330 Homes Spring 2021

S P R I N G 2 0 2 1

A DESIGNER'S MASTERPIECE

ALLISON SMITH'S BATH DREAM HOME

photo by Allison Joy Smith

A ZEN JAPANESE- INSPIRED RETREAT

CULTIVATING THE JOY OF HYGGE

A HISTORIC LANDMARK SHINES

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c o n t e n t s

spring 2021 | volume 3 | issue 1

d r e a m h o u s e 14 URBAN ARTI FACT 22

MODERN VINTAGE 32 GEM ON DI SPLAY

s p a c e l i f t

8 CREATIVE MURAL WALL 10 SIMPLY ORGANIZED KITCHEN 40 JAPANESE- INSPIRED RETREAT 48 SERENE OPEN FLOOR PLAN

f r e s h d e s i g n 20 FARMHOUSE STYLE AT HOMEGIRL 28 HAPPY NORDIC REMODEL 46 RECLAIMED FURNITURE MAKER

o p e n a i r 38 WATCH FOR ROOF DAMAGE

S P R I N G 2 0 2 1

o n t h e c o v e r

A DESIGNER'S MASTERPIECE

22 | MODERN VINTAGE | photo by Allison Joy Smith

ALLISON SMITH'S BATH DREAM HOME

photo by Allison Joy Smith

A ZEN JAPANESE- INSPIRED RETREAT

CULTIVATING THE JOY OF HYGGE

A HISTORIC LANDMARK SHINES

w e l c o m e

by COLIN BAKER

a s u p p l e m e n t t o A k r o n L i f e m a g a z i n e

MOOD BOOST Spring brings fresh excitement about living in Ohio and being outdoors.

Pub l i she r COL I N BAKER cbaker@bakermediagroup.com Cr ea t i ve D i r e c t o r WI LL I AM L . TECKMYER I I I wteckmyer@bakermediagroup.com Mana g i ng Ed i t o r KELLY PETRYSZYN kpet ryszyn@bakermediagroup.com As s i s t an t Ed i t o r ALEXANDRA SOBCZAK asobczak@bakermediagroup.com Gr aph i c De s i gne r TYLAR SUTTON tsut ton@bakermediagroup.com

I always look forward to March. There is something about the weather changing that is exciting. It’s that stretch of several days that reach the 50s and low 60s that feel like a new day has come. I go outside without a jacket and open the sunroof in my car. To me — there is nothing better. It is the season I appreciate the most after being sick of too much cold. I lived in Florida during my 20s, and I really thought I was going to love the weather. The problem was that the weather was always the same — hot or hotter. I walked outside, and the sun was out. It was almost boring, which seems hard to believe as I write this in Akron while it’s 10 degrees and snowing. No offense to Florida, of course. I would love to have the heat right now. You can always find the Ohioan in Florida. We are the ones wearing shorts and T-shirts when the temperature is in the 60s and the Floridians have sweaters on. Growing up in Oregon, it was a whole other weather problem — rain and more rain. If you are from the Northwest, you know exactly what I mean. The winters were never cold in Eugene, but there was a low, wet cloud cover that never went away. There is a funny saying, I look forward to the summers in Oregon. That is when the rain gets warmer. It seemed like the rain would never stop. It would be July before it got sunny and hot outside.

We all need a little hope right now, and that first peek of sun shine does it for me. So do the daffodils I see sprouting up on sunny days and the opportunity to crack the windows open for the first time in months. Just like many others focusing on improving their homes this spring, I am sure my wife will have a list of projects — mostly in the garden — that she will want me to help with. I am usu ally used for manual labor. It’s the same thing each year — we add more and more plants. I am not sure I will be alive long enough to see these plants in full maturity, but I would not have it without them. This year, we’ve added a third issue of 330 Homes . Throughout this spring edition, enjoy tips about cultivating hygge to be happy at home, meet an Akron artisan crafting striking reclaimed wooden furniture and step inside dream houses, including a Bath home with stunning views of a waterfall. Spring is when I get my golf clubs out and think about how I am going to be a better player than the year before. It will not be hard. I just have to hit the ball straight, and I will greatly improve. All I need is a few sunny days strung together to lift my spir its, and if I cannot get that, then a weekend trip to Florida will do. You will recognize me. I will be wearing shorts with all the other Ohioans.

Con t r i bu t i ng Wr i t e r V I NCE GUERR I ER I

Pho t og r aphe r TYLAR SUTTON

Sa l e s BUNNY LACEY STEVE TYSON BEN D I COLA ROBERTO ALMENAR sales@bakermediagroup.com

C i r cu l a t i on circulat ion@bakermediagroup.com 330-253-0056, ext . 104

Ed i t o r i a l I n t e r ns CHR I STOPHER RAMOS WYATT LOY

Pho t og r aphy I n t e r n RYANNE LOCKER

spring 2021 | volume 3 | issue 1

33 O HOMES is published by Baker Media Group, LLC, 1653 Merriman Road, Suite 116, Akron, OH 44313. Copyright 2021© by Baker Media Group, LLC, All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited without written permis sion. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be returned unless accompanied by an addressed envelope and sufficient postage. Baker Media Group, LLC and Akron Life accept no responsibility for unsolicited material. Subscription rates: Continental U.S., One year —$19.95, Two years —$34.95. Call for Alaska, Hawaii or international rates. Single issues available by calling the circulation department or visiting akronlife.com/store. $3.95 each plus $3.50 shipping & handling. Editorial, advertising and busi ness offices: (330) 253-0056, fax (330) 253-5868.

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s p a c e l i f t | f r e s h d e s i g n | o p e n a i r

by ALEXANDRA SOBCZAK photos by MOLLOHAN PHOTOGRAPHY COLOR BURST Brighten your home with an artistic mural.

O dds are, you’ve seen Art Bomb Brigade’s vibrant murals scat tered around Akron. Marissa McClellan teaches University of Akron students to paint public art as co-director of Art Bomb Brigade and has accent walls in almost every room of her Akron home. Most recently, McClellan created a mural in her kitchen that features colorful abstract leaning shapes inspired by Akron’s hills and a mural in her off ice that incor porates black and white through simple leaf designs. “Accent walls are the perfect way to make your home more personalized, one of a kind and funky,” she says. McClellan shares a few tips on how you can create an accent wall in your home too.

CAST A VISION. Brainstorm colors and designs that speak to you by using platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram to create a mood board of sorts. And if you’re not used to painting on a large scale, you can pick an easy design, such as geometric, and practice it on a canvas first. “A simple resolution for someone who would like to do this could be measuring out their wall. Let’s say it’s 10-foot-tall,” McClellan says. “They could separate that wall into five 2-foot sections, and just make ombre stripes or something.” Accent walls can look great all around your house, but what is the best location for yours? Mc Clellan recommends putting it in a larger space because it can appear overwhelming otherwise. BRUSH WORK. It may be a good idea to ask a paint company for help choosing colors. It’s up to you whether you incorporate more subdued colors like black, white and blue, or brighter choices like yellow. Or you can combine the two, by using Pantone’s colors of the year — Ultimate Gray and Illuminating yellow. Some warmer tones like reds and oranges tend to be more see-through. McClellan says that paint companies — she goes to January Paint & Wallpaper — can help you select the best type of paint, so that you don’t need to keep adding coats.

If you’re hesitant about which shade, give yourself time. “Put it up on the wall and live with it for a few days,” McClellan says. It’s also important to look at it in different kinds of light. Once, that changed her opinion. “I was like, I love this color. I painted it, and then at nighttime, it looked really different, and I was like, I hate this color, ” she says. “You can paint over everything.” And if you’ve never painted a mural before, McClellan recom mends that you draw it on the wall in chalk first. “You can just paint inside the lines,” she says. “Once it’s dry, it’s easily wiped away, instead of trying to erase or cover up a pencil line.” Put one color on the wall at a time. “Put all your yellows up, just so you can step back and see where they all are. Then do your greens and then moving on that way,” McClel lan says. “You can see, like maybe there’s too much pink in this corner, so stop taking pink over there.” Make sure your brushes are dry and wrap a paper towel around the base to prevent paint from dripping. If a color does drip down your design, you can fix it. “The very last step is I have all the colors open so I can do touch-ups,” she says. “If I dripped somewhere, I can clean that mess up or just tighten the line.”

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ACCENT IT. The decor and furniture in the room can serve as a pop of color against the mural or as an element that matches a color or vibe in the room or your whole house. McClellan already had the yellow table and chairs in her kitchen, so she matched the mural to it. “I was picking colors that kind of went with that table and chairs,” she says. “There’s a lot of that golden yellow in our house.” In her office, she chose a yellow toned velvet couch to create contrast with the blue, black and white in the mural. You can experiment with add ing art, shelves and other de cor on top of your mural, but step back and to make sure it all works together. “We tried to throw different things up there,” she says about the kitchen mural and adds they landed on a little collection of cheetah prints. “With all the plants, it felt right.” She likes adventurous decor and layering but says it’s all based on your preferences and the style in your home. “I kind of want to put other things on top of mural accent walls, because I feel like it gives it more depth,” McClel lan says. “You can just keep it open. You know, just let the art shine through.”

Rather leave it to the pros? Get a mural in your house by contacting Art Bomb Brigade at art bombbrigade@gmail.com or akronartbomb.com.

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s p a c e l i f t | f r e s h d e s i g n | o p e n a i r

by ALEXANDRA SOBCZAK photos by ANN FABER and SUE MYER

THE SIMPLE LIFE An expert advises how to organize your kitchen and keep it that way.

C lutter in our homes can leave us feeling stressed. During the pandemic, when we’re spending more time at home, it can be even more noticeable — but it can also be remedied. Ann Faber, founder of Fab Simple Spaces, helps individuals and families get organized. “There’s been an uptick with COVID,” Faber says. “I say, Where’s the one room that bothers you the most? Let’s start there. ” The kitchen is a popular first choice. “That’s the heart of the home,” she says. “That’s the area that gets cluttered quickly.” She advises examining how you utilize space, not overlooking vertical space and setting a routine to stay organized. It helps her to think of a kitchen as different zones “It’s really taking a look at what’s missing and kind of filling that void,” Faber says, “and then also coming up with a plan to organize the space.” Faber offers strategies for organizing your kitchen to nix clutter and stress. — food prep, cooking, cleaning and storage.

t h e de ta i l s

CAB I N E T S : One of the biggest problem spots is the cabinet under the sink. “Typically, everything is mishmashed together, and it’s really hard to find things,” Faber says. Using a cleaning caddy or tiered shelf under the sink helps you easily see the cleaning products you have and prevents rebuying. She recommends keeping everyday items like plates, bowls and cups in a cabinet close to the dishwasher, and coffee and tea products in a cabinet near your coffee maker.

PAN T RY: Put things you don’t frequently use, such as paper plates and seasonal pieces, on the top shelves. Use the middle shelves for food you cook often, organized by the type of food or whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Faber once had a client whose husband cooked pizza at least once a week, so they labeled seven kinds of flour and grouped them with other pizza ingredients. Other sections can

be for bread, snacks, baking supplies, grains or canned goods. Keep the floors clear, and use lower shelves for heavier items such as beverages, large appliances and pet food. “You don’t want to put that on a high shelf,” she says. “You don’t have a hold of it; you’re going to drop it.” Always put pantry items in a consistent, convenient place. “You really want to look at what

the shelves are doing and assign spaces,” Faber says.

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DRAWE RS : Just say no to junk drawers. Especially if your kitchen doesn’t have much drawer space, it’s important to reserve them for essentials like silverware and kitchen utensils. Consider getting drawer organizers to prevent clutter. “If you’re unloading the dishwasher, make sure you’re putting things in the same spot,” Faber says. “Drawer organizers really come in handy because you’re like, Oh, there’s an empty hole. That’s where the pizza cutter goes. ” Make sure you measure the drawer organizers’ lengths, widths and depths to ensure they fit, while also being big enough to house larger items like spatulas. PO T S & PANS : Keep pots and pans near the stove. “Some people have pots and pans drawers,” she says. “If you don’t have it, you can get creative.” Consider installing a pots and pans rack on your wall or ceiling. If you think that’ll look too busy, find a spot in a cabinet where you can nest them together. And if you have a low vertical cabinet, use it for large cutting boards and cookie sheets. “You don’t always have to make sure everything is perfect,” Faber says. “But if you build it into the routine, it’s easier to keep on top of.”

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URBAN ARTIFACT A unique new build appears in Highland Square.

I t’s rare to find space to build a new home in Akron’s Highland Square. The venerable downtown adjacent neighborhood is almost completely built-up, with homes made for the city’s captains of industry that date back a century or more. But Don Cea, owner of Highbridge Construction in Akron, and Kara Cea, direc tor of the University of Akron Dance Institute, dis covered a unicorn property in summer 2019. Buying it presented the empty nest ers who previously lived

in Cuyahoga Falls with the challenge of building a new home with the mod ern amenities and design they wanted that still fit into one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. “We kind of blended that modern Craftsman style with a Southwestern flair,” Don says. “It’s different than other houses in the neighborhood, but it fits. It’s got character.” The home stands out as one of the few dark-colored ones on the street, with dark blue board and batten

siding and a solid black front door. Like many in the area, this two-story, 2,300-square-foot home has a front porch — only this one is raised up on exposed dark wooden columns with stacked stone bases and is made of composite decking with black metal railings. The couple still incorporated traditional details, like putting an attached two vehicle garage behind the house, with doors that don’t face the street, an important element in fitting in with the neighborhood, Don says.

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They broke ground in January 2020, with Don serving as the project’s general contractor, and moved in that October. Devising a floor plan was tough, since the lot was narrow. “It was difficult to find a house plan that gave us the features we wanted inside, blended into the neighborhood and worked on a 50-foot lot,” Don says. “It took a lot of thought.” The solution ended up being an open floor plan which can accommodate many guests while also having clear distinc tions between the rooms. Rather than feeling like the rooms are overlapping, Kara likens a gateway into each area to a proscenium, the large arch that for mally separates onstage performers from the audi ence. “There are three walls in the dining room, and three walls in the kitchen,” she says. “You have that openness, but there’s a definitive room.” Using space efficiently became key. When the Ceas host family gather ings or cocktail parties, the kitchen ultimately becomes the focal point, and Don says they didn’t want it cluttered with a large chimney-style hood over the five-burner stove. Instead, a hidden range hood pops out from under a cabinet with the press of a button. “We wanted it to be something nobody noticed, and this works perfectly,” he says. with a kitchen, dining room and living room,

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CLOSER LOOK

A dark Japanese ceramic tile backsplash above the bar top with white leathered granite-topped dark wood cabinets catches the eye. Homeowners Don and Kara Cea thank their daughter, Vanessa, a 2020 University of Akron interior design graduate working for Floorz in Strongsville, for the inter esting choice. She picked out the striking green Wabi tile by Wow Design.

“She was really in love with them and turned us on to them,” Don says.

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There’s a microwave built into a drawer in the large island at the center of the kitchen — a must-have for the Ceas, who didn’t have an island in their last home. There’s also a small countertop built into a wall for a coffee station, taking the coffee maker and its accessories off the island. The exterior design of the windows — black frames with contrasting white trim — carries inside the house, which has a color palette of mostly whites and dark accents. The couple fell in love with Sherwin-Williams Silver Strand, which is used in the dining room, upstairs hall and throughout the

house, because it seems to take on a different hue depending on the lighting. The counters in the kitchen, as well as a bar top in the dining room, are granite but not in the traditional sense. It’s white leathered granite, a textured surface that’s not polished or reflec tive. “It feels softer, it feels warmer, and we fell in love with it,” Don says. “Everyone who comes in the house — the first thing they notice is the counter.” In the kitchen, it’s the nexus amid soft white custom-painted cabinets with silver hard ware, but it’s more muted as the bar top amid the

dark wood cabinets with crystal hardware and dark ceramic tile backsplash in the dining room. Up an open staircase — with black powder-coated railings, a charcoal blue accent wall and a modern metal-and-glass chande lier — are three bedrooms, home made it impossible to have a first-floor own er’s suite, but Don says “aging in place” changes can easily be made in the future. The first-floor half bathroom is large enough to accommodate the installation of a shower, and a first-floor office can become a bedroom. including the owner’s suite. The size of the

That foresight shows the Ceas are planning to stay there for the long term, themselves becoming part of the fabric of the neighborhood. In the warm weather, they are looking forward to sitting on the porch and eventually tak ing part in the neighbor hood’s annual PorchRokr Music and Art Festival. “One of the things that was really important to us is our outside space,” Don says of the home’s front and back porches. “Highland Square is a front porch neighborhood.” “We want to be true to the neighborhood too, and I think we achieved that,” Kara adds.

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s p a c e l i f t | f r e s h d e s i g n | o p e n a i r

by ALEXANDRA SOBCZAK photos by LOVE WHAT I DO PHOTOGRAPHY and RYANNE LOCKER

WO V EN I N T IME Homegirl curates vintage and new farmhouse decor.

G ina Bishop lives in a 187-year-old Hudson home with a barn on the property that she used to sell painted vintage furniture out of, but her exposure to farmhouse style — a comfy, refined country look that blends new and found items — began prior to living there. “Growing up, my mom, she did this before it was in vogue,” Bishop says. “My mom used to say, I was doing what Martha Stewart was doing before there was a Martha Stewart. ” Bishop says she used to feel embarrassed about

the vintage furnishings and collected items in her childhood home, and she asked her mom why she didn’t shop in traditional stores. “She was like … This is who I am. This is who we are, ” Bishop says. Now, Bishop has a love for the style and owns the Homegirl shop in Hudson that is focused on the farmhouse aes thetic. She enjoys that the objects both in her store’s collection and in her personal home can seem familiar and remind

and they have a piece that is naturally going to lend itself to telling the story,” she says. “They’ll be like, Oh my God, that’s such a cool table, or lamp or picture. And you go, Wow, that reminds me of my grandma. ” Homegirl, which moved into a 1,700-square foot space in the Evaporator Works plaza in November, houses an ever-changing collec tion of home furnishings such as rugs, lights, chairs and more. Many pieces are upcycled and span from the ‘20s to the ‘70s. Bishop’s business partners, Jean Sukys from Market 29

and Amy Derethik from Source the Globe, con tribute vintage furniture painted to match trends and decor sourced from

India, Morocco and more, respectively.

“People want to tell their story,” Bishop says. “I’m just offering the ability to shop from a collection, and I want to encourage you to collect. … Things that are older carry dif ferent energy because they’ve lived life.”

She tells us the story behind some items in Homegirl.

someone of a memory. “I love when you come into someone’s house,

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f r e s h d e s i g n

AN T I QU E BO TAN I C A L PR I N T S , $ 40 - $80 Artwork at Homegirl ranges from floral prints to old calendars and post cards. If you want to display some thing like this in your home, Bishop recommends getting a frame that’s customized to your style. V I N TAG E HU T CH E S , $ 1 50 - $350 Hutches are com mon in farmhouse style, especially if they’re repainted in neutrals and refurnished with new knobs with touches of color as Sukys has done to these. “Doesn’t a hutch remind you of your grandma or your mom?” Bishop says. BAS K E T P E NDAN T L I GH T S , $ 7 5 - 1 50 These lights are made by flipping vintage metal baskets upside-down. How to use: Get one as a statement piece or hang multiple in a line like Bishop did inside Homegirl. QU I LT P I L L OWS , $24 - $ 4 4 When picking out some of these comfy handmade pillows, mixing patterns is welcome. “Part of the farmhouse style or DIY style is … not necessarily following rules in what goes or doesn’t go,” Bishop says. “Do it based on what you like to see or feel.” How to use: Put on a couch or chair that’s a neutral color. K AN T HA P I L L OWS , $24 - $ 7 2 Sourced from India, these pillows have colorful patchwork stitching and come in myriad designs. How to use: “I love those in a living room, a family room, a bedroom, a dining room bench,” Bishop says, “where you want to add some flair.” Shop in-person: Evaporator Works, 46 Ravenna Road, Suite D4, Hudson, 330-650 2135, homegirlshop.com

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VINTAGE MODERN by KELLY PETRYSZYN photos by ALLISON JOY SMITH An interior designer’s personal home mixes old and new beauty.

G em and Clay Interiors owner and designer Allison Smith knows good design is about balance. So while her 8,500-square-foot Bath home is a new build constructed by Old World Custom Homes and designed by Schill Architecture, she incorporated many Old World and vintage elements with fresh modern European ones. “The challenge was to build something from the ground up in modern day that didn’t look as new,” she says. “I like modern European style. I carried that throughout using materials like stone and doing the millwork in a

more French-influenced way.” While a fireplace in the two story great room is new, the fieldstone she chose has an older feel. “We did an over grout treatment to kind of make it look more European and Old World,” Smith says. Bold Sherwin-Williams Homburg Gray on the walls helps emphasize the dynamic design of the great room. “I like high contrast, so I liked the contrast between the light wood on the floor and the dark wall,” she says. When light shines through the room’s massive six windows, Smith likes how

the paint’s natural green and blue tones mesh with the stunning views of Yellow Creek, a pond and a waterfall below. Smith pays tribute to the 7.8-acre lot with a useful and exquisite coffee table featuring an epoxy river, a piece that she designed and her friends, metalworker Jon Bobovnik and woodworker Brandon Jones, crafted. “I incorporated a lot of vin tage and midcentury mod ern furniture in the great room. I wanted a European feel, but I wanted it to be cozy,” she says.

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The sectional is new, the statement chairs near it are Danish midcentury and the brass side table looks antique — yet the elements blend thanks to her carefully curated choices. “I liked the turned wood look on the legs on the sectional. I found this similar brass in the side table,” Smith says. Stone reappears over the sink in the kitchen, with a slight variation. “This one is Dutch quality Tuscan Ridge in the Winterpoint color. We did the same grout treatment to keep it cohesive, but I wanted something a little bit lighter in the kitchen,” she says. White perimeter cabinets juxtapose a charcoal island, both custom made by Troyer Cabinetry in Amish Country. She chose a light quartzite for the countertops for an airy common thread. “It has subtle color. It’s a great alternative to marble because it has kind of simi lar veining, but it’s so much more durable,” she says. To offset the contrast, she needed midtones. “I was looking for ways to warm up the kitchen, ‘cause it can easily get a little cold, espe cially when you are going

Lazy Bones covering. It’s a modern take on art by a botanical painter from an old book. “The orange that’s in the wallpaper is going to per fectly match the table,” says Smith. “The table is made out of cherry wood, so it’ll darken over time to match that orange.” She has embraced the comeback of wallpaper and especially loves the paper with tulips in the powder room that complements the floating vanity custom made by Troyer and white porce lain tile herringbone floor.

with white,” she says. “We decided on a wood ceiling and to stain it a dark walnut to tie in with the doors and dark wood accents on the rest of the main floor.” Mixed metal accents — such as brass cabinet hardware and a polished nickel faucet — and wooden midcentury Wishbone chairs surrounding the island also help warm up the kitchen. Patterned rugs

and houseplants heighten coziness. “I like that it is botanical but in a bit more of an abstract way. It makes it look a little more modern,” Smith says of the rug by the black range hood. Tuscan Ridge stone also frames a dining room wine wall Smith designed, which includes shelves holding vintage wine crates and an inset wallpapered in a vibrant

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“It reminded me of the old beautiful dark, moody paintings from Dutch masters,” she says. “I’m very selective in what wallpaper patterns I choose. I feel like if there’s somewhat of a vintage feel in the wall paper, then it’s a little bit more timeless.” A tulip inspired the bed in the owner’s suite that Smith collaborated with Sawhorse Woodworks in Cleveland on. She’s all about usable space, so she added a pocket to the headboard, mimick ing the flower. “I love the opportunity to make anything functional and crafted a wood slat TV cabinet Smith designed that’s built in over the fireplace as a tasteful disguise. “They’re bifold doors that close over the TV and hide it,” she says. “It kinda looks like a cool piece of art.” These bespoke flourishes strike a balance between beauty and usability, with custom spaces for every thing her family loves — from an art studio for her photography and water color paintings to a half basketball court in the garage and a basement recording studio for her husband, Justin. Every space is utilized because it’s uniquely made. “It was a dream to build something that was all of the things I was imagining,” Smith says. “We wanna beautiful,” she says. Jones and Bobovnik

CLOSER LOOK

Homeowner Allison Smith’s office has a fireplace that looks like one piece, yet the middle is a matching cast-iron fireplace surround and a Victorian-style summer cover she found at an architectural sal vage store and combined with a wooden mantel from an antique shop in Dover, Ohio, that she got via Facebook Marketplace. She commissioned Dana's Designs to paint the pieces and had Old World Custom Homes carpenters turn them into one unit. “It’s really hard to find the cast-iron surrounds that have matching summer covers,” says Smith. “So it was like — this is meant to be.”

get every ounce of use out of this amazing home. We wanna always feel inspired.”

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T E S T A R E A LT Y S AV E S S U MM I T C OU N T Y R E S I D E N T S T HOU S A N D S We all know of someone f inancially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. While so many industry sectors have been hit hard, one of the bright spots has been the residential housing market. “Summit County has seen a 32 percent increase in home sales in November and December of 2020 over the previous year. During that time, the average days on market fell from 69 to 40,” says Testa Cos. president Joel Testa. “The real estate industry has been one of the few around that has managed to thrive during these very diff icult times. Because of this, we feel a moral obligation to our community to give back.” Testa’s real estate f irm has announced a program called “Community Strong,” which went live in 2020. If you have a home to sell in Summit County and are looking to buy another one in that same area, it is willing to list your home and assist you in purchasing your new home for free. That’s right — free. Testa is quick to point out that as much as it sounds too good to be true, there is no catch to the program.

“Our agents earn our fee from the seller of the new home our buyers purchase. So, there is already no cost to the buyers for our service,” he says. “By committing to let us help you with that transaction, we are willing to list your house for sale at no charge.” Testa sees this as a way to not only give back to the community but also to invest in future clients. “We aren’t just offering this to families that need to retain as much of the equity in their house as they can when they sell,” he says. “We are hoping that aff luent sellers see the value and become new clients for life. So far we’ve managed to save some clients tens of thousands of dollars in each deal.” For more info, contact Cassie Testa, director of residential sales and leasing at Testa Real Estate Group at cassietesta@testacompanies.com or 330-945-HOME.

Testa Realty 330-945-HOME testacompanies.com

s p a c e l i f t | f r e s h d e s i g n | o p e n a i r

by KELLY PETRYSZYN and photos by RYANNE LOCKER

HAPPY PLACE Consider Scandinavian design for a simple, joyful home.

W e’re all at home, so make it a space where you are comfy and content. That’s why the Danish hygge lifestyle is recir culating online. It’s all about softening your space to cultivate joy — surrounding yourself with family photos, snug gly blankets and candles. It may seem fresh, but this type of design from Nordic countries emerged in the U.S. back in the ‘50s. That was around the time Gillian Andrew’s grandparents started Bath interior design firm Garth Andrew Co., so the genre became their focus. The interior designer says it’s likely coming back because people are looking for new ways to simplify their life — and that’s why you might consider adopt ing the style in your home. “If you’re tired of the all the fluff and busyness of a different genre, then Scandinavian design/mid century modern design is a very clean, functional way to go,” Andrew says, adding that Scandinavian and midcentury modern designs overlap but also have differences. spending more time

Because of Scandinavian’s simplicity, it can easily be mixed with other interior design styles, she says. Garth Andrew Co. recently did a redesign of a local home with traditional ele ments and incorporated Scandinavian design in the kitchen, powder room, playroom, laundry room and upstairs hall. Andrew offers a few tips on work ing Scandinavian design into your home to make it a cozy, joyful place.

tiles that look like wood,” Andrew says. “You don’t really see a lot of window treat ments. You might have a little blind, but you wouldn’t have a lot of

SIMPLIFY: Less is more, so say buh-bye to wall-to-wall carpet and poufy drapes. “One of the aspects of Scandinavian design is bare floors. A lot of people are going with hardwood floors or luxury vinyl plank

fluffiness.” Organization is important for mindfulness too, so cut back on clutter by doing a charity run or nestling things in decorative baskets.

[ continued on page 30 ]

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B E A M I R A C L E M A K E R Shana Kim is passionate about supporting kids in our local community. Join Shana in supporting our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. For every transaction of buying or selling a home, Shana will make a donation that helps support medical research initiatives and provides life- saving care to local kids. Put your money where your miracles are! Work with Shana and give kids every chance to get better. More than 1 million wishes have come true through over $1 million that has been donated through RE/ MAX Crossroads to local children’s hospitals. Globally make a difference in children’s lives with Shana as your local, national and global real estate agent serving over 85 countries with over 40 languages and 60 currencies. Selling, buying, building and relocating can bring miracles to our community!

Call Shana Kim today. 330-618-7848 salesbyshana@gmail.com

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[ continued from page 28 ]

STREAMLINE: Overstuffed couches and cold formal pieces are out, and minimal, clean-lined functional pieces are in, espe cially wooden ones. “High-tech contemporary where everything is metal, cement and glass — there’s no real warmth to that. Any wood grain is going to warm up a space,” Andrew says. She uses the popular molded ply wood chair by designer Herman Miller as an example. “It doesn’t have a cushion, yet the wood grain makes it really rich,” she says, adding that warmer wood tones like walnut add more rich ness. Some Scandinavian chairs have some cushioning, just less stuffiness. “Scandinavian design usually has a wooden tapered leg, very simple design, maybe wood arms but maybe there’s still some upholstery,” Andrew says.

CULTIVATING HYGGE: The lifestyle is all about blissful comfort, so don’t be shy in add ing the decor that uplifts you. While the wicker furniture in this garden room is traditional, bright, tasseled pillows make it welcoming and playful. “These throw pillows added a punch of color and that punch of design and pattern,” Andrew says. Especially if you go very minimal with the furniture, adding a fuzzy area rug, colorful framed art or houseplants (eco-friend liness is a part of the lifestyle, too) helps make it homey. “Col orful accents can come out in lamps, throw pillows and pieces like vases and candlestick hold ers,” Andrew says .

TREASURE JOY: “Nordic coun tries, it always comes to mind that those are the countries that bring out a focus on happiness, health and well-being,” Andrew says. Hygge is all about enjoying the simple pleasures of life and filling your home with what

makes you happy. Andrew did that in this local home by using vibrant Scandinavian wallcover ings that ranged from a dainty botanical on white to rainbow flo rals and foxes. “You have this fun, colorful pattern on your walls,” she says. “It was very neat.”

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by KELLY PETRYSZYN photos by TYLAR SUTTON

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GEM O N DISPLAY

Akron architects restored a crown jewel century-old mansion to its former glory.

I n 1928, the Byron R. Barder mansion on Market Street was written up in a local publication as “one

other firm architects, embarked on decades of work to restore the mansion to the crown jewel it was during the Progressive Era. The 13,500-square-foot estate, which includes a six-bed, four-bath main house, a carriage house and a garage, was built in 1919 on 1.19 acres for Barder, president and general manager of Biggs Boiler Works Co., and his family. It’s one of a few remaining examples of the presti gious Harpster & Bliss architecture firm's work, in addition to Greystone in downtown Akron. They got the home listed on the National

Register of Historic Places in 1987. “In its park-like setting, the Barder house remains an important showplace of its West Market Street neighborhood,” attested late historian James Pahlau on the application. Charles Seiberling, co-founder of the Goodyear Rubber & Tire Co., lived next door in a mansion known as Tri Acres that’s listed with the Department of the Interior as a his torical landmark. “The factories were on the

of Akron’s finest private homes.”

When architects Chas Schreckenberger and Rob Habel arrived there in 1987 after their employer, Braun & Steidl Architects, bought it, the Georgian Revival’s cream brick exterior was shrouded — almost buried — by overgrown trees and tangled vines. “You couldn’t see the house from the street,” Habel recalls. “We helped pull the vines off.” The two, along with

East Side. The West Side generally had more wealth,” says Schreckenberger.

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Barder lived there until he died in 1957, the Burkhalters moved in dur ing 1961 and it fell into dis repair following financial struggles. After restoring it and converting it to office space for Braun & Steidl, Schreckenberger and Habel bought out the firm in 2002 and became own ers of the estate in 2007. They recently sold the firm, so their offices moved in February 2020. Now, this historic gem is on the mar ket for residential or com mercial use, and it's listed by Keller Williams agent Karen Hillman. The mansion was a turning point for the two — it was their first of many notewor thy historical restorations.

They began the Barder restoration in 1987 by devising clever ways to use historical quirks to do major updates, such as using original piping from the coal Biggs Boiler to replace the electrical. “Because the guy owned a boiler company, all the wiring was in a black pipe like they used in boilers. We used that to pull new wire. The whole house was rewired, including the chandeliers,” explains Schreckenberger. “The house had a central vac uum cleaner system. 1919 — that’s pretty advanced. We used the conduit that was the vacuum system to run data cables.” While they were working, Barder’s grandchildren

saw a Braun & Steidl lawn sign and stopped in, offer ing to lease them an origi nal dining set and buffet they had kept. The firm gladly took the furniture, which perfectly matches the oak-paneled walls with decorative Grinling Gibbons-esque reliefs. “It is a commission designed specifically for this room,” says Schreckenberger. They found five leaves for expanding the table. Barder and his wife were among the city’s lead ing citizens, according to Pahlau’s application, and hosted lavish parties. Rooms were equipped with a still-working intercom

system — similar to the one at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens. When the Barders wanted to move the party to another room, they could simply step down on a call button hid den in the floor and ser vants could direct guests. Numerous staffers lived in the service wing accessed by a back staircase com plete with a butler’s pantry, a kitchen containing an original Kelvinator refrig erator that was converted from an icebox, a two-bed room apartment above the garage where the chauffeur and his wife stayed and a second-floor maid’s apart ment. They also worked in the basement laundry room

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that originally had three gigantic claw-foot tubs and a huge industrial dryer, as well as a coal cellar with a still-workable exterior access chute. The firm has since converted the boiler to gas and installed air-conditioning. For seamless service, a door that opens to the butler’s pantry is disguised as a wooden panel in the dining room. Other hidden features include a safe behind a wooden panel in a closet and sliding gun stor age in the den. The stunning halls feature square columns and pan eled Doric and fluted pilas ters to reflect pilasters surrounding the exterior, fluted columns supporting a two-story portico and

square col umns fram ing a back latticed entryway. A portion of

and a black marble fire place with a Georgian surround painted with flowers in the breakfast room — originally used as a ladies’ sitting room. There is also a fireplace in the solarium, which for merly had a pedestal foun tain. Above the solarium and the breakfast room are two sleeping porches that weren’t initially heated. “In the times of tuberculosis, they believed fresh air would ward off disease — kind of like we

Most of their entertaining took place in a third-floor ballroom with two walk out porches, and it was likely used even through Prohibition. Local lore is still circulating — a former employee’s father in-law told stories of his band playing parties there. The firm converted the

the Georgian woodwork in the second-floor hall was missing, so the architects researched and discovered Falls Lumber & Millwork still had a historic knife design and used it to fill in the gaps. “Some are origi nal. Some are modern. But they’re made [of ] exactly the same trim pattern,” says Schreckenberger. The six original fireplaces are impressive, includ ing a beige Italian marble one in the walnut living room, one with a Louis XVI-style wooden mantel in the owner’s bedroom

space into cubicles. Another surprising

entertainment spot is a basement billiard room originally used as a men’s lounge.

are going through now — so they would create these sleeping porches,” Schreckenberger says.

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“When they would get tired of drinking and smoking cigars, this was a bifold door and shooting range,” explains Habel, open ing a cabinet to reveal a shooting galley that extends across an empty basement stretch and has pockmarked walls to prove it. The firm has since installed a new roof and converted

leased by nonprofit Tuesday Musical, which has hosted concerts there. After working in a historic landmark for 34 years, Habel misses simple moments that reminded him it was special — like the amazed look on new comers’ faces during firm Christmas parties or how neighborhood kids nick named it “Wayne Manor,”

Schreckenberger recalls bringing his young kids there when he worked on weekends. “They would run through the place. The office off the back stairway was the coolest thing,” he says. The two are proud to have restored the landmark

to its previous beauty and hope it will find new owners who appreciate this rare Progressive Era mansion. “It’s a labor of love,” Schreckenberger says. “I don’t consider us owners. I consider us caretakers.”

the carriage house into office space, currently

summoning to mind Batman’s mansion.

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CLOSER LOOK

A unique local tile mural is embedded over the mantel of the Tudor arched cast-stone fireplace in the billiard room. Research led a former Braun & Steidl firm partner to uncover that the art was made in 1919 by Unitile, a Uhrichsville, Ohio, company founded by brothers including William Donahey, who created “The Teenie Weenies,” a Chicago Tribune comic strip about two-inch people living under a rose bush. The mural features characters on a fox hunt. “That makes it sort of rare he would have done that on the mantel of a fireplace,” says house co-owner Chas Schreckenberger.

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s p a c e l i f t | f r e s h d e s i g n | o p e n a i r

by KELLY PETRYSZYN and CHRISTOPHER RAMOS

O V E R HE A D Address cold-weather damage to your roof before it gets worse.

W e’ve had quite the winter, with inches of snow, ice and even hail. When Northeast Ohio cold weather happens, homeowners may not think about how it could damage their roofs. “The No. 1 thing to look out for is going to be ice damage, especially here in Northeast Ohio, when ice forms along the gutter line and gets underneath the shingles. It can start to cause interior damage,” says Dave Sipes, residential division manager of Akron headquartered Legacy Roofing Services, one of the country’s largest roofing service providers. Often, homeowners don’t notice winter roof damage until after temps rise and everything thaws out. But now is the time to inspect your roof for issues and make repairs before we get into what is typically a rainy spring. Sipes shares some pointers on what to watch for and how you can prevent further damage.

L OOK F OR I C E DAMS : From the ground, scan for ice. “See if you have ice forming over your gutters. That’s definitely a sign of ice damming,” says Sipes. Having an ice and water shield on your roof helps to prevent freezing in gutters. It is now in Ohio building code, but if you have an older roof, it might have been built without it. Catching ice dams early is key to avoiding indoor and outdoor repairs that can be in the thousands. “You’re gonna

have drywall damage, insulation damage behind the walls. I’ve seen it go all the way down to carpets and wood floors,” Sipes says. K E E P ROO F C L E AR & I NS P E C T COND I T I ON : If it’s safe, get on the roof to check for any debris or tree limbs, as well as drains and gutters clogged with dirt and debris from melted snow. Enlarged cracks and gaps or warping in asphalt roofs and missing fasteners in metal

roofs are warning flags too. “Another telltale sign would be if the gutters are hanging down, pulling away from the baseboard. That would be a good indication that you have ice building up into your gutters,” Sipes says. Those with two story roofs should examine the eaves for water spots or discoloration. “Even the small ones, if you catch it early, it’s gonna save you a lot,” he says.

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