home
The family room's ceiling
In Harmony from page 38
echoes the peaked ceiling
of the breakfast room. The
fireplace's herringbone-
patterned brick interior
is surrounded by Indiana
limestone and displays a
pair of 17th-century French
andirons. A curved-surface
painting by Ron Gorchov,
long hanging unnoticed in
the home, now becomes
the room's centerpiece.
Schwartz recovered her Mies
van der Rohe chairs in suede
and Jean-Michel Frank sofas
in alpaca and wool mohair
with leather welting.
Inspired by a Philippe Starck
sink she saw, Schwartz designed
the powder room's freestanding
stainless steel pedestal sink. Topped
with black granite, it features a
wrap-around towel bar and stands
on inverted triangular feet. After
years of hunting for one, Schwartz
found the Biedermeyer mirror in an
antiques shop in Florida. Pale-green
grass cloth covers the walls.
The jewel-box of a laundry room shimmers
with white tiled walls, which make for easy
clean-up, and is anchored underfoot by Thar
Stone limestone imported from India, which
stretches out through the hall to the back
porch. The painted wood cabinetry, providing
plenty of storage for extra tabletop items, and
floating shelves (which display a collection
of Pewabic pottery) are topped with stainless
steel. Schwartz had a garbage disposal
installed in the sink so that she can use the
room as kitchen overflow when entertaining.
The negative of having an open floor plan
is that everything is out in the open," says
Schwartz. "This allows for prep work, dirty
dishes and servers to be out of sight."
"I love symmetry," says Schwartz. Shaker-style cabinets extend floor to ceiling
on the left, broken up by a horizontal strip of walnut; to the right, a window
offers a peek inside the Sub-Zero refrigerator. For years, design has wanted
the refrigerator to disappear, but this is a work of industrial art. It's all about
standing out," says Schwartz. A six-burner Wolf stovetop and custom stainless
hood flanks an 8-foot slab of white Statuario marble, streaked with grey veining,
which creates a dramatic central backsplash. "It looks like a painting," says
Schwartz. The same marble tops the counters and the island, whose expanse
allows buffet service from all four sides and creates space for a wine bar. A
19th-century brass folk-art horse weathervane, picked up at Hill Gallery in
Birmingham, holds its own in an unexpected place of pride.
Mies van der Rohe's midcentury-modern Bruno chairs, covered in forest-green
leather, line the traditional wood dining table. On it, a sculpture by Philippe Starck
unites a steel stand with a vintage Wedgwood bowl. The heavily lacquered inset
buffet, topped with dark-green marble, displays a circa-1910 English tea service
once owned by Schwartz's great-grandfather, who raised her own father, John
Redfield, a cantorial soloist at Temple Beth El for 39 years. "I grew up with my
father playing piano and singing operas every night," Schwartz says. Beside the
tea set is a model of a sculpture of Mozart's Magic Flute; the movement of jazz is
interpreted in the painting on the wall; and a photograph of Stravinsky by Arnold
Newman (not shown) hangs on another wall. "I never realized how musical
this room is," Schwartz says. "I'm really just realizing it now as we speak."
40 July 10 • 2014