Lake Season
Freshen up your home or cabin with a few simple purchases.
By Haden Holmes Brown
Photos by Alan Barton
Wendy Barze remembers the thrill of driving to the lake with friends when she was in the third grade. “Getting out of the car, I can remember this pure, relaxed joy that was so liberating,” she says. Barze and her mother Marjorie Johnston, now interior decorating partners, believe it’s important to keep that laid back and lighthearted sense when freshening up your lake cabin for a new season. And, it doesn’t have to involve bags of new purchases either. “Use what you bought last year, build on what you already have,” says Barze. “The idea is repetition. Get good basics—tableware, hurricane lamps, trays—and then use them each year in a fresh way.”
Johnston, a transplant from New Jersey some 30 years ago, worked in other design firms in the Mountain Brook area before Barze convinced her to go out on her own. “At first I thought… ‘the overhead, the staff, the library—I can’t do this!” she remembers. But it was Barze who encouraged her to make the leap. Today they operate as partners in a small, bright shop in Mountain Brook Village.
Barze and Johnston’s aesthetic styles complement each other. “Wendy brings to the table an approach that is different than mine because of her youth; but she undertakes it with great certainty and style,” muses Johnston. “What I bring to the table is the experience to know what will work and how to sell the project to the client,” she adds.
Hired to put the finishing touches on a Lake Martin cabin for the opening of the season, the two are super-charged with ideas. But their concept would work for anyone.
First, build a good base of accessories that will last from year to year, Johnson and Barze suggest starting with a simple color palette and sticking with it. For the Lake Martin cabin, Barze ordered a floral pattern pillow from Crate & Barrel in bright colors that serves as the inspiration for the relaxed but upbeat tone and “feel” for the project.
The “gathering” begins at A’mano in Mountain Brook, where Barze and Johnston are drawn to a collection of warmly painted, handmade ceramic tableware. “These will add great color and will look beautiful with the food,” exclaims Barze, as she stacks the organically shaped bowls and plates.
Their goal is a clean look. “Most lake houses are furnished with hand-medowns from mothers and mother-in-laws and remnants from bachelor pads,” explains Barze. “Homeowners need to edit this mixture by removing unnecessary pieces and covering outdated colors with neutral slipcovers or paint. And then accessorize based on the color palette.”
“How fun is this?” Barze says, as she picks up a green lucite candelabra. The pair eagerly move on to stack of photo albums hand-stamped in retro lettering which would not only reduce the photo clutter but would further add to the whimsy factor. “Another fun trick is to put the loose photos in a basket on a table so that people can sort through them,” adds Johnston. “Kids love it!”
After hitting a few more stores in town, Barze and Johnston take Highway 280 to the lake, stopping first at Whole Foods Market. “It’s on the way and it has the freshest cut flowers for the best prices,” says Barze. They stock up on sodas and lemonades as well as foods that are low on preparation and serving. Further down 280 they stop at the Lake Martin Garden Shop in Alexander City to pick up a potted red geranium. On the final leg of their trip, they visit Nails, a quirky market that offers a surprising array of fresh-baked goods, high-end wines, and frozen and prepared foods. “It’s not just Pop Tarts and dog food; they have great provisions like fresh donuts, fruits and veggies, and newspapers,” Barze says.
Arriving at the cabin, the mother-daughter team shift into installation mode, arranging accessories and fresh flowers to liven up dark areas. After all is unloaded, the cabin is enlivened by the infusion of color and texture that mimics the landscape seen through the windows. “We wanted to help our client open up the cabin with color and whimsy, as well as get her set up for entertaining,” sums up Barze. “We wanted to find some fun stuff—that wasn’t trendy or useless—that she could put in the closet at the end of the season and be excited to pull it out again next season!”
A’mano
2707 Culver Rd.
Mountain Brook, AL 35223
205.871.9093
Beach Dwelling
1831 28th Ave. S.
Suite 140
Homewood, AL 35209
205.802.7165
Leaf and Petal at the Gardens
2612 Lane Park Rd.
Birmingham, AL 35223
205.414.3900
The Brown House
1809 Oxmoor Rd.
Homewood, AL 35209
877.604.8600
205.870.3100
Nails Convenience Store
8394 Kowaliga Rd.
Eclectic, AL 36024
334.857.3454
Lake Martin Garden Shop
Highway 63
Alexander City, AL 35010
