Showhouse Countdown

With the Showhouse opening for tour in less than a month, we stopped by this week to check on its progress, chat with designers and take photographs for the official Showhouse guide. The hardwood floors in the house were sanded down and refinished, so many of the rooms were waiting for the stain to dry before they could move in furniture and accessories.

The carriage house didn’t have this problem, though, and that’s where we met up with Shawna Hampton, Janeane Pittman and Julie Gibson, the designers from Johnson County Community College, and Julie Foster with McCartney Cabinets. Because the carriage house was updated around 20 years ago, there were no architecturally significant details the designers had to work around, so they picked a style they all liked and began creating a room they call Urban Glam.

The designers took before pictures, so we can see the dramatic changes taking place. The kitchen cabinets are being refinished from pickled white to dark brown with bright red upper cabinets as an accent.

First to leave the premises in the living room was the old carpet, which left a smooth concrete floor that the designers had polished and stained by Kansas City Concrete. The pad beneath the old carpet left marks on the floor, which, though unintended, add a certain texture and interest to the space. Conscious of the environment and those who suffer from asthma and allergies, they chose paint from the Harmony line at Sherwin-Williams in grays for a sophisticated look. Accents of red and shiny metals pop against this backdrop. Photographer James Maidhof captures the image that will appear in the Showhouse guide.

The designers removed the wallpaper in the bedroom and hand-painted strips of matte and gloss paint for a subtle detail. The bold color, named Mediterranea, paired with black and white photography, gives the room a much-needed facelift and layers of sophistication.

The bathroom is only a 5- by 7-foot space, but it has 10 foot ceilings. Julie Foster carried over the students’ gray palette for the walls but lightened the room with vertically installed tiles with a mosaic accent tile, marble countertop and matching threshold, and wallpapered ceiling painted over in Sherwin-Williams’ Silvermist. A nine-foot shower curtain matches the soaring height of the space. McCartney supplied the cherry built-in cabinetry with classic latch behind the toilet for storage, and Julie added more contemporary touches to give the room a Classic Contemporary look.