First Knoxville show house to fight Alzheimer’s disease opens Sept. 26

Alzheimer’s gained attention in Knoxville in 2011 with the news that 59-year-old University of Tennessee Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt had been diagnosed with the disease. Summitt died in 2016.

According to the Alzheimer’s Tennessee website, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. The country experienced a dramatic 54.5 percent increase in deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s disease between 1999 and 2014, and over the same time period, Alzheimer’s deaths more than doubled in Tennessee, the website says.

Hope and Scott Davis at their longtime home off Northshore Drive. (Photo: Isaac Britt)

This fundraising event will get started with a pre-party, also open to the public, on Sept. 25 in the barn. The tour starts the next day. Hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon-4 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays. Extended hours are offered until 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.

The tour offers a lot of perks for attendees, including a fashion show, artwork and free workshops that include “Sneak Peek – Trends 2019,” “Get ‘Clutter’ Out of Your Vocabulary,” “Style Refresh: Painted Furniture Techniques with Back Porch Mercantile,” “Holiday Tablescapes: Thanksgiving & Christmas,” “Preserved Floral Arrangements for the Home,” “Plants That Heal,” “History of Lost Restaurants of Knoxville” and “Creating Your Own Fresh Flower Holiday Centerpiece in 5 Easy Steps.”

Sandy Kozar, owner of Decorating Den Interiors, and her team have been working at the home of Scott and Hope Davis to get ready for the Alzheimer’s Tennessee Designer Home & Garden Tour. (Photo: Jim Kozar)

Sandy Kozar, owner of Decorating Den Interiors, and her team have been working on the dining room.

“We do lifestyle design based on how our clients live,” Kozar said. “Hope wanted it to be a little more casual and comfortable versus very, very formal. She’s more farmhouse style, but we encouraged her to add a little glamour to it. In this particular room we’ve done a very neutral gray. We have a pop of color with an Italian demilune console in a pale green. We added formality with the drum shade chandelier with drop crystals, with custom window treatments with crystal finials at the end of the rods and with accessories. The area rug is hand-knotted silk and wool, but the pattern in the rug is an ikat pattern. We used a custom framed watercolor with a single horse walking through birch branches that pays homage to the barn on the property. The table is a round that can be converted to an oval table in a dark walnut finish, and the chairs are cane-back chairs with a natural linen seat.”

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“I’m doing the laundry room and master closet,” said Chris McKenry with Closets by McKenry. “We’re trying to complement the closet to the master bathroom that Standard Kitchen and Bath has done. The Davises enjoy a sophisticated casual style. They have what could be called a country estate.

“The master closet is really divided into two spaces. One side is the boutique, the lady’s side. I’m calling his size the haberdashery. It’s large enough we can be fancy. It’s probably a 600- to 800-square-foot closet. 

“In the master closet we used gray cabinetry,” he added. “There’s a center island in the boutique area for her that features several jewelry drawers and a laundry hamper they can both use. There are antique mirrored doors in the cabinetry above drawer units in the closet. It’s the same antique mirror that’s in the master bathroom.

“The theme for the laundry room is much lighter than the closet,” he added. “The laundry room is also the private entrance for the homeowners to the pool area. We have a blanca elm finish to the cabinetry in there. It is complemented by a beautiful wood tile floor and coral blue tile on the walls from Exact Tile. It’s a good-sized space that features a seat on one wall and brass hooks behind the seat to hang towels or wet swimsuits. There’s a hidden ironing board in the cabinet, a long rod to hang wet clothes on and a lot of storage. Those finishes were chosen in collaboration with Natalie Clayman, the interior designer who is doing the master bedroom. A lot of time in my work, if designers are involved, I collaborate with them to keep a cohesive look throughout the entire area of the home. There’s going to be a nice stone countertop over the washer and dryer for folding clothes and can double as a service area for the pool.”

Designers Sandy Kozar, left, and Chris McKenry, center, talk with Elizabeth Grant, chairwoman for the inaugural Alzheimer’s Tennessee Designer Home and Garden Tour. (Photo: Larry Effler/Alzheimer’s Tennessee)

Grant says she is excited about this inaugural show house.

“First, this is personal, being my mom passed away in 2014 after living with Alzheimer’s disease,” she said. “Second, as an interior designer, I love to be involved and around construction and building. I find it very exciting to see the process and the art of concept to completion; all the participating designers coming together in a cooperative effort is very gratifying. Lastly, and most important, is funds raised will help so many people living with Alzheimer’s disease right here in our community, all of Tennessee, and for research.”

“In the process of renovation, there was no room left unchanged,” Hope Davis said. “The house was literally taken apart. It was hard to imagine it could be put back together, but it was and amazingly well by so many incredible and talented people. Similarly, with my father there was very little that Alzheimer’s did not change in his long battle. One thing that did not was his overwhelming love. I like to think that he too has been put back together and is whole again in heaven. I know how happy he is to be a part of helping with the ongoing Alzheimer’s fight and helping our community through Alzheimer’s Tennessee.”

“It has been an honor and a pleasure for Hope and I to work with Kay Watson with Alzheimer’s Tennessee and Elizabeth Grant, who organized the show house and garden tour,” Scott Davis said. “Hope’s father endured the cruel effects of Alzheimer’s the past six to seven years, and we understand the challenges families face dealing with this horrible disease. We were able to collaborate with Andrew Smiddy, with Smiddy Construction, who worked with us years ago as an intern in college. Andrew and his team did a masterful job recreating our entire home.”

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