The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota are known for their riotous orchids and twisting banyan trunks. Given the semi-tropical weather on the Gulf Coast of Florida, the show is generally outside. That changed last month as a dozen members of the Florida West Coast Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers joined forces to reinvent one of the original homes on the property.
“Holiday Splendor at the Payne Mansion” packed the two-story building with color and texture as designers augmented their work with one of the Selby’s recurring themes—the classic phalaenopsis orchid.
Thirteen rooms in the 1934 Southern Colonial mansion were furnished and adorned with holiday décor. Transforming the first floor into a sparkling holiday retreat were ASID designers Bonnie Lancaster, Charles Bolton, Carmen Christensen, Cheri Pachter-Neary, Christine Brown, Harriet Stephenson, Karen Sellenraad, Sue Ann Schmitzerle, Jackelyn Yops Rogerson, JoAnn Calleia, Louise Stewart and Micheline Laberge.
Their work ranged from post-industrial steel on the porch to low white-and-wicker lounge furniture on the patio to a dining room sparking with glass. The project is highlighted on the designers’ Facebook page.
The home itself is compact but beautiful. It belonged to Christy and Anne Payne, neighbors and friends of philanthropists Bill and Marie Selby, whose estate became the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.
Proceeds from the show benefited the Gardens.
