Take the Tour!----- 1. Project Overview 2. Builder 3. Neighborhood 4. Friends 5. Head Decorator----- ROOMS 6. Sherilyn's Room 7. Bonus Room 8. Teenage Bedroom Suite 9. Guest Suite 10. Master Suite 11. Dining Room 12. Home Theatre 13. Kitchen (Cabinets) 14. Kitchen (Appliances) 15. Kitchen (Countertop) 16. Family Room----- FEATURES 17. Details 18. Water System 19. Tile 20. Elevator 21. Staircase 22. Building Materials 23. Roof 24. Concrete Masonry 25. Concrete Countertops 26. Landscape & Hardscape 27. Pool

NHI DREAM HOME | GUEST SUITE



BY JANE SHEALY/PHOTOS BY RAY STRAWBRIDGE
WINTER 2005 ISSUE

Visitors to the guest suite had no trouble finding it’s focal point—a king-sized birch wood bed with brown Italian leather padding on the head and footboards.

A heavy iron canopy curls up from massive hand-turned posts to its pinnacle over the center of the bed. “I want that bed,” was the typical reaction from some of the thousands of visitors to the NHI Dream Home. And, as the interior designers and shoppers added items from the room to their lists of must-haves, they all asked the same question. “Where did they find this?”

“All over the world,” says Chris Kirk, vice president of Kirk Imports, “Bali, Indonesia, China, Brazil, the Philippines, Egypt, India, even North Carolina. We want things that are unusual, things you don’t see everywhere else. So we buy from a mix of manufacturers, going to the best place to get what we’re after.”

The Monte Carlo bed is part of a four-piece set that also includes a dresser with a mirror and two marble-topped bedside tables. The set, which is made in China, also comes in white. Bedroom sets are a specialty at Kirk Imports, and can be found in a wide variety of styles and prices.

The rest of the guest suite also echoes Kirk’s mix-and-match philosophy with a host of pieces from around the globe.

On the wall across from the foot of the bed, the decorators placed a tall Chinese black-lacquered cabinet with scenes and trim hand-painted in gold. The piece, which could be used to house a TV or for additional storage, looks like it’s one of a kind. It is actually one of several pieces, including a secretary, in the same design.

There are two comfortable armchairs in the room— a crocodile embossed black leather arm chair from China and a heavily-upholstered wingback chair in a rich red and tan velvet patterned fabric from North Carolina. A hand-painted Bombay-front chest of drawers also came
from China.

The decorators, who designed the room around the bedroom set, used deep red as an accent color and lighter tans to match the hue of the wood. The bed linens are topped with a tan suede comforter and leather throw pillows in deep red and wine. Bedside lamps are metal, painted black and gold, with ivory silk drum shades. Accessories include an iron stand planter and a red tin vase with a hand-painted monkey motif.

The overall effect is a blend of masculine and feminine. Perfect for a guest suite.

The pieces in the room are representative of the thousands you can find at Kirk Imports. The showroom is 15,000 square feet with a clearance center in back. Designers have come in to furnish entire homes, from starter homes to upscale places such as the NHI Dream Home, Kirk says. And, homeowners have brought in floorplans and measurements. “We’re happy to help them all, and we want people to be satisfied with their purchases.”

In addition to furniture, the business also carries King Coil mattress sets and a large selection of rugs from Egypt, China, India and the United States. Accessories— carvings from Indonesia, lamps from Brazil and chests from China—are also available. ▪

JANE SHEALY  IS A FREELANCE WRITER LIVING  IN CHAPEL HILL.

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