A bold perspective that reaches beyond the ordinary.

By Joy Krause
Journal Sentinel Staff

Most interior designers will tell you that decorating a home has most often been viewed by their clients a as woman's domain. In short: While designers are hired by a couple, they often work with the woman. "I've done major remodeling projects where I've never even met the man," says designer Linda Richmod, looking back over her 20 years of experience in the field.

Then she met Jerry Kaye.
 
"He was very much interested-he took the lead,: she says of working with Kaye and his wife, Laurie, to plan the interior of their substantially remodeled home in Greenfield. "He had very definite ideas about everything-from window treatments to fabrics, color, faux painting. He was interested in going outside the parameters of the ordinary."

The couple remodeled and redecorated after living in their modest ranch house for 19 years. They more than doubled their living space to create a two-story dream home that spans 2,900 square feet, affording plenty of room for the family of four. The Kayes have two teenage children, Amber, 17, and Adam, 16.

While Jerry stresses that all decisions were made by Laurie and himself together, he freely admits that his longstanding interest in interior design blossomed during the project, which began about three years ago.

So where did Jerry, an electrical engineer turned real-estate investor, gain an interest in carpeting and couches, crown moldings and chair rails?

"It's a mystery," he says frankly, seated comfortably on one of two commodious couches facing the new fireplace in his family room.
He describes an attraction to shelter magazines and home design: "I'd read House Beautiful and Better Homes and Gardens every time I could get my hands on them…I've subscribed to Architectural Digest for years…I've had a lifelong interest in architecture and decorating."
He began the remodeling/redecorating project with a basic design instinct and a pet peeve. The instinct: "I've always been interested in traditional, but I was wary of slipping over to too-cutesy, too-country." The peeve: "I don't like plain, single colored walls." He also strongly dislikes white ceilings.

That said, he adds," It's easy to know what you don't like, but it's hard to know what you do-you need someone to guide you." The couple hired Richmond-head of Richmond Interior Designs of Wauwatosa-because they didn't want to get off-course. "It's esy to have great moldings but do the walls wrong," Jerry says. "All I knew consciously was that a lot of what I saw out there was unsatisfying-nice, neat and clean-but needing more.

The traditional tone was set during the remodeling, done by Froze Design-Build of Milwaukee.

"Jerry had his eyes on colonial-a colonial home with shutters, fluted columns, barrel vaulted entryways," recalls Dick Froze, head of the firm. The couple started with a wish list and, Froze says, "as Jerry got into it, he started adding more. He liked a lot of wood carpentry-three-and four-piece crown moldings, chair rails, traditional raised paneling."

In a word, Jerry says, he wanted quality. "The idea evolved while the process was going on-the process brought it out. Going through the blueprints, there comes a point that if I didn't say I wanted crown molding and wainscoting it would have been too late. If you don't go to that level, you've missed an opportunity…The details will kill you if you don't do them right."
Something more evolved: "The need for me to make a statement-I realized that after awhile," Jerry says. "I have this problem of not being able to do anything without doing it all the way."

Besides working with Froze and Richmond, the couple also hired landscaper Jane Brokaw of Sussex.

Says Jerry: "I figured -it's been 19 years. I will find a way to finance this. Life is short." As if there wasn't enough change in his life during the remodeling, Jerry left his job of supervisor at Delco Electronics to start his own business. Laurie works at Aurora Health Care in New Berlin.

The couple realized they would need an interior designer when the remodeling construction was about 60% complete, Jerry says. "We had the shell-we needed to plan the wall finishes, the carpeting…."

Says Richmond: "Jerry didn't want anything ordinary. I was able to bring to the party special crafts people. He took a big interest in this, he spent a lot of time…Jerry wanted juist the right thing." Much of the wall space was painted in faux finishes by Grafton artist Amy Zoelle Miller. Miller, who owns AZM Creations, used ragging and sponging techniques in a minimum of two colors for each room. Jerry says he likes the resulting "texture in the color. The eye keeps interested, keeps moving, because it's looking at more than one color."
Miller also painted wall murals of herbs in the kitchen, which is Laurie's favorite room. The theme evolved from Laurie's interest in herbs and gardening, says Miller.

The kitchen was a top priority for Laurie and a key item on the couple's wish list for their remodeled home.

Their old kitchen was a 9-by-6-foot galley style: the new 17-by-20-foot space has an island, plus plenty of storage and room for Laurie to cook, bake and entertain friends.

With its Brazilian cherry floor and granite counter tops, the kitchen reflects the couple's interest in natural materials, including marble, throughout the house. "I'd look at the other stuff," Jerry says in reference to manufactured materials," and say ' let's get real.'"

The couple's large collection of botanical prints purchased over many years and framed by art consultant Chris Elliot of Artline Ltd. of Waukesha, also suggests an interest in nature. The prints are arranged in attractive groupings in most rooms and hallways. A custom rug in the dining room, and use of elegant carpeting throughout, also reflect Jerry's eye for quality and detail.

The area rug in the dining room, made by Kim Tengler of Supreme Rug Design in Palmyra, includes insets of upholstery fabric from the chairs. The lush Axminster carpeting at the center of the custom rug is used in the home's circulation spine, including first- and second-floor hallways and stairway.

Richmond helped the Kayes pick traditional furniture to complement the décor, and although the home is comfortably furnished, they stress that they'll be buying more pieces to complete what they call a " work in progress."

The last step, accessorizing, involved some serious decision-making about long-term family possessions. Richmond and her assistant, interior designer Elizabeth Verheyen, helped the Kayes weed out possessions. They asked the couple to spread all their accessories-from books, to family photos to other accent pieces-out in one place, then re-evaluate.

"It was a great part of the process," Jerry says.