Designers drive business end of Symphony Show House
Interior designers make the Symphony Show House.
That might go without saying, but it went unsaid for so long some people forgot, said Jo Meacham, a kitchen and bath specialist and chairman of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League fundraiser, which opens Saturday and runs through May 21.
Over the years, she said, despite the flurry of work and significant expense in the weeks leading to the event, league member-volunteers, fretting over the books — it is a fundraiser — and the designers, concentrating on looks, drifted apart.
Meacham, owner of Urban Kitchens at 4410 N Western, said she’s helped get them reacquainted for this year’s event, dubbed “Adventure in Rose Rock,” a 9,943-square-foot home in the Adventure District near the Oklahoma City Zoo & Botanical Garden.
The home and cabana, built in 2007 and later expanded and remodeled, is on 2.15 wooded acres at 4808 Rose Rock Drive, off Grand Boulevard south of NE 50 and west of Interstate 35. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.
It has seven bedrooms, seven full baths, one halfbath, an indoor pool and cabana and two outdoor fire pits — a great canvas for the temporary investments of some 30 interior designers and home furnishings stores.
Money? What money?
Expenses aren’t talked about much, but the designers, many of them individuals or part of small firms, spend a lot to get sustained public attention at the Show House.
Money? Meacham said she met some younger designers who didn’t even know why the Symphony Show House raised money.
They were delighted to learn that it is to support the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s music education classes, especially important now with public schools taking deep funding cuts, she said.
Visitors see only interior design at the Symphony Show House, not the designing — or the truck driving. The myriad decisions it takes to turn space into a place takes place behind the scenes before the event, of course.
The truck driving? Steve Calonkey is president of longtime participant Mister Robert Fine Furniture, 109 E Main St. in Norman. But he’s driven the truck hauling the pieces used in the store’s designs, himself.
“It’s a huge expense” but “I have no earthly idea” how much in time, effort, payroll and tied-up inventory it costs, said Calonkey, who works at the store with his sister, Keven Carl, and his daughter, Katelynn Calonkey.
Each of them designed spaces at this year’s show house: He did a sitting area in the cabana; his sister did the master suite and bath; his daughter did the library.
Refunked junk
New this year is a space using recycled furniture. Do-it-yourself blogger Allison Griffith — RefunkMyJunk.com — partnered with Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores to design an artist’s retreat. Some 85 percent of Restore inventory is donated, used and new.
It’s “a unique concept, repurposing secondhand furniture for a $1.7-million-dollar house,” said Griffith, whose new boutique, Spruced Cooperative, opens Tuesday at 610 S Kelly, Suite J, in Edmond.
“As a ReStore super fan, I wanted to show people that it is possible to use less expensive flooring, paint and furniture pieces, and still create a high-end look,” Griffith said.
Participating in the Symphony Show House will be “educating a new audience about all the benefits of shopping at ReStores,” said Ann Felton Gilliland, chairman and CEO of Central Oklahoma Habit. The stores are at 1800 N Broadway Ave. and 2805 SW 29.
Calonkey said Mister Robert has been involved with the fundraiser for decades. It’s worth it, he said.
“It gets attention for all the design community. We support the design community,” he said. “But we get business from it, and others do.”
Sales and such
Furnishings in the Show House are for sale, and Calonkey said Mister Robert usually sells a piece a day. He said one woman comes to the store’s display every year and buys something for a keepsake.
“That doesn’t mean it’s a big item. Sometimes it’s an accessory,” he said.
Tickets to the Symphony Show House are $12 each online at okcorchestra-league. org or through authorized outlets, and $15 at the door.
Authorized outlets are Carte’s Interiors, 507 S Coltrane Road in Edmond; Traditions Fine Furniture and Design, 3337 S Boulevard in Edmond; Mister Robert Fine Furniture, 109 E Main St. in Norman; and Mathis Brothers Furniture, 3434 W Reno Ave. in Oklahoma City.
The league has added a sweet note this year: Dessert First from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 13 and May 20.
For an additional $25 apiece, or $40 for two, available at the door or through okcorchestraleague.org, patrons can enjoy chocolate from 42nd Street Candy Co. and craft beer from Anthem Beer and Vanessa House Beer Co. The Black Scintilla and Naifeh Jewelry will present a fashion show. Mercedes-Benz will provide parking.