Take a look at the Richmond Symphony Designer House where local designers redesign rooms in one house with stunning results. This year's Designer House is Tara II, the Cary Street Road mansion of Fontaine Minor which overlooks the Country Club of Va.
Take a look at the Richmond Symphony Designer House where local designers redesign rooms in one house with stunning results. This year's Designer House is Tara II, the Cary Street Road mansion of Fontaine Minor which overlooks the Country Club of Va.
The Preview Gala takes place Sept. 12 from 7 p.m.-midnight and includes house tours, food and spirits and dancing to music by the Fabulous Wallers ($125-300).
High Tea and Fashion show with hostess Lisa Schaffner and designer David Emanuel on Sept. 13 from 4-6 p.m. ($50).
The Designer House is open to the general public Sept. 15-Oct. 12.


SLIDESHOW: Take a look at the Richmond Symphony Designer House
It's all about details in the 2008 Richmond Symphony Orchestra League Designer House.
Guests who tour Tara II, Fontaine Minor's white-columned mansion on Cary Street Road, will notice recurring themes -- the most obvious being metallics, as interiors take their cues from women's fashion.
Metallics are woven throughout the two-story house in accessories, plaster, paint and fabrics. Other common threads include faux finishes, nail heads on chairs, sofas and tables, fabrics studded with pearls and rhinestones, custom-made pillows and mirrors.
Princess Diana references also appear in several rooms in homage to Minor meeting the late princess and purchasing one of her auctioned ball gowns in 1997. Designer David Allan Ballas's front parlor, dominated by a portrait of Diana owned by Minor, is called "Afternoon Tea With Royalty." Three tiny tiaras...
(Full review)