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REAL ESTATE

Harold Bubil

Editor’s note: While Harold Bubil takes some time off, we’ll reprise some of his popular columns. This column originally ran on Sept. 9, 2018.

W hether he is a disruptor or an innovator,

Germane Barnes is one of those young people who give older folks some degree of confidence in the future.

A native of Chicago, Barnes, an architect and

urban plan-ner, was hired in 2013 as designer-in-residence by the Opa-locka Community Development

Corp. to help revitalize the Miami suburb of Opa-locka. It was founded in 1926 as a boomtime development by aviator Glenn Curtiss, whose mansion was a few miles away in Miami Springs.

Opa-locka, despite its Moorish revival-themed architecture, was not a rich man’s town, and it certainly is not that now. In fact, local newspapers report that the city government, which some people wanted to abolish in 2017, has suffered corruption and financial scandals. In 2004, it had the highest violent crime rate in the nation, and it is one of the poorest communities in South Florida.

Barnes brought his archi-tectural skills to bear in Opa-locka, developing a park and an arts and rec-reation center. But, unlike Curtiss, Barnes actually became a resident — much to the surprise of some of his friends. He says that con-nection to his clients — the residents who actually use his buildings and parks — is vital to making it work. They told him what they wanted in the community, rather than Barnes the Architect telling them what they should have.

When he was growing up on Chicago’s rough west side, he took note of the built environment. Attending Walter Payton College Prep in the affluent Near North Side, he saw houses that were, architecturally, not much different than the ones in his neighborhood — except they were in much better condition.

“Why are their homes better than the houses in my neighborhood?” he would

L E T T E R F R O M H O M E

Asking bigquestions ofarchitectural establishment

Barnes

See BUBIL, I5

By Marsha FottlerCorrespondent

M ini Krishnan, an accountant in New York City, has lived

in a high-rise apartment building for the last 27 years. Big-city bustle is her normal. But a few years ago, she began to contem-plate having a vacation home in Florida now and a retirement home in the not too distant future. A trip to Sarasota and a tour with a Realtor brought her to Bird Key where she bought a three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot spec house in the summer 2018.

“I did it on a whim and the sale took 24 hours,” she said. “Then I closed on a Tuesday and was back in New York on Friday. Just like that, I bought a house. I had absolutely no buyer’s remorse about my impul-siveness. I love this house because it’s new and I’m the first owner. I appreciate the privacy and security of the neighborhood and I’m close to beaches and downtown.”

But this first-time homeowner had no idea how to take an intention-ally neutral space and make it uniquely her own. “The house had no real person-ality beyond the fact that the kitchen and baths had quality appliances and fix-tures and the light oak plank floors were lovely,” Mini said. “I love bold color, rich pattern and big art. My New

York apartment is all jewel tones and my bedroom is magenta. I didn’t want the

same thing in Florida but I knew I needed to per-sonalize this house. I had a budget for changes but what I needed was a pro-fessional to talk ideas with and I needed someone who knew where to get the stuff I needed.”

From spec to customThe high-style master bath of homeowner Mini Krishnan. She bought a speculation home on Bird Key and made changes that would personalize and give character to each space in the house whose color palette was neutral. In this room she and designer Mark Dalton selected a dramatic and sophisticated textured wallcovering from International Design Source in Sarasota and they added an elegant chandelier over the free-standing soaking tub. [HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF PHOTOS / THOMAS BENDER]

A designer and his client say customizing a spec house is easier and can be less expensive than you think

Tips from Mark Dalton for customizing your own home

• Add crown molding to every room. It elevates the space with a custom-fi nished look.

• Consider wallpaper for a feature wall or a whole room. Also, think of wallpaper as art. Frame a large section and you’ve got clever custom artwork.

• Invest in more and better lighting, Put everything on dimmers. Table lamps, sconces and chandeliers makebold personal statements and give character to rooms.

• Pick one item that you truly love to set the color palette for the house. Often, it’s a big area rug. But, it can be drapery fabric or an uphol-stered chair or a pair of toss pillows with a pattern and a mix of colors that is just your style. This narrows your color choices and makes the pro-cess easier especially if you’re doing a big house.

• Change out the knobs on the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms. Character in a home is often revealed in the details.

• Have your closets profes-sionally organized. This is an excellent investment that will pay you back over the years. Customize the laundry room with extra storage and shelving.

• Learn to love paint. Paint the front door, a headboard, side tables, walls, ceilings, dining room chairs. Paint is the fastest, easiest and probably the least expensive way to transform anything.

The exterior of a speculation house on Bird Key that Mini Krishnan bought in 2018 as a vacation home and eventual retirement residence. She spent about a year and a half personalizing each room and making it an expression of her personality and taste. She worked with interior designer Mark Dalton, owner of Chic on the Cheap, to select furniture, paint colors, accessories, light fi xtures and art.

Interior Designer Mark Dalton and his client Mini Krishnan. She bought a speculation home in Sarasota and worked with the designer to make her fi rst house one that would express her personality. The design process evolved over a year and a half and touched every room in the three bedroom, three bath new home.

Online

To see an online gallery of additional images, go to this story at heraldtribune.com/business-news.

See SPEC, I5

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ask. “Why do they have more trees? Why does my neigh-borhood have vacant lot, vacant lot, liquor store?”

Barnes learned that the high-rises of the Cabrini-Green public housing project, the last of which was demolished in 2011, lacking social sup-port networks for the poor residents, were an architectural disaster, but that their demolition has brought problems of displacement.

“A lot of people in architecture, capital-A architecture, refuse to acknowledge the social ramifications of their work,” Barnes said in a speech a few months ago in Miami titled “The Agency of Architecture.”

Barnes, who was in Sarasota in January to consult on a renova-tion effort for the Goodwill building in Newtown, will discuss the role of the architect and architecture in “today’s intersec-tional environment.” The question: “Can the architect, once singularly viewed as the master builder, be held responsible for non-inclusive spaces?”

While studying for his master’s degree at Woodbury University in Los Angeles, Barnes wanted his thesis to blend what he’d learned on the streets of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, and also what he had experienced working in the poor suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.

His thesis professor told him, “You can’t blend race and archi-tecture,” Barnes said in his Miami speech, which is online. “We have no control over those social issues. That is not what we do. Pick something else.”

Barnes’ reac-tion: “At that moment, I decided, ‘Challenge accepted. I am doing ‘Race and Architecture.’ You are going to hate me by the end of the semester.’ ” But instead, the thesis committee loved him, praising his thesis, “Symbiotic Territories: Architectural Investigations of Race, Identity and Community,” as the embodiment of Barnes’ personal story.

In his talk, Barnes shows slides of both “invisible walls and literal walls” that divide neighborhoods by race, housing stock and wealth. These “means of exclusion by people in power, once demol-ished, were replaced by highways that allowed them to flee” the city.

“Race walls” still stand at Liberty City in Miami, he said. “Archaic ritu-als of oppression ... happen in the built environment, that architecture doesn’t want to talk about. We have to look into the mirror” to see what we do as practi-tioners, he says of his fellow architects.

BUBILFrom Page I1

Through a friend she met interior designer Mark Dalton, the founder of Chic on the Cheap. “We had our first meet-ing at RH in Tampa where they were having a sale,” remembered the Sarasota designer. “I convinced Mini to pur-chase two contemporary gray chairs for her new living room. The price was too good to pass up.” Over the next 18 months Dalton and his client talked a lot about paint, wallpaper, window cov-erings and what works in a Florida house that doesn’t necessarily work in a Manhattan apart-ment. They shopped online and at local Sarasota sources, and worked on how to bring Mini’s personality and preferences to unused spaces by calling in contractor Jeff Francola (J&K Building and Remodeling) to add some features to the house that Dalton designed.

“The house already had an open floor plan, so we didn’t have to take down any walls,” Dalton said. “And, in fact, we did not change the configura-tion of any room. But at one end of the kitchen we added a built-in beverage center for home enter-taining and at the garage entrance into the house we built a drop zone with closed storage above and below as well as a pretty and colorful tile surface. Every house needs a drop zone for mail, keys, dog leash, that kind of thing. And we had Mini’s closets and laundry room cus-tomized. She wanted shoe racks galore. Having your closets professionally designed and organized is a practical investment. Everyone should do it.”

Mini had two things she wanted done right away to enhance her sense of well being. “I’ve never lived on the ground floor before and I felt kind of exposed here,” she said. “So I asked Mark to cage the swim-ming pool right away and put remote control motorized blinds on the big windows in the great room that look out into the pool area and back yard. And I wanted sheer drapes in addition to the blinds. Once they were installed I just felt better, especially at night. Mark suggested night lighting for the outside and I’m glad I did that too. Now I’m comfortable and secure.”

Dalton said the thing that created the most immediate impact was crown molding. “We put it throughout the entire house and it gave the place a polished and finished look. Then we switched out some of the light fixtures, added recessed lighting, table lamps and put everything on dimmers. Just about every house whether it’s old or new could use better lighting. Then we painted, wallpapered, chose furniture and Mini chose the art. She con-nected with an artist whose work she admired at a local art fair and com-missioned a large triptych for the living room.”

For the color pal-ette of the house, Mini selected a large area rug that she loved and she and her designer pulled colors from the rug to use throughout the house. Her bedroom is a Benjamin Moore color called Majestic Blue.

“I think it’s her favor-ite color in the house,”

said Mark Dalton. “From that blue, we selected patterned upholstery fabric, drapes and bed linens that coordinated. It’s the blue room, all right and highly cus-tomized to Mini’s tastes although none of the furniture is custom. We bought locally or online and customized when the things arrived if we

needed to. For instance, we bought the kitchen bar chairs from Wayfair and then switched out the upholstery on the seats to coordinate with the fabric colors and patterns in the rest of the house. This is a much less expensive option than ordering custom furniture and sometimes waiting months to get

what you want. Do your own customization.”

But in one of the guest bedrooms, Mini custom-ized not for herself but for her parents who visit often. “My parents are short,” she said, “so I wanted a bed that was lower to the floor and side tables and lamps that were adjusted so that the whole room would

be comfortable for my parents. Once Mark knew the objective, he found exactly the right bed and furniture. The room is absolutely perfect, for my parents, and that’s what I intended.”

Mini Krishnan bought her house at the end of summer and initially spent a long weekend in October in the space. Since then she’s been back often and for much longer. When she flies into Sarasota now, she feels like she’s coming home. Her parents stayed the entire month of January. Her brother and his family have been to the house for their vacation. Everyone who stays, says the house is lovely, comfortable and conveniently located for exploring beach and city. But, what they all say is that they can tell that Mini lives here. Her personality and vibrant sense of style is every-where in her home. And that, says Mark Dalton, is when a designer knows he’s done a good job.

SPECFrom Page I1

Crown molding, a deep blue feature wall, lively carpet from Rugs as Art and two ottomans from Wayfair give this den plenty of personality and customization. The sofa opens to provide extra sleep options in this three bedroom home on Bird Key. Drapery fabric from International Design Source. [HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF PHOTOS / THOMAS BENDER]

The homeowner bought the bar chairs online from Wayfair and then recovered the seats to give them a customized look. Dining table from RH in Tampa. Most of the major pieces of furniture in the house came from that store.

The green paint sets the mood in this guest bedroom. The headboard is rattan, which adds textural interest to the room.

An architectural chandelier composed of pieces of colorful glass is a statement piece of design in the master bathroom and personalizes the space for the homeowner.

The homeowner bought two gray chairs online from Wayfair because of the shape, Lucite legs and good price. When they arrived, she had the pair recovered with a fabric that matched her walls. The carpet is from Rugs as Art and was purchased before anything else in the room. The designer pulled colors from the rug to fi nd the right paint color and fabric for the chairs.