Tag Archives: Bucks County

A Contemporary Ottsville Retreat Leans on Nature

DWELLING
In a unique home with more than its fair share of nooks, every one comes with an inspiring view of the unspoiled setting.

By Scott Edwards

Location: Ottsville, Bucks County
Price: $2.2 million

When New York interior designer Laura Bohn, dubbed “the queen of soft modern” by Interior Design magazine, renovated this 50-year-old home in 2012, she capitalized on the countless interesting nooks and vantages of the surrounding landscape. The home is tucked into a hillside on over 13 acres of rolling terrain, not far from Lake Nockamixon.

The step-down great room and dining room, made even greater by a cathedral ceiling and fireplaces on each end, share views of the sprawling, partially wooded valley, complete with a pond, through a series of floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors. There’s still another fireplace in the neighboring living room.

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

It’s the kitchen, however, that serves as the home’s most attractive landing spot, because of both its sheer size—37 feet by 23 feet—and attractiveness. A bank of windows and two sets of glass doors floods the open space with sunlight and enables the patio to become an extension in the warm-weather months. In the dead of summer, a pitched-roof screened porch sits just through the mudroom. At the center of the kitchen, sits a T-shaped island with a white Corian countertop that features seating for five, a five-burner gas range, a double sink and a large walnut cutting board.

The cathedral ceilings run throughout all three of the bedrooms, as do skylights and custom built-ins. Each also has its own full bathroom. And over the three-car garage, there’s a billiards room that doubles as an office. With an inspiring view, of course.

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=first ][/column]

[column size=one_half position=last ][/column]

 

Listed by Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty.

Photos courtesy Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty / Michael Hirsch

Save

Save

The All-Artisans Gift Guide

SCAVENGING

Everything’s produced locally, in small batches and sourced by our resident scavenger, Susan Forker, an artisan herself.

The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. The temperatures cool, the fires are stoked, and we reflect on giving. Buying handmade and local has always been an integral part of my gifting for many reasons, not in the least, the foothold it provides to the small businesses in our community.  Mostly, though, it’s an opportunity to support the artisans who create unique, thoughtfully made products that have a story behind them. Here’s what caught my eye this season.

Woven Tote/Caryall | arden + james | from $320
A technically skilled artisan with the keenest intuition, Bri Brant’s work draws its beauty from natural media and her deep respect for the environment. The leather in her handmade bags is produced locally at a historic tannery, one of only two in the country that employ an eco-friendly, vegetable tanning process. The other materials in this tote, a true keepsake, are treated with the same level of care, right down to the hand-hammered copper rivets.

Artisan Candles | Zoet Bathlatier | from $20 each
Beautifully packaged and made in small batches from 100-percent vegetable wax and pure essential oils, these candles will intoxicate your senses. With fragrances like Fir Needle & Clove, The Woods, Caramel & Woodfire, simply light one and you’re transported to another place. The stated desire is to provide a sense of renewal and wellbeing with each. Mission accomplished. And then some.

 

Daisy Necklace | earth and wears |  from $30 (each)
Lyn Carey recently celebrated the eighth anniversary of her Dallas, Pennsylvania, shop, earth and wears, and the ninth of her pottery and ceramic jewelry line, which goes by the same name. Finding inspiration in natural tones and textures, Lyn hand-forms and -glazes these stunning pendants, leaving the back untreated for diffusing essential oils. One drop lasts about eight hours.

 

 

Assorted pillows | Tamme Handmade | $20 (each)
Funky. Flirty. Retro-glam. Tamme McClelland’s eclectic line, Tamme Handmade, has a definite swagger. The images are printed directly onto the fabric with water-based, eco-friendly dye. These pillows are especially appropriate for the literature lover, the nautical enthusiast and the anglophile on your list. Frida Kahlo and Eleanor Roosevelt are her best-sellers. I’m partial to Charles Bukowski.

 

DIY Stitch Kit | Popped Stitches | $12
Popped Stitches is the brainchild of Melissa McCullough, who displays a wicked sense of humor in her original cross-stitch and embroidered creations. Much of her work references an affinity for pop culture, geekery and salty quips, like, “Don’t summon my inner bitch, she doesn’t play nice,” that are bound to make you laugh out loud then race to hang it. This stitch kit (available exclusively at Philadelphia Independents is the gift that keeps on giving—because the recipient is bound to brag about his/her ability (and neglect to mention the kit) to anyone who comes into contact with it.

 

Susan Forker is the owner and designer of the Doylestown-based joeyfivecents, a line of one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories.

Save

6 Holiday Home Tours to Hit

FIELD GUIDE

For a couple precious weeks each year, we can enter the homes of complete (and, sometimes, not) strangers and gawk at their stuff. To ensure that you satisfy your curiosity, we offer a brief guide to the prime snooping—err, tours.

By Scott Edwards

‘Tis the season to scope out some of the most inspiring halls around us, public and private. And, of course, soak up some holiday vibes. But, let’s be honest, we drag the dog out for a walk out most nights as a convenient excuse to peer through our neighbors’ floor-to-ceiling windows. These are the couple of weeks of the year when we can drop the act and walk right in. What follows is a guide to the season’s most promising house tours. Rest assured that every property will be decked out. You’re probably more interested in what lies beneath the garland, though. As are we.

Newtown Historic Assoc. Holiday Open House Tour | December 3
Six homes and seven public buildings, all in Rockwell-ian Newtown Borough, comprise this year’s self-guided walking tour, which dates back to 1963 (when admission was a buck-fifty; it’s $30 now). You’ll find some of the most impressive examples of colonial-era architecture in Bucks County among this collection.
Chadds Ford Historical Society Candlelight Christmas Tour | Dec. 3
Several historic Chadds Ford and Pennsbury township properties will be decorated and awash in candlelight—or, rather, sunlight; the tour starts at 1 p.m.; but candles will be burning, or plugged in, at least—for the self-guided tour. This one’s most appropriate for the history savant. Most of the featured stops played a role in the 1777 Battle of Brandywine.

 

Chestnut Hill Community Assoc. Christmas-Holiday House Tour | Dec. 3
Navigate the five featured homes on your own, by car, or aboard one of the trolleys that’ll be tracing the route throughout the day.

 

 

 

Fonthill Holiday Lights Meander | Dec. 10
There’s only one stop on this tour, but it’s a doozy. In broad daylight on an average Tuesday, Henry Mercer’s personal castle in Doylestown, Fonthill Museum, is akin to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, if Wonka was a freak craftsman instead of a sugar fiend. Adorned with garland, candles and designer Christmas trees, it’s sensory overload.
Haverford Holiday House Tour | Dec. 11
Five homes, the oldest dating back to the 19th century. Expect lots of wide-plank floors, short doorframes and built-in shelving and cabinetry. In other words, the kind of authentic nuances that, despite our boundless innovation since their inception, have become impossible to replicate.

 

Pottsgrove Manor by Candlelight | Dec. 11
On the 12th day of Christmas, the English colonists got down with their God-fearing selves—indulgent dinners, lavish parties. So, here, actors will be recreating some of those scenes throughout the 264-year-old mansion of Pottstown’s founder. There will be something on all three floors—dancing in the parlor, cooking in the kitchen and, we’re expecting, a secret rendezvous in the servants’ quarters.

 

Save

Behind the Craft

SCAVENGING

A look at joeyfivecents’ new, locally inspired collection.

By Susan Forker

 

Last month marked an anniversary of sorts. Exactly 10 years ago, we moved our family from our Southern California home to come and settle in Bucks County. It wasn’t all that difficult a transition—my husband and I were born and raised on the east coast, and we frequently brought the kids back east to visit. Actually, I think we naturalized quite quickly to the changes in climate and culture.

In our time here, I started a small business and subsequently developed my own brand. joeyfivecents, a vintage-imagery-based line of handmade jewelry and accessories, came about a few years after the move through a leap of faith and a nod to my former career as a film editor.

It seemed appropriate, when I began to think recently about expanding, that I should take a cue from my surroundings. After a concentrated workshop in the Pacific Northwest last spring and an intensive summer of trial and error, I unveiled the anniehall collection. Extoling seasonal palettes, botanical patterns and textures, influence is gleaned from what I see in the garden, like moss between the stones, and the landscape I’m surrounded by every day—algae-covered ponds, working farms.

anniehall also represents a bit of a departure in methodology. In place of vintage paper and resin, I’m using epoxy clay and colored pigments to evoke an organic vibe that celebrates nature’s imperfect beauty—and the place that helped me and my family to feel so at home so quickly.

Susan Forker is the owner and designer of the Doylestown-based joeyfivecents, a line of one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories.

Photos courtesy joeyfivecents