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The featured room includes antler chandeliers. |
Fredericksburg native Jaymes Richardson was expecting sympathy when he called HGTV to say a flash flood had ruined the kitchen he was working on for one of its "New Spaces" episodes.
"For me, it was a nightmare," said Richardson, co-owner of Civility Design in Chicago. "This very high-end kitchen is under way, and the family is on vacation. I had to call them at 0-dark-30 in the Caribbean."
But the "New Spaces" producers sensed a dramatic moment in the making, and dispatched a camera crew to the house in time to catch the strain on Heather and Charlie Schenck's faces when they flew back to inspect the damage.
"It made for great television," Richardson said.
The episode, "A Kitchen Reborn," airs at 9 a.m. today on HGTV's popular "New Spaces" show. And the room, which features antler chandeliers lacquered in Heather Schenck's favorite shade of poppy, has won a Design in Excellence award from the American Society of Interior Designers.
Richardson, along with business partner and designer Don Raney, got involved with the project after the Schencks bought what had once been a single-room, 1920s summer cottage retreat 30 miles from Chicago. It didn't even have heating or plumbing until the original kitchen was added in the 1950s.
Today, the house sits in the midst of a wildlife preserve. The new owners, urbanites, wanted to keep their new home's cottage feel but give it an updated look.
Richardson and Raney came up with an airy space with white granite countertops, a forest-green tile backsplash, an apron-front sink, modern appliances and those eye-catching, poppy-orange antler chandeliers.
The green helps bring the outdoors in, as do the twin lighting fixtures. It's not uncommon, Richardson said, to see deer through the large kitchen window.
He and Raney had already been hired to do the redesign when they were approached by HGTV about letting it be filmed for "New Spaces."
"We had been working on another show that didn't pan out," Richardson said. "We got this second call. They said, 'We saw your design with the orange chandeliers.' I told them work was under way, and they said, 'Perfect. We need to start filming now.'"
HGTV spent three months off and on capturing the transformation of the Schencks' 40-year-old kitchen with outdated appliances into an up-to-date stunner Richardson and Raney dubbed "Cottage Couture."
"It's not what people think of as a classic kitchen," Richardson said. "It's a classic kitchen with a modern edge."
The space was gutted, and then an imported tile floor was laid. Less than 24 hours later, flood waters started seeping in and ruined the still-soft grout.
"It all had to be ripped out," Richardson said of the tile. "We had to start over."
Luckily, the renovation was ahead of schedule at that point.
Richardson, 43, traces his interest in houses and design back his childhood. He used to help his father, builder James Richardson, renovate older homes on William Street in Fredericksburg.
"As a kid, I had a fascination with better living and home and how it all tied together," he said.
His first job after graduating from Spotsylvania High School, however, was selling cell phones for Cellular One. But that turned out to be the launching pad for his career.
"I met the owner of one of the largest authorized dealers," Richardson said. "He liked my creativity and let me design a series of wireless stores from Maine down to Georgia."
Richardson did that for seven years, learning the ins and outs of commercial design along the way. Afterward, he moved to Indianapolis, met Raney and formed Civility Design in 2001.
"We believe in living the best life you can, no matter what your income or your status," Richardson said. "A better home promotes better living."
Gannett newspapers saw a project the company did, liked it and asked them to write about a dozen articles for the Better Living section of IntakeWeekly.com, its online magazine geared to Indianapolis' 25-34 age group.
An article on different styles of beds generated so much work in the Chicago area that Civility Design eventually moved there. Next month, another of its kitchen designs will appear in an Elle Decor Magazine book called "European Style Kitchen Designs." Richardson and Raney also recently became design editors of SIFT, a new lifestyle magazine.
Despite running a business that has projects under way from Las Vegas to Washington, Richardson comes back often to visit his father, who still lives in Fredericksburg, and his mother, Jeanne Miller, who recently moved to Colonial Beach.
It was his dad, he said, who instilled in him the entrepreneurial spirit that sparked his career.
"If you make the leap," he said, "the net will appear."
Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407