Check out this morning’s showhouse video

Check out this morning’s showhouse video….SOTA’s Betty Moran talks about the 2010 showhouse.

http://www.mcall.com/videobeta/e998485d-2848-4675-b618-bc3aa270b522/Entertainment/SOTA-s-Betty-Moran-talks-about-the-2010-Showhouse-

Showhouse Preview Party Tickets Still Available!!

Preview Party (Fri. 4/30) Tickets Still Available!!

The Showhouse will celebrate with a PREVIEW NIGHT – Friday, April 30.  For the first time ever, there will be tented event in the beautiful, renewed Rose Garden from 6-10 pm.  Tickets are $80 and include a tour of the showhouse and a lovely tented party with wine, music and light party fare.  It promises to be a spectacular evening in one of the most beautiful garden spots in the Lehigh Valley.  The Stone House Boutique will also be open that evening.  Call Jill at 610-967-2149 to reserve your spot…..QUICKLY!

Dream House

This morning…I opened the newspaper, The Morning Call, and there on the first page was a heading picture directing readers to the Saturday Go Guide – and a HUGE spread on the 2010 Designer Showhouse and Gardens Dream House. Wonderful article written by Irene Kraft with lots of pictures.  The bonus is dozens of historical photos of the home’s construction on the Call’s website www.the morningcall.com

Here is the link to the article.  Don’t forget to check out the bonus photos on line too.  It is magical to see the well developed, matured treed West End as mud and grass and oh so few buildings.  Reminisce and be Inspired……..

Allentown Art Museum’s Society of the Arts highlights history of a Morning Call model home planned just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929
By Irene Kraft
OF THE MORNING CALL
April 17 2010
For this year’s Designer Showhouse, Allentown Art Museum’s Society of the Arts (SOTA) selected a home that has a special significance to Allentown’s history and to The Morning Call.
The complete article can be viewed at:

http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/all-sotaplan.7229675apr17,0,4841758.story

Just about as close to Paradise as you could come in 1930

Morning Call

I spent a few hours today looking over the magnificent job our historian has done researching the story of this most unusual showhouse.  There are many beautiful houses in Allentown and many big houses in Allentown and many old houses in Allentown…but few have the recorded history that this house carries.

As you may know, this was the Morning Call’s third model home.  This was the most ambitious and the largest. Things looked pretty good when the construction began on June 14, 1929 – then the market crashed in October  and the Great Depression rolled in.  The West End of Allentown was just being developed and I am sure there were many discussions about whether or not this project should be continued …but it was.  Every aspect from pouring the concrete to the number of electric lights was covered in the paper.  As Frank Whelan wrote, ” …this was no ordinary dwelling.  When constructed, it was the ultimate in modern living, the domestic nest of the future, the happy marriage of technology and tradition.  This was The Morning Call’s Model Home of 1930.”

When the house opened at 2pm on April 12, 1930, 3,032 Allentownians toured  what was described as a house that was as close to paradise as was possible in 1930.  In the two weeks that it was open to the public some 24,000 people visited.  I’ll try to add more history over the next few weeks.  This is a remarkable house, indeed!

What’s this about a BLUE PLATE SPECIAL??

This beautiful blue plate special is headed for the kitchen of the showhouse.  Here we have a snaphot of JOYCE DANKO of JOYCE DANKO DESIGN (Joyce Danko@gmail.com – www.joycedankodesign.com) working on her painting.  I don’t think it is really a painting of the famous meal……I think someone in her family saw her working and gave it that nickname.  At any rate, it is headed for a  bare wall in the showhouse kitchen and will, like all of Joyce’s work, be a stand out!

After our sold out kitchen tour last spring, SOTA has developed a reputation for presenting the most wonderful kitchens…and you will not be disappointed with the kitchen in Rose Hill.  You will probably find the kitchen to be a big surprise. All I will say is that it is NOT what you expect to see in the Lehigh Valley!  Think Germany…or New York City….or London, Paris, Rome. Erase thoughts of a 1930.  Come and be amazed.

If this isn’t the showhouse….what is it?!!

The Stone House -First Allentown Art Museum - and our Showhouse Boutique and Café

THIS is the place for shopping and enjoying cold drinks and gourmet treats.

This charming  house, The Stone House Boutique and Café, located just a few steps east of the Rose Garden is the home for our boutique and café….and SOTA’s Attic.  The Stone House was the first home of the Allentown Art Museum.  The sales floors will present the work of carefully selected crafters and local artists.  You will be able to purchase everything from exquisite hand-made quilts to irresistable jewelry and artwork.  Upstairs you will find a constantly changing selection of Timeless Pieces, Treasures, Trinkets, and Terrific Junk…which we call “SOTA’s Attic.”  Stop by the café overlooking Cedar Creek for refreshing cold drinks and gourmet treats.  The Stone House will be open the same hours as the showhouse.

The Stone House -First Allentown Art Museum – and our Showhouse Boutique and Café

The back of the Stone House overlooks Cedar Creek.

The back porch will hold picnic tables and will be a grand place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or a light lunch.

The view from the back porch looking west toward the Rose Garden.

View from the back porch toward Cedar Creek

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Vive La Paris!

Vive La Paris! and other notes on mural painting…..

When you visit the showhouse don’t miss the garage.  ”Boring”, you say?  Hardly!  The former chauffeur’s apartment over the garage has been transformed into a Parisian summer day by our very talented Kimberly Petruska of Kimberly Petruska Designs(www.kimberlypetruska.com). Kimberly has painted an enchanting scene with a Dalmatian flying a kite, the Eiffel Tower, and, of course, a street vendor’s cart filled with jars full of sparkling candy.  My only complaint is that I was hoping for  a Poodle not a Dalmatian….but the spots won out!  This space is designed to delight a special little grandson as his magical playroom.    Magnifique, Kimberly!

cart before candy jars.....

Cart with candy added....

In progress...

The kite-flying Dalmatian!

Showhouse Tickets Go On Sale Tomorrow!!

Check out the Showhouse Website – www.sotashowhouse.org – for ticket sale locations. Buy APRIL pre showhouse tickets for only $22 (April 1-30). For information or GROUP SALES: 610-432-4333 ext.15.  If you wait until May 1 – tickets will be $25 at the door.  Still a great bargain.  This showhouse is going to be FABULOUS and FUN.

It was a really awful, rainy, wet, crummy day here in Allentown today – but I stopped by the showhouse anyway and was delighted to see that there was lots of activity.  The house looks rather small from the street but you will be amazed to discover how HUGE it is inside.  Everyone exclaims about that fact when they enter the house!

The heat was temporarily off today…which made for chilly work.  Ted Rosenburger’s Houselogix (www.houselogix.com, info@houselogix.com) crew was installing the electronics to make all the security wireless and to make this a “smart house.”  (info@houselogix.com) The crew was busy working and the hall was filled with “stuff” that will make this magic happen.

Here is their “stuff”. The Houselogic crew was hiding somewhere….

Next I went downstairs and discovered that the hall was being transformed by Nora Oswald of Oswald Paint & Paper (oznnora@msn.com).  What had been a sorry looking wall is well on its way to becoming a stone wall with gorgeous birds and flowers.  I had to touch the wall to make sure that it was just ‘trompe l’oeil’ faux painting and not real stone block.  My snapshot does not do it justice!  As she progresses I will try to snap some more pictures.

Nora’s beautiful mural in process……..

I next went up to the second floor and ran across Michelle Olson of M Interiors (michelleo@doreyrealestate.com) who is the designer for the front bedroom.  She is standing next to an extraordinary piece of furniture – a real “wow.” This should be a spectacular room.

Caught Michele Olson just starting to work in her room.... Cute toenails, Michelle!

Well, that’s all for today.  I have some great pixs of Kimberly Petruska’s mural in the the Playroom above the Garage… but will save those for tomorrow, maybe…..

Night All…

The BIG Dig! What’s Happening….

The biggest thing happening at the showhouse last week….and this week was the big dig by GREENSTONE LANDSCAPES,INC.  as they laboriously hand dug the foundation for SCOTT ROTHENBERGER’S PLACE.  The plans for the outdoor place look like it will be the “cat’s meow” but right now it looks like a very precisely dug trench that will soon be filled with concrete.  These guys from GREENSTONE LANDSCAPES are hard workers and very exacting.  Not fun doing the work but its been fun watching the progress!  Nice work guys!

The Stone House Gets Cleaned Out!

A great door cleaner!

Two days, over 30 valiant workers and years of dust, dead bees, and grim were wiped away.  The Stone House is being transformed into a cafe and boutique and is looking GOOD!  Don’t you wish you could have joined in on

Cleaning is easy...and fun!

The Stone House next to the Allentown Rose Garden

Even the transom got a thorough cleaning

the fun?