9th Annual Cashiers Designer Showhouse
Press
Release: CASHIERS DESIGNER SHOWHOUSE LOCATION ANNOUNCED
The Cashiers Historical
Society will present their ninth annual Designer Showhouse at Golf Club Estates
in Sapphire Valley. This well anticipated event will take place earlier
this year, opening July 8th and running through July 23, at the Johnson Home,
“On Golden Pond.” Seventeen designers, whose work range from local and
regional, to clients across the country are participating to transform the
interior of this unique home. The Showhouse will be open from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. daily and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Three engaging speaker
programs will also be a part of the event. On July 8th, Lynda Mead Shea, will
present “A romance with France 1984-2006”. Lynda will offer her
extensive knowledge gained from years of purchasing and importing French
antiques. A favorite on the speaker circuit, she’s a crowd pleaser, as
you would expect from a former Miss America. Keven Hawkins, a Cashiers
native, whose business Keven Hawkins, Inc., now based in Providence ,Rhode
Island, will discuss “Scale and Proportion in Decorating” on July 15th.
This Showhouse is his debut as a participating designer, as well. These
two presentations will be made at The Country Club of Sapphire Valley at 10 a.m.
with a reception following.
On July 13th, perennial
favorites, Hal Ainsworth and Winton Noah are opening their Big Sheepcliff home
for a Twilight Cocktail Tour from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Highly regarded at
ADAC, the pair have spent years gathering antiques, fabrics and furnishings.
Through their generosity to the Cashiers community, guests at this event will
have the opportunity to view the collections and gain insight to great design.
Tickets must be purchased in advance for these programs due to limited
availability.
Press Release: NINTH ANNUAL
DESIGNER SHOWHOUSE;
DESIGNERS REVEAL THEIR PLANS
The Ninth Annual Cashiers
Designer Showhouse, presented by The Cashiers Historical Society will open
Saturday, July 8th, 2006. “On Golden Pond”, the home of Ben and Penny
Johnson at Golf Club Estates in Sapphire Valley is the site of this year’s
event. The talented team of 17 designers has transformed empty rooms into
welcoming spaces.
Sally Johannessen, owner of Dovetail Antiques chose several quality wood pieces for the foyer. Having already stood the test of time welcoming guests to large country homes in France for centuries, she feels they are perfectly suited to this mountain home. The dining room furnished with an expansive table and high backed upholstered chairs comfortably accommodates a large formal dinner or intimate family gathering. Elegant yet casual, the room is a reflection of it’s creator Ann Sherrill of Rusticks. In the master closet Judy Henson and Carol Hartley of C J Brownhouse allowed space for practical storage and an area for creativity. A comfortable chair and writing desk is the perfect spot to scrapbook and make greeting cards with all the supplies close at hand. Visitors to past Showhouses will recognize their good friend and confidant Myrtle, busy at her creations. The Inglenook, anchored by the home’s original fireplace beckons you to relax with a good book. Eddie Alvarez and George Oliver of A Country Home selected a blend of antique and contemporary furnishings, creating a comfortable room with mountain flavor.
Lynn Monday’s use of white
linen and tartan plaid, elegant floral arrangements and well placed accessories,
coupled with the natural light from the living room’s many windows are all
elements you would expect in a stately country home. Taking her cue
from the diversity of styles in architecture and design here in the mountains,
Mary Adair Leslie of Summit One Gallery, has created an exhibit, in of all
places, the mudroom of the house that flows to surrounding areas, showcasing
original fine art ranging from Hudson River Valley technique to the abstract.
Priscilla Wodehouse and Peter Pioli of The Decorative Touch created a blue and
white themed guest suite in response to the homeowners wishes.
Incorporating existing pieces of furniture, some reupholstered or painted, an
acquired elegant canopy bed and a lot of fabric, the result of the collaborative
effort is what you would find in a country manor house.
Ben and Penny Johnson, the
designers, volunteers and the Showhouse committee invite you to visit “Golden
Pond”, the ninth annual presentation of The Cashiers Historical Showhouse,
open Saturday, July 8 to Sunday July 23, 2006 and hope your time spent touring
the home and grounds will be memorable.
Showhouse
headliner gets design inspiration from Cashiers
By Kara Steele - Staff Writer, Crossroads Chronicle
Posted:
Wednesday, Jun 07, 2006 - 10:30:59 am EDT
A former Cashiers resident who
has received national acclaim in interior design will headline this year’s
Cashiers Designer Showhouse.
Spending his childhood surrounded by the natural beauty of Cashiers propelled Keven
Hawkins into the world of interior design and architecture.
“I think growing up with the beautiful scenery and peaceful landscapes of
Cashiers had a profound influence on my aesthetic and my eye,” Hawkins said.
Each year, the Cashiers Designer Showhouse showcases one house in the Cashiers
area - this year, Ben and Penny Johnson’s home, located in the Country Club
Estates in Sapphire Valley - that has been decorated by well-known local and
regional designers. Showhouse organizers said they have had their eyes on
Hawkins for years.
“Keven was the first
person that I went after; he was definitely my first choice for the showhouse,”
said Sarah Nelson, the showhouse’s design committee chair. “To me, he’s
the most important one because he lived here and he’s done so well.”
Hawkins attended Cashiers Elementary School and graduated valedictorian from
Blue Ridge High School. His journey began at Clemson University, where he
received a bachelor’s degree in design. He then earned his master’s degree
in art history and historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania,
and a Bachelor of Architecture from Drexel University in Philadelphia.
His extensive education has helped him make a name for himself in the
competitive world of decorating. (Hawkins prefers the term decorating to
designing.) He owns an interior design firm - Keven Hawkins Inc. - and lives in
Providence, R.I.
The hallmarks of Hawkins’ work - meticulous planning, placement, color pattern
and scale - have pushed him to national acclaim. His work has been featured in a
variety of publications, ranging from Palm Beach Cottages and Gardens to House
Beautiful, where he was named one of the country’s top young designers.
This top designer has decorated the interior of a variety of places, including
country homes, upscale New York apartments, yachts, restaurants, spas and
private jets.
Hawkins said he is trained as an architect but is a decorator. Though decorating
is his passion, Hawkins starts with the architecture of every project and works
to get “the bones of the house correct” before any furnishings arrive, he
said.
It’s Hawkins’ combined talents of decorating and architecture that attracted
showhouse organizers to him for many years.
“The showhouse [organizers] have been hounding me to do it for a long time,
and I finally agreed to do a second-floor bedroom,” Hawkins said, laughing.
Hawkins said the bedroom already contains a “beautiful painted horizontal
paneling,” and his additions will highlight that piece.
“I’m using a hand-carved, mahogany four-poster bed, and I’m using all
English and American 18th and 19th century antiques - a 19th century Dutch brass
chandelier, an American and English chest, an American federal arm war and
hand-printed English linen I had custom-printed in England,” Hawkins said.
“It’s going to be a working bedroom where someone could read and write
letters because it will have a desk and lots of books.”
Hawkins said the bedroom will also be decorated with sporting and equestrian art
to show off his love of horses.
Showhouse Chair Alice Scanlon is looking forward to seeing Hawkins’ end
result.
“Keven makes me smile all the time, and his work is [amazing],” Scanlon
said. “Cashiers is his home, and you know it all the time. I’m so thrilled
we got him.”
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