Your garden and outside areas contain plenty of terrific visual ideas for paint colors, fabrics, and finishes to bring indoors. For instance, boughs of glossy green magnolia leaves or beds of butterfly yellow iris suggest palettes and patterns that are well worth a second glance. Reflect on some of these elements when decorating, and you'll create subtle connections between house and garden.
That's exactly the approach taken in Maureen and Jay McGowan's spacious kitchen. Residing in the President's Home at Louisville's Bellarmine University, the McGowans regularly entertain large groups. So a free-flowing, well-planned kitchen bathed in cheerful hues was very much in order. Also, because the home sits on an expansive, shady lawn where there's usually something in bloom, the couple always has a convenient source of inspiration.
Designed by architect Dan Preston, this upbeat cooking space was further outfitted by designers Walter Martin, Jr., and Amanda Moon. Not only did Walter and Amanda share the McGowans' regard for the outdoors, but they also saw the importance of relating the decor of the new kitchen back to the character of the existing house, which dates from the 1870s.
