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Embracing Neutrality
The Comstock Home
From Nichols
Hills News, January 2008
By M.J. Van Deventer
Photos by K.O. Rinearson
 After
a number of years of condominium and duplex dwelling, Janie and Bill
Comstock, who were wed three years ago in Hawaii, purchased a home in
Lakehurst and set about transforming its interiors and exterior.
At the point of purchase, they knew the house needed a fresh look. But
there were many things they found appealing — the plantation shutters, a
great floor plan for entertaining, a beautifully shaded back lawn and
the location.
 They
also were able to see beyond the home’s rather boring interior and dated
1950s exterior as they began the year-long process of renovation.
Janie’s “before” photographs reveal just how much of a facelift the home
has experienced.
Their goal was to streamline the interior decor and give
the rooms a more contemporary, sleeker look, while still using many of
their traditional furnishings and rugs. They also wanted a more open
atmosphere, which would work well when entertaining.
The result is a fabulous study in the power of neutrals and just the
right accessories and art — a perfect job for Janie, who is a well-known
local interior designer. She shares an office in Nichols Hills Plaza
with her design partner of 18 years, Ron Licklider, an Enid designer who
also has numerous clients in Oklahoma City.
 “After
looking at so many fabrics and furnishings for clients all day, I didn’t
want a busy look in our new home,” Janie says. “I’m all about neutrals.
I live better with no color.” The tasteful, tailored way she dresses is
an impeccable testimony to her affinity for a neutral color palette. “My
taste has changed more to contemporary in recent years,” she says.
Throughout the home, the couple added new ceiling lighting, crown
molding and carpeting. The living room has quiet tones of cream and
taupe, accented by a new carpet with a subtle swirl pattern. Janie
designed a handsome modernistic cabinet, trimmed with mica stonework, as
housing to hide a television.
 A
game table, which can be enlarged with an extra leaf, anchors one area
of the living room, It is accented by two Chippendale chairs she painted
soft gray with a black gesso glaze. Two other chairs flank the table,
upholstered in a beige and cream woven fabric with oversize random
circles. Dare we call them big polka dots?
A cream upholstered sofa fronts a large coffee table with a solid
brass-top serving tray. Upholstered chairs invite conversation in this
area of the room. Two antique red Oriental chests topped with gold
repoussé lamps cozy up to the sofa. An old gun cabinet, which still has
all the workings to clean guns inside, was given a new design function
as a side table.
 The
living area opens to a large den that doubles as a library and
entertaining space. One of the first things the couple did in this room
was hang sheet rock over the brick fireplace and its small mantel, which
Janie says “was just ugly.” They added a limestone surround and hearth,
framed with a black wood border. In the same room, an ordinary
entertainment center was removed, replaced by a striking wall of shelves
that hold the couple’s books and some of Janie’s unusual wooden box
collections.
An opium bed with a crackle finish and Foo dog figures is a stunning
piece of furniture in this room. It faces two wingback chairs — one
covered in crewel embroidered fabric — and a large coffee table, A
beautiful Oriental Coromandel screen adds to the Asian mood in this
room. An expansive view of the large back lawn helps bring the outdoors
inside.
 A
small den backs up to that wall of shelves, and the Comstocks used space
in that room for a contemporary built-in entertainment center, basically
creating a reverse of the original setting in the den/library.
When they began renovating the dining room, Janie says, “the wallpaper
just had to go.” She chose an English Osbourne & Little linen block
print fabric in soft aqua and brown with touches of a silver wash to
dress the walls.
 The
long dining room table, which belonged to Janie’s late mother, features
upholstered chairs that complement the linen walls. One wall is
mirrored, accented by four matching Henredon chests.
An unusual contemporary chandelier of iron and rock crystal highlights
the modern theme in this room. Rock crystal is said to have mystical and
healing powers, Janie notes, “When I saw the chandelier in Dallas, I had
to have it,” Unusual Oriental jade teapots accessorize the dining table,
and a Jim Bruce Jr. Oriental-themed painting hangs above an interesting
accent table, The look is sleek but still warm and inviting.
Janie’s “before” picture shows a very dated kitchen with baby blue walls
and white cabinets, Now, the kitchen flows well into the dining room and
new cabinet fronts in a subtle gray with pewter hardware and a granite
countertop give the contemporary look Janie and Bill were striving for,
Ann Sacks glass tiles form a mosaic behind the gas range.
 The
kitchen looks chic but not hard- edged. It is enhanced by an overstuffed
chair with a leaf upholstery pattern, a beautiful china cabinet and a
floor lamp. It makes a comfortable seating area in the kitchen — a great
place for Janie to read her extensive library of cookbooks, which are
housed in the utility room. Also in the kitchen is a bookshelf that
belonged to Janie’s mother.
Adjacent to the kitchen is the utility room and a powder room. Janie had
a shelf added above the front-loading washer and dryer, which doubles as
a place to fold clothes and also to house food and cocktails from the
catering staff for parties. “It works perfectly for a place for caterers
and then the kitchen is completely open,” she says. The adjacent
bathroom is a knockout. Janie says, “I didn’t want it to look like a
utility room bathroom.” And it doesn’t.
 Visitors
to their home are always impressed by the beauty of the main living
areas, but it is a closet that is the design star of this house.
“Bill didn’t want our master bedroom to be on the front of the house,”
Janie says. So they took the room at the front of the house and with the
help of California Closets, turned it into a magnificent walk-in closet
for both of them. The cherrywood finish of the closet’s cabinets gives
it a traditional look, as does Janie’s mother’s English secretary and
chair and Bill’s unusual chest with beautifully carved inlaid wood. It
is a closet worth coveting. And I do.
Any family cat would wish for such a throne as the one found in this
room. In a recessed window area, Janie designed drawers that provide
storage for her winter boots, and a soft, upholstered window seat for
their beloved cat, Harrison. Paw print pillows accent the window seat
and Harrison’s toys are ever-present.
 What
was a baby’s room, complete with a hand-painted wall mural, became the
couple’s master bedroom. Like the living room, it is quiet and restful,
with a mix of taupe and floral fabrics. Special to Janie is a
gilt-enhanced desk once used in an Orchestra League Designer Show House
and then sold to Janie’s mother, and an unusual shelf that holds
mementos and photographs of her family. A patio is accessed through
French doors, leading to the landscaped back lawn.
Every room in the home is beautiful and reflects Janie’s penchant for
interior design that is subtle, tasteful and ever so livable. The front
lawn has been redesigned and the back lawn is still a work in progress.
While interior design is Janie’s forte, she can’t resist showing the
renovated grounds and a back lawn that is destined to become a lush
Lakehurst showpiece.
 
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