SPRING/SUMMER 2021

PHOTO: TIM JOHNSON

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