Cook it outside

Ideas for sizzling outdoor kitchens

Carole Hawkins | Photographer Ed Hall

Backyard dining has come a long way from the simple cookout when brats and burgers were stacked high on a double layer of paper plates with plastic forks and served to guests seated at redwood picnic tables or in folding aluminum lawn chairs.

Increasingly, homeowners like the McGinnesses are adding all-weather cabinets with countertops, sinks, refrigerators and ice chests to their backyard grill stations. Outdoor kitchens are becoming part of most upscale new homes.

‘‘Products have improved so much, you can have anything in an outdoor kitchen that you have in an indoor kitchen,’’ says Peggy Leonard of the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, a trade association that represents the hearth-products industry.

Consumers can buy grills that contain built-in burners and prep stations, rotisseries, searing stations and pull-out drawers for smoking food over mesquite chips or charcoal.

Outdoor appliances have become so complete, the cook need never go indoors. Outdoor refrigerators, wine chillers, keg tappers, freezers, icemakers and bar coolers all add to convenience and entertainment possibilities.

Stainless steel cabinets hold cookware, dishes and utensils. Cabinets may have built-in trash chutes, stainless towel holders, multi-storage drawers, glass racks and bottle holders.

When combined with a backyard pool, hot tub, fireplace and sitting areas, the outdoor kitchen turns a backyard into a complete entertainment package…

Thinking about adding an outdoor kitchen to your house plans or existing home? Get tips from the pros and learn how outdoor kitchens turn backyards into weekend vacation destinations in the August issue of Water’s Edge, on newsstands now.

Tuscan in Tabby

Building a villa by the marshes in Georgia

By Carole Hawkins | Photographer Ed Hall

Sam and Mary McGinness have lived in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, for more than 30 years, and had dreamed of a second home by the sea. They changed their minds as they were drawn more and more to Georgia’s densely wooded Low Country.

‘‘We love the beach, but we love, love the marsh,’’ says Mary.

Instead of a pounding ocean receding beyond their back patio, they enjoy waves of emerald marsh grasses flowing towards distant dot-sized islands. It’s a welcome getaway from Mary’s catering business and Sam’s job as a manufacturer’s representative.

Built just three years ago on Tolomato Island near Darien, Georgia, the house has the feeling of a place much older. The Tuscan-style vacation villa features an eclectic variety of construction materials that blends its owners’ love of antiques, local heritage and Old World culture. Coupled with an open layout, the result is a home full of large, inviting spaces.

Borrowing from Georgia history, Sam and Mary built the walls out of tabby, an oyster shell- concrete mix widely used in the coastal Southeast from the 1500s to the 1800s. The couple found the beige tabby reminiscent of the color they had seen in Tuscan architecture during trips to Italy.

That and two massive, old front doors from a church – bought on eBay before construction began – drove their home’s architectural style.

Take a tour of Sam and Mary Tuscan villa made of tabby in the August issue of Water’s Edge, on newsstands now.

Salvage Treasures

Using salvage materials is a great way to personalize a home, but it requires some creative shopping, say Sam and Mary McGinness, who built a home in Darien, Georgia.

The couple found their home’s brick and heart pine as salvage from an on old church building on a lucky tip from a Chattanooga antiques dealer.

‘‘We already had the concept for building this house and the dealer told us, ‘There’s a guy getting ready to tear down this church across the street,’’ Sam says. Sam negotiated with the demolition contractor to buy the materials.

For their kitchen’s ceiling timbers, the McGinnesses went to Walden 19th Century Antique Log Homes, also in Chattanooga. The company tears down old log cabins and resells the parts. All of their hand-hewn timbers are at least 100 years old, cut from virgin Tennessee forests.

The home’s front doors, which once belonged to a church in Dayton Ohio, were the product of a diligent eBay search.

‘‘We just kept clicking on the ‘Antique Doors’ listing,’’ Sam says. ‘‘We looked for two months. Then one day it was just there and it was like, wow!’’

Sam says using salvage materials in construction is a relatively new idea, but one with which builders are becoming more aware.

‘‘Today, when a 100-year-old building is demolished, crews look at its salvage value,’’ he said. ‘‘One contractor might charge $250,000 to tear a place down. Another will do it for free because of the salvage they can get out of it.’’

2008 Designer Showhouse

Elegance reigns at English manor house

By Sarah Wood Hunt | Photographer Ed Hall

This year’s showhouse, the 32nd presented by the Jacksonville Symphony Guild, combined traditional English architecture with thoroughly modern conveniences. It’s the best of both worlds – elegant surroundings, and it’s not stuck out in the Cotswolds. It’s at Pablo Creek Reserve, just across the Intracoastal Waterway from the Beaches, an easy drive into downtown Jacksonville, or to St. Augustine, Florida.

Designed by Kevin Gray and built by Collier Classic Homes, the 19 spaces in the 6,252-square-foot home were transformed by 23 interior designers, whose individual work blended seamlessly from room to room. Outside, 11 landscape designers created eight gardens befitting the grand presence of the home, including a cloister garden, herb and cutting garden, water garden and, of course, a rose garden.

Left: Entry Hall by Erin E. Alderman, Allied Member ASID, Alderman Interior Design, Inc.

Right: Grand Hall and Stairwell by Carol Halliwell, Carol Halliwell Interiors

Drawing Room by Julliana M. Catlin, FASID and Marsha L. Faulkner, ASID, Catlin Design

Owners’ Retreat by Holly Carillon, Allied Member ASID, Hugo’s Interiors

Owners’ Bath by Patricia Harmon, Allied Member ASID, River Oaks Designs

Left: Powder Room by Jenny Cocanougher, Cocanougher Design Studios

Right: Laundry Centre by Susan Kerns, ASID, Susan J Designs

Banquet Hall by Jane Roseborough, ASID, Jane Roseborough Interiors and Susan Garrison, Allied Member ASID, Susan Garrison Interiors

Left: Caterer’s Kitchen / Lady’s Office by Terri Weidle, Interiors by design

Right: Conservatory Bath by Tara Regan, Allied Member ASID, Tara Regan Interiors

Kitchen and Wine Bar by Jennifer E. Bean, ASID, Sisler Johnston Interior Design

Morning Room by Cheryl E. Martin, Allied Member ASID, Sisler Johnston Interior Design

Gathering Room by June Terry, MIRM, Allied Member ASID, June Terry Interiors

Conservatory by Glenda W. Wann, ASID, Glenda Wann Interiors

South Chamber and Bath by Julie Schulte, ASID, Alicia Weaver, ASID, Courtney Bryan, Allied Member ASID, Schulte Design Associates

Library / Theatre Room by Allen Pilton Ruby, Allied Member ASID, Liberty Furniture
2008 Designer Showhouse People’s Choice Award Winner

Allen Ruby, Allied Member ASID, has been awarded the People’s Choice Award for the 2008 Designer Showhouse & Gardens, presented by the Jacksonville Symphony Guild. This is the second year in a row that Ruby, of Liberty Furniture, has captured the most tour-goers’ votes for favorite room. Allen’s Library/Theater Room was designed to function as a library, study and theater, and is filled with treasures from travels and safaris. Proceeds from the showhouse, which this year was an English manor-style home at Pablo Creek Reserve, benefit the Jacksonville Symphony Guild in its support of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and The Guild’s music education programs.

North Chamber and Bath by R. Ward Lariscy, ASID, R. Ward Lariscy Interiors

Cloister and Colonnade by Joanne Rumney ASID, IIDA and Nikoll Dreher, Allied Member ASID, Design Loft Interiors

Guest Cottage and Spa Bath by Ginny Stine, ASID, Debbie McGill, Allied Member ASID, Deanna Welty, Allied Member ASID, Nancy Pace, ASID, Ginny Stine Interiors

See more photos from the 2008 Designer Showhouse & Gardens in the June issue of Water’s Edge, on newsstands now.