Veteran show-house visitors know what to expect: gorgeous rooms layered in luxurious finishes, artful settings of splendid furniture and artworks, elaborate window treatments, witty and sumptuous accessories, and elegance, elegance everywhere.
So it may be something of a surprise when the veteran show-house hands tour King's Gift, this year's Historic Ellicott City Decorator Show House.
"We tried to take a little different tack this year," says Pam Harris, a member of the design review committee. "In the past we've seen a lot of very elegant rooms, a lot of faux finishes -- but you couldn't imagine real people living in them." So the committee asked decorators to submit designs in which livability was the foremost factor.
Don't imagine for a moment that elegance was not another watchword; the rooms in the brand-new, 7,500-square-foot house have all the color, style and cleverness that make visiting show houses so much fun. But they also feature the comfort and practicality "real" residents would appreciate. So, while there is some stenciling in the house, there are no faux finishes. The walls of rooms are simply painted in colors ranging from dove gray, tan and taupe to vermilion and pale moss green. Window treatments are sprightly rather than elaborate, and most could be duplicated easily by a handy homeowner.
One of the prettiest treatments is a bay window in the master bath, by Janet O. Plitt, of Morgan Truesdell, Stevenson. Ms. Plitt covered ordinary plastic plumbing pipe with a raspberry, white and green plaid fabric, mounted the pipe to the wall with angle irons, then looped it with sheer fabric in translucent white flecked with tiny green threads. At the edges and where the windows meet, she used artificial flowers and vines as accents. "The windows are high, so you don't need privacy," Ms. Plitt says. "And sheers with patterns are getting very popular."
Certainly the wittiest treatment is in the kitchen, where Joan Ellis of Joan Ellis Associates, Lutherville, hung triangular blue-and-white striped "flags" in the top panes of three high windows, anchoring the bottom points with decorative balls. The look is both modern and Renaissance; it fits the "high country-Italian" look Ms. Ellis choose for the room. She based her colors on a striking painted wood screen, embellished by artist Jane Hartley with a peacock and "romantic" ruins. The room has a terra-cotta tile floor and what Ms. Ellis calls "celestial" touches, including wrought-iron bar stools at the counter eating area with backs in the shape of a sun and a moon.
Design students at Catonsville Community College devised an unusual window treatment for the guest bath on the second floor. "We started off with the interesting ceiling," says Ada Colon, pointing out the peak over the tub in front of a three-window bay. They anchored four lengths of sheer white fabric to the ceiling, looped the ends to the corners and to the spots where the windows meet, and let them cascade to the tile tub surround. In the center of the peak, they hung an antique bird cage.
"The room was extremely institutional," says Richard Green, associate professor of interior design at the college who worked with the students on the room. "It was very cold and severe, with white tile everywhere." The draped fabric and the pale floral wallpaper are intended to give the room a "European" feel, and to soften the starkness of the tile, Mr. Green says.
Simple lengths of fabric, knotted at top and sides, fall two stories in the double-height family room by Leah Deane and Debbi Wilder of the Furniture and Design Center, Owings Mills.
"It's a hard room, because there are so many openings," Ms. Deane says. There are five doorways, two windows at second-floor level, above double patio doors leading out to a deck, and a balcony on the second floor that overlooks the room.
"The windows on the top are a different size than the doors on the bottom," Ms. Deane says, and the drapes help unify the spaces. The 1 1/2 -story stone fireplace between the patio doors also merited unusual treatment.
"We call this the solution to a strange fireplace," Ms. Deane says. "The stone stopped in the middle of nowhere." The remedy: a stenciled pattern of black points bordered with gold stenciled rope that goes almost all the way to the ceiling and curves across the top. Inside the curve is a relief fleur-de-lis.
"We wanted to draw the eye up," Ms. Deane says, noting that the border also softens the sharp edges of the stones. For further softening, the wall was "stuccoed" in a pale grayish-green with circular "trowel marks" for texture. The pale colors of the walls, sofa and furniture is offset by a black, green and maroon rug, two chairs in a black and gold fleur-de-lis pattern and a black painted armoire-entertainment center.
"We wanted it to be elegant but cozy," Ms. Deane says. "All the furniture has an overstuffed look in the upholstery. We like to do a mix of contemporary and traditional and French, and really mix it up good to get a more interesting room."
Another designer who likes to mix styles is Anne Markstein of Anne Markstein Interiors, Ellicott City, whose eclectic living room is united by colors of melon, rust, taupe and cream. "I like to mix a lot of different things and have it all come together -- traditional, contemporary, Oriental," Ms. Markstein says. The room features several pieces of modern art, courtesy of Gomez Gallery of Baltimore, plus mismatched sofas, one in a copper and gold cut velvet, one in a curvy shape and melon colors, a Korean chest, and console and coffee tables with rust-colored metal bases.
In contrast, the Safari Room on the second floor, by Emalee Bounds of Ellicott Interiors, of Ellicott's Country Store, Ellicott City, features a completely integrated look, with wicker desk, hat stand and hunting accessories. The bed has a simple tailored spread; the headboard is a screen hung with a mirror framed in antlers and draped with mosquito netting. In the adjoining bath, scallop shells were glued to the tile to cover a rather frilly blue floral border. "Everything in the bath is recycled," Ms. Bounds says, "all the glass, all the shells."
In another slight departure from traditional show houses, King's Gift will feature an ever-changing display of flowers throughout the house from a dozen area floral designers. "We're trying to do a true floral house, with all the wonderful smells and colors," says Ms. Harris of the design review committee.
There will also be a boutique in the basement, and a cafe with food catered by Tersiguel's French Country Restaurant, Ellicott City. Lunch will be served daily; on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, there will be a gourmet dinner. Cost of the dinner is $19.95, or $25 with admission to the show house. Four landscape designers are creating plantings on the grounds, and there will be a garden shop in the garage.
The house, a turreted and gabled stucco with stone trim, was built by Howard County builder Russ Marshall. It sits on land granted to the Carroll family in 1711. It was originally part of Doughoregan Manor, where Carroll descendants still live. Proceeds from the show house will benefit preservation and renovation efforts of Historic Ellicott City Inc.
The show house opens Saturday and will continue through Oct. 23. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Advance-purchase tickets are $6; tickets at the door are $8 ($7 for seniors). Parking is on site. For tickets, group rates or more information, write to Historic Ellicott City, P.O. Box 244, Ellicott City, Md. 21041.