TO MAKE MORE LAKE MARTIN MEMORIES

STORY BY LONNA UPTON & PHOTOS BY KENNETH BOONE

An extension of the owner's suite allows office space with drapes for privacy

When Alexander City native Sheila Brown decided to downsize from her lake house to a lakeside condominium, she contacted Lake Martin designer Phil Spraggins to help her. Spraggins was excited to design and orchestrate the renovation of the 2,632-square-foot space.

“Luckily, we didn’t have to gut the condo. We just needed to update and incorporate Sheila’s style with neutral, peaceful colors. We painted everything in the home – walls, ceiling, trim – the same color (Swiss Coffee by Sherwin Williams) to lighten and open the space. It was an amazing transformation to a much more modern look,” Spraggins said.

Brown knew she wanted her new home to be brighter and that the paint was the main focus, but the hardwood floors were another challenge. Originally, she had envisioned a dark stain, but

Wwhen she saw the old floors stripped and sanded, she and Spraggins decided to leave the natural color and add a clear water seal. “I love the lighter floors now. It opened up the room from the front door back to the screened porch. New acid-washed Persian rugs were added to the hardwood and worked perfectly,” Brown said. Just inside the front door, Spraggins placed a chest covered in shagreen, faux shark skin, adding understated texture at the entryway. Nearby, a Currey antiqued mirrored vanity, kept from before the renovation, anchors the powder room. A hammered pewter sink and new fixtures, as well as the metallic indigenous printed wallpaper, reflect the contemporary style of the room. A Thomas Moorehead 48-inch-by-48-inch painting of Children’s Island hangs just past the foyer.

Outdoor furniture from local stores proved perfect for the deck

Sliding doors provide a smooth transition from the living room to the screened porch 28 LAKE NOVEMBER 2021

A wall of windows, uncovered during renovation, pours natural light into the room

In the kitchen, cabinets were painted with the same Swiss Coffee color, and the Corian countertops were replaced with Cambria quartz in Britannica Gold. The two-level peninsula bar was taken down to counter height with the beautiful quartz surface and waterfall edge. The quartz was used as the backsplash, and Wellborn Industries integrated a small bar area with seeded glass doors into the existing cabinets.

Brown found barstools she loved in a store, but when they were not for sale, Spraggins found them online. He purchased cowhide at Scott’s Antiques to recover the stools to work with Brown’s neutral palette. Brown and Spraggins located the perfect plumbing fixtures at Ferguson’s. The pantry/laundry room combination just off the kitchen was reconfigured with new cabinets and additional shelving, including shelves with electrical outlets behind, designed specifically to get appliances off the countertop and out of sight.

An existing chandelier remains over the bar from pre-renovation, and a Catie Radney painting watches over the kitchen. Two tremendous matching chandeliers in the foyer and the living room remain from pre-renovation, as well. Sconces original to Brown’s previous home and the condo before renovation were utilized in other places in the new vision.

“Another big difference in the renovation was just changing the can lights to LED warm white bulbs. They changed everything. I am a big proponent of the LED lights and dimmer switches on every light,” Spraggins said.

In the dining area, Brown utilized a table and banquette from her previous home and recovered the chairs to work with her new colors. A Lila Graves portrait of Brown’s two children is the focal point over the table and a perfect visual from the kitchen.

As a lover of local art, Brown has used the works of Jeffrey Long and Annie Bartol, in addition to Moorehead, Radney, Graves, Whitney Clanton and her sister, Karen Sturkie.

Spraggins and Brown removed bookshelves that had previously covered floor-to-ceiling windows in the vaulted living room, adding natural light and an exquisite backdrop for the sectional, purchased at Urban Home Market in Birmingham. A round concrete-over-wood coffee table was purchased at Scott’s Antiques. Two Lee Industries mohair

A Lila Graves portrait of Brown and her children hangs in the dining area

A cushioned bench and a large mirror add to a perfect dressing area in the bathroom

The open front door offers a glimpse of the transformed space

The powder room was updated with silver wallpaper and a hammered sink An umbrella creates another living area on the deck

The upstairs landing is furnished with comfortable fabrics for a relaxing space

Among the works of several local artists featured in the home is a Moorehead painting of an island near Children's Harbor

A beautiful chandelier hangs in the luxurious owner's suite

chairs and two leather chairs complete the spacious gathering area. Opposite the windows, more bookshelves were removed and built-ins were refreshed with paint and graced with a silver John Richard lamp from White House Interiors. A gas fireplace was updated with the Britannica Gold quartz on the exterior and fireplace glass on the interior.

Just off the living area, sliding doors open to a screened porch that adds outdoor living area and a breeze from the shady lakeside. Local woodcrafter Doug Roberts custom built a sofa to fit the space, and Spraggins added two wicker chairs and a poof coffee table. Clanton’s copper artwork worked perfectly on the new porch.

“The porch is an extension of the house. I wanted the sofa to have lots of cushions and be very comfortable. The pillows in the chairs are from Lake Martin Mini Mall. The dragonfly pillow matches the prints over the door, and hummingbirds hold a special place in memories of my father, so the hummingbird pillow is a favorite,” Brown said.

The deck area has a large khaki-colored umbrella that stays open all the time, creating another outdoor living space. Little white lights underneath the umbrella add to the ambience. The deck furniture came from Lake Martin Mini Mall and King’s Furniture. Spraggins added lattice panels above the

Stools recovered in cowhide are tucked under the bar

grill area for extra privacy.

The owner’s suite near the front of the home features a king-sized bed with a tufted upholstered headboard, bedding and a chandelier, all from White House Interiors, with additional linens from Pottery Barn. Currey antiqued mirrored side tables and a 5-foot-by-8-foot standing mirror are beautiful additions to the luxurious space.

Behind curtains that can be pulled for privacy, Brown’s office space includes a sofa and a desk with a selenite lamp, a gypsum crystal that is a work of art known for its energy and healing powers. Brown has framed botanicals throughout the home, and a gallery of botanicals adorns the office wall over the sofa.

An open staircase in the foyer leads to a landing complete with a long sofa and chair, creating a peaceful sitting area. A 6-foot-by-10-foot mirror hangs above the sofa.

Two large bedrooms, one with a private balcony, have walk-in closets and private baths to finish the guest space on the second floor. The bedrooms have upholstered beds, fluffy comforters and lots of pillows.

With Spraggins and Brown working as a team, the newly renovated lakeside condominium is dressed and ready for family and friends to enjoy making more Lake Martin memories.

Blue Mistflower

NATURE OF THE LAKE

BY KENNETH BOONE

Why pay for a garden plant that grows wild right outside the garden?

People do it all the time … two common examples in the Lake Martin area are blackberries and muscadines. Perfectly good, free plants could be procured from countless places. But in the case of blackberries, modern cultivars can be thornless and the berries much bigger and sweeter than those in the brambles alongside almost every road in Alabama. In the case of muscadines, different cultivars are bred for making wine or eating fresh, and the grapes are larger, sweeter and have thinner skins. And domesticating those two wild plants provides other advantages: Grapes on a 6-foot arbor are much easier to pick than those 20 feet up in a tree. Also, it’s much less frustrating to pick blackberries on a trellis than in a bramble patch where the best berries always seem to be in the middle, out of reach.

Our native Blue Mistflower is another example for flower lov-

ers.

It is common and abundant in the Lake Martin forests and fields, and those who are inclined to collect seeds or use shovels could have all they want for free.

Blue Mistflower looks so much like the popular garden flower, Ageratum, that it is often called Wild Ageratum, or Hardy Ageratum, but the two plants are different species and have different native ranges.

Ageratum is a native of Mexico and Central America. It is also

Though it resembles the garden favorite, Ageratum, Blue Mistflower is a completely different speices

This invasive native fall bloomer produces lots of seeds that float on the breeze

called Floss Flower, and its scientific name is Ageratum houstonianum. It was named after the botanist William Houston, not the city in Texas.

Blue Mistflower is native here in the Lake Martin area, as well as in most of the eastern U.S., from New Jersey to Kansas and south to Florida and Texas.

Blue Mistflower is also known as Blue Boneset, and its scientific name is Conoclinium coelestinum.

Both have beautiful flowers, but Ageratum may be more suited to your garden because Blue Mistflower can be invasive and take over your beds.

Blue Mistflower blossoms in late summer and autumn, about the same time as Goldenrod. These photographs were taken in early October, when some blooms were starting to fade but others were looking fresh and at their peak.

Blue Mistflower may not actually be blue; its color is variable, but it will range from blue to purple to pink to reddish-purple. The blossoms are small and shaggy, and they look like another fall wildflower found along the shores of Lake Martin, Blazing Star.

Flowering heads are relatively flat – many blossoms on a horizontal plane – and each head contains 30-70 flowers with long stamens, which give it that shaggy appearance.

The reason it is known as invasive is that Blue Mistflower produces lots of seeds that are light enough to be carried by a breeze. It also sends out creeping rhizomes, which make colonies of these plants likely. When you find one in the woods, you’ll likely find many more nearby.

This flower has an upright growing habit and can be from 1-1/2 to 3 feet tall.

Its leaves grow in pairs on opposite sides of a stem and are attached by a short petiole or stalk. Leaves are 1 to 3 inches long, shaped like triangles and are bluntly toothed on the edges.

Blue Mistflower can handle lots of different types of soil, from sand to clay, but it does best in moist, fertile and well-drained soils. You’re likely to find it along the shores of a lake, pond or creek or on roadsides, especially those with drainage ditches, or in moist fields and thin forests. It likes full to partial sun.

These flowers are often visited by fall butterflies, as well as bees, moths and beetles. Blue Mistflower leaves have a bitter taste that keeps most mammals from eating them, including deer.

They would make a good addition to a native wildflower bed.

However, if you have an open bed, you’d probably be wise to buy and plant the annual Ageratum each year. If you have an enclosed bed, Blue Mistflower will give you a very similar look in a plant-it-once, free flower that will keep its color well into the fall. But if you let the mistflower get out of its cage, plan on doing some weeding.

Some information for the writing of this article came from piedmontmastergardeners.org.