In 2003 Miles Redd was just beginning his ascension to celebrity in the world of interior design and decoration. House & Garden featured a spread in their December issue of some of the rooms he helped his sister’s in-laws, the McCain’s of Pennsylvania, decorate for Christmas. The house was built for Sue McCain’s parents in 1939 by modernist architect Edward Durell Stone to resemble “a Georgia O’Keeffe calla lily” according to Mrs. McCain — a rather glamorous residence for farmers of the Sheerland Forests tree farm in Reading, Pennsylvania. Sue McCain remembers, after the death of her mother, his father’s second wife removing all the Art Deco furniture from the house to the barn, replacing it with English-style pieces and hanging the expansive windows with yards of chintz. After both passed away and McCain inherited the property she reinstalled all of the Art Deco architectural elements that had been removed, and restored or rebuilt the custom furniture that had been waiting in the barn all those years.
The staircase, above, was dismantled, stripped and restored. The overall affect resembles a Hollywood movie set, and feels more Hollywood Regency than Art Deco. Miles Redd hung the floor-to-ceiling entry hall window with a supersized wreath and garlands of magnolia leaves in a spare and elegant fashion.
The parquet flooring and Sheraton tables in the entry are original to the house. Miles Redd filled oversized glass tumblers with flowering quince. “Nothing is more festive than big, branchy arrangements that say, ‘Party! Christmas! Holidays!'” exclaimed Redd.
Sue McCain brought in interior designer Nathan Mayo to assist with the design and refurbishment of her mother’s home and its furniture upon inheriting it. The original glass-topped dining table and plywood carved chairs were taken out of storage and restored, as were the Waterford sconces. Mayo designed a sculpted area rug to replicate the bas-relief motif of the ceiling. The floor-to-ceiling mirrors are also original.
The dining table received a dose of chic with a table setting made up of blanc-de-chine figures, mercury glass compotes, and Redd’s own collection of red coral.
The shapely sofa, armchairs and mirrored coffee table were all rebuilt and returned to their original layout in the living room. The vintage pedestal side tables and mercury glass lamps were selected to match those in the house’s original interior.
Miles decorated the ten-foot Douglas fir with silver and white globes from the Sheerlund Forests’ ornament shop, cascades of fake silver ferns, globs of tinsel, and dozens of live Casa Blanca lilies set in water vials for a shot of 1930’s glamour.
The McCain family at Sheerlund Forests tree farm.
Content of this post based on an article written by Llygeia Grace for House & Garden, December 2003. Photography by Jason Schmidt.
