DesignSTL May/June 2022

GARDENERS ARE SOME of the most passionate people I know, and St. Louis is home to many. I’m excited for you to read about some of the homeowners we discovered last summer and interviewed for this issue—people like Krystal Kearns Coxon of Ballwin (pg. 48) and city dweller Dr. John Merkle (pg. 34), both of whom graciously opened up their gardens to us. Another lovely homeowner, originally from South Africa, gave us the go-ahead to photograph her French-inspired outdoor spaces last year, too. The veranda, which she had built to remind her of the indoor/outdoor lifestyle she grew up surrounded by, is the kind of place you want to spend time in, reading, relaxing, or entertaining. Turn to page 44 for the story. I’m often asked how I find such…

PRODUCTS AND PLACES COLLECTOR AND ST. LOUIS native C.C. Lowery loves to change things up, both at home and at her shop in the Warson Woods Antique Gallery. Since opening Mockingbird Designs in March 2021, she’s started studying retail patterns, paying close attention to what items sell best. “It always amazes me what does or doesn’t sell. There is no rhyme or reason. Items I think will sell quickly because they’re hot on Instagram sometimes just sit in my booth. St. Louis has its own design style, ” says the 50-year-old entrepreneur. ‘What is popular with designers in other cities doesn’t always translate here. Of course, a booth in an antique mall is a small audience compared to an Etsy store or Instagram.” Lowery enjoys the process of discovery: furniture,…

IT’S A COLD November day, but the 3,000 logs stacked inside Nicola Macpherson’s greenhouse are warm and dry. Plastic mesh is draped to form a roof above them, shielding the space from sunlight. Industrial fans suspended from the ceiling circulate warm air. In one corner of the room, a wood-burning furnace radiates heat as sprinklers positioned under the mesh material dampen the logs below. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about the woodpile at this point, but a visit to the farm nine months later reveals something new: Shiitake mushrooms have sprouted from their bark. Nearly four decades ago, Macpherson, 64, and her husband, Daniel Hellmuth, 65, turned their mushroom-growing hobby into a small business. With the help of a handful of seasonal employees, the family—which now includes son Henry…

LIVING WITH DESIGN AS PEOPLE LOOK for ways to live their values—by embracing slow food and slow fashion, for example—one local family is counting on people to apply that same mindset to their floral choices. Eureka residents Jeremiah and Kristy DeGuire are the founders of Wheels 2 Fields Flower Farm, which they’ve run from their home since 2018. The company is named for Jeremiah, who’s been in a wheelchair since being injured by falling debris from a building during a storm. A former U.S. Marine, Jeremiah owns Veteran Supply Warehouse, an electrical distribution company. The farm, he says, gives him the opportunity to “do something to show what [can] be done” by someone in a wheelchair. For Kristy, president of DG2 Design Landscape Architecture, nature has always been a source…

Botanical Drawings Each month, the Studio at Bowood offers both planting workshops and classes devoted to art techniques, including block printing, watercolor, and cyanotype. Participants leave with an original piece that celebrates the natural world. “Even with the art classes, we tend to focus on botanical subjects, ” says Holly Rogers, Studio manager at Bowood. “We’ll bring plants in for the painting classes so you can draw from life or paint from life.” The Studio also hosts workshops dedicated to dried, pressed, and paper florals for those who want to enjoy blooms without the maintenance. Says Rogers: “Those are great for people who struggle to keep their plants alive.” DATES AND PRICES VARY. SHOPBOWOOD.COM/COLLECTIONS/CLASSES Organic Matter Woodworker David Stine harvests wood on land owned by his family for four generations.…

REAL ESTATE, CONTRACTORS, ARCHITECTS Shawn Lipe and Suzanne Woodard, the husband-and-wife team behind The Refind Room, are expanding their furniture resale and consignment business with the Annex, a destination for art, auctions, antiques, and high-end home interiors.¶ “We thought we needed a little twist on The Refind Room,” says Woodard. “There are certain design categories that we don’t have in the store and we didn’t want to confuse the mix at the present location.”¶ At the new warehouse, located just a few miles away from the store in Richmond Heights, there’s ample room for the couple’s vision to unfold. “This is our tenth year, so the timing is absolutely perfect,” says Lipe, a certified appraiser with a background in art. “It’s [given] us experience and knowledge of the St. Louis…