The annual Symphony Show House will return to Oklahoma City this month for its 47th exhibition, at a sprawling, 7,500-square-foot contemporary dwelling in Nichols Hills.
Nestled on a wooded lot, this year’s home is an homage to the elements with floor-to-ceiling windows, marble, steel and rustic wood beams that blend indoor and outdoor spaces.
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The ordered and angular architectural design, accented with natural woods and stone, creates a comforting cohesion among the home’s 23 rooms, including five bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The interiors evoke a sense of tranquility, and have been reimagined from the ground up by 21 design teams.
While each team brought its own unique style to its assigned space, many of the themes are complementary. Several of the designers chose to showcase classic blue, Pantone’s color of the year for 2020, mixed with gray, warm taupe, ecru and gold. The scheme is reminiscent of an oceanside palette that is further punctuated by open views of the outdoor pool.
“Even though it’s not a warm color, there’s a richness about that classic blue. And it’s a little bit sassy,” says J. Mark Taylor, RID, Associate ASID, who designed the formal living room and dining room. “And the fact that the general palette of the home is gray and black – to me, that was just the perfect color to bring life and energy to that space.
“In the middle of all of the glass, concrete and metal, the other element I wanted was natural material,” said Taylor, who owns Traditions Fine Furniture and Design in Edmond. “Even the console I chose has an architectural look, but the warmth of the heavily grained wood with huge hardware that is inlaid with tigereye brings an earthy feel to the design.”
Cheerful, whimsical creations are carried throughout the home, too, with unusual wall hangings and imaginative vignettes that fuse bright colors with expressive accent pieces.
The Norman-based design team from Mister Robert Fine Furniture and Design brightened the study/sitting room with colorful florals and a fuchsia rug.
“After all of this (quarantine), people are really going to want color. I think people will want even more color,” says designer Keven Calonkey Carl, ASID, NCIDQ. “We selected a handwoven rug as the centerpiece of the room to really give it a pop of color, and built from there with colorful pillows on the sofa, a floral cornice (window treatment) and original oil paintings that we selected for this room.”
Designers also made skillful use of texture from finishes to fabrics, most notably showcased in the master suite by Jeff Muse and Beth Ketchum of K&N Interior Fabrics and in the pool bath by Deb Johnson of Paint Inspirations.
This 2020 Symphony Show House has presented the designers an added challenge with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This was a very fulfilling experience doing this with the designers in the season that we are in,” says Taylor, who serves as designer liaison for this year’s event. “To me, the tenacity and the will to make this happen is a picture of how Oklahomans are. In the middle of a crisis, we are going to stick together and make something beautiful happen. Although we practiced safe distancing, there was a lot of camaraderie.”
Lisa Reed, executive director of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League, which hosts the annual Show House, agreed.
“The designers have really stepped up this year in the middle of social distancing and supply chain interruptions. It’s important that we carry on this community tradition,” Reed says. “We have so many people who come for it every single year. I have women who come through who say, ‘I did this with my mother or grandmother, now I’m doing this with my daughter.’”
The Symphony Show House was launched in 1973 as a fundraiser for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, then the Oklahoma City Symphony. Proceeds go to fund the Philharmonic and its community outreach programs, which reach 35,000 adults and youth throughout central Oklahoma.
This year’s show house at 2737 Guilford Lane is owned by A-List Construction. It is listed with Wyatt Poindexter Group of KW Luxury Homes International for $2,250,000.
The home is scheduled to be open for tours 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 31-June 14. Due to the uncertain timing of shelter-in-place directives associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, alternate dates are scheduled for June 13-28.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 during the event. They are to be available online at okcphil.org and at participating metro locations.
