Michele and Bill Collins of Corbin City designed the family bedroom and sleeping porch for Windsong on Wesley, this year’s RNS Show House. The house, located in Ocean City, opens for tours on Saturday.
By BAILEY CLARK, For The Press of A.C. – Friday, July 9, 2010
Sometimes, interior-design perfection means working to the very last minute.
The smell of fresh paint was strong and the sounds of hammering and power tools filled the air as designers and crew members scrambled this week to put the finishing touches on “Windsong On Wesley,” the 19th Annual Designer Show House for the Ruth Newman Shapiro Cancer and Heart Fund which opens to the public on Saturday.
Twenty-one spaces in the turn-of-the-century Dutch Colonial house on Wesley Avenue have been transformed into minor works of interior-design art. The room treatments ranged from eclectic and dreamy to chic and subdued.
This is the first time Ocean City has hosted the show house. Charlotte Berger, publicity chairperson for RNS, said that they were hoping the location would bring many visitors to the event. “They have a lot of tourists in the summer, and we’re hoping that people will find it interesting,” she said.
Designer John Kelly, of Philadelphia, was still waiting for plantation-style shutters and shower doors to come in for his upstairs bedroom and bathroom on Wednesday afternoon. A girly space featuring upholstered walls and lots of white and pink, he described his approach as “a nice, airy, cool, beachy bedroom.”
“I have been with RNS for 19 years, and if there ever was a show house that I didn’t think was going to get done in time, this is the one,” said Kelly. “But, it somehow always manages to get done.”
Donna Tursi of Tursi Interiors LLC, based in West Chester, Pa., worked with Joseph Tenaglia, from Joseph Design L.L.C. of Wildwood Crest, to create the relaxing living room featuring neutral colors, starfish accents, nautical rope treatments on the walls and a unique mirrored fireplace. Tursi said that Tenaglia’s contemporary and avant-garde style meshed well with her own traditional approach.
“I tuned him down, and he tuned me up,” she said. Tursi was also waiting for more accessories to come in to complete the room.
Mary Dima, of Daroo Designs, collaborated with Meg Clemm, of Katy MacKenzie Designs, both from Blue Bell, Pa., to create “Surfside Soiree,” a lush and beautiful dining room featuring pastel colors, Louis XV chairs and a crystal chandelier.
“We did not want it to be typical beachy. We call it ‘elegant beachy,’” said Dima.
“We just tried to keep it serene and peaceful,” she added.
Visitors might find themselves daydreaming about living in the 4,500-square-foot privately-owned house, which is just as functional as it is stylish.
A soothing bedroom designed by Bill and Michele Collins, of Painted River Studios in Corbin City, includes white wood-paneled walls, a large painting of the ocean, and lots of blue. “We designed it to look like an old beach house,” said Michele Collins.
Collins envisioned visiting families with kids when designing the suite, which opens up to a sleeping porch with kid-sized custom beds with cubby holes underneath. A ladder leads to an attic playroom stocked with board games.
A tropics-themed sleeping porch makes creative use of a small space with a custom hanging bed suspended by rope and a bench with colorful, detailed upholstery.
“Sometimes small spaces intimidate people, because with a space so confined you wonder what you can possibly get from that,” said designer Beth Reale, who worked with Alicia Brown-Kosko on the room. Both designers hail from Interiors by Alicia, based in Williamstown. “I think we accomplished something very serene, very tropical, and a little rustic,” she said.
Visitors can take home more than interior decorating inspiration. On “Meet the Designer Night,” held every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m., designers and vendors will be at the house to discuss their work. Furniture and accessories will also be available for purchase.
The $25 admission to the show house, which is available at the door, includes admission to a series of five lectures to be held on Thursday mornings, on topics ranging from health care to the history of Ocean City.
The house will be open through August 15th, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, it will have extended hours until 8 p.m.
The proceeds from “Windsong on Wesley” will benefit AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s RNS Digital Mammography Van and the Cancer Centers at Shore Memorial Hospital and Cape Regional Medical Center.
For tickets and more information, visit www.rnscancerandheartfund.org