>> at home
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Warm Welcome
From playdates to grownup
dates, this Birmingham house
— open to the public during
Temple Israel Sisterhood's
annual house tour — makes
everyone feel at home.
Lynne Konstantin I Design Writer
Brett Mountain I Photographer
L
auren and Robb Smith have exquisite taste. They also have two
small children. Often, these do not go hand-in-hand.
So, for their Birmingham home, they turned to architect Alex
Bogaerts, founder and president of Alexander V. Bogaerts + Associates
in Bloomfield Hills, to customize his signature open and flowing lay-
out, "with plenty of room for the kids to play and grow," says Lauren
Smith.
Once construction of their home was near completion, she tapped
designer Jeffrey King, owner of Jeffrey King Interiors in Birmingham,
to create a common ground of both discerning elegance and resilient
functionality.
"I loved a house down the street from us that I knew Jeffrey had
decorated," says Smith. "My husband and I met with him for maybe
an hour, and that was it. Our personalities fit well together — but I
also knew that he had the ability to push us to do some things with the
home that were not so predictable and a little out of our comfort zone:'
The family, who loves to host out-of-town guests and family dinners,
leaned toward a neutral palette of grays and taupes, with traditional
silhouettes, similar to those Smith grew up with. King also brought in
the occasional pop of unexpected color and clean, calm modernism.
Blended with luxe yet user-friendly fabrics that fit right into their ele-
gantly appointed surroundings, the home "provides the flexibility to enter-
tain easily yet also have multiple kids over for a playdate," says Smith. "It is
a beautiful yet completely durable everyday space for our family." n
Designer Jeffrey King covered
the kitchen counters with
White Fantasy granite, honed
for an aged look — a more
resilient and stain-resistant
alternative to white marble —
while Carrara marble mixed
with glass adds shimmer to
the backsplash. Architectural
details add interest to the
custom cabinetry by Bolyard
Lumber in Birmingham; a
drawer in the island conceals
the microwave. A 10-foot-
long banquette, covered in
a charcoal-colored, easy-
to-clean, high-performance
microfiber with the feel
of suede, anchors an oval
distressed-wood table.
King found the giant wood
propeller at the Michigan
Design Center. "It had been
hanging there so long that no
one knew anything about it —
but I thought it was perfect,"
he says.
Do you have a home you'd like to share with the community? Contact Lynne Konstantin at lkonstantin@thejewishnews.com .
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May 8 • 2014