For Home with Family at its Core

For attorneys Kelly and Jim Satel, a nurturing nest to raise their teenage twins and to bring family together for gatherings around a bountiful table was found in a home that had cultivated generations of another clan.

As the childhood home of family friend Porter Loring III, the welcoming abode had played host to three generations. It was a stopping point for local mail carriers and delivery drivers in the ‘40s, when the Lorings kept a Coca-Cola machine filled with ice-cold bottles of soda. The workers stopped to lunch on the island in front of the stately home and were treated to a cool beverage.

Hospitality continues in the updated home, with the kitchen being the center of family activity. With culinary prowess handed down from grandmother Selma Satel and formidable food maven and mother Jane Satel, Jim finds his domain in the kitchen.

“We dove in the first day on the job to begin the kitchen redesign,” explained interior designer Whitney Schones of Homes By Estate. “Jim knew exactly what was needed for food service, so we went to it and sketched it out that day.”

“I had no say in the layout,” mused Kelly. “I really did not care where we put the cabinets, but cooking is a special part of what we do here.” And it is Jim who honors tradition with family favorite recipes from his grandmother Satel, including Lebanese specialties, grape leaves stuffed with lamb, kibbee, tabbouleh and rice with lamb and pine nuts.

For Kelly’s first dinner party, the newly appointed dining room was put to the test with a pre-dance dinner party for 20 sixth-graders. Her tufted white linen upholstered chairs had just arrived with a prerequisite that they “be resistant to stains, dogs, cats and teens.” With a dinner menu of Chick-fil-A and ketchup, Kelly said, “We put beach towels over the chairs and prayed.” Both the dinner party and the chairs met with resounding approval.

With outdoor living spaces on the east side of the home for al fresco dining, an outdoor terrace off the master bedroom and a southern exposure patio with spectacular pool, the impeccably remodeled refuge will serve new Satel generations with kindred spirit.

Living Room.

Anchored with a French farm table that served as a dining table in the family’s former home, paired with sisal rug and matching pair of cherry red vinyl-covered stools with chrome and gold Chinese Chippendale legs. Table is lit with two white ceramic lamps with acrylic bases from Five Broads on Broadway. Mantel is original to the home and features a work by Bettie Ward, a pop of color in the citrine glass decanters and Baker Tatum starbursts. Waddy Armstrong artwork hangs over the lacquered black piano. At left, a pair of acrylic butterflies and resin on wood by Lucy Peveto.

Art.

With a penchant for supporting local and regional artists, the Satels chose a Bettie Ward painting to brighten the master bedroom.

Family RoomFireplace mantel features black and white striped Zambrino marble and anchors the gathering space with a sectional covered in Kravet Venetian smoke velvet. Throw pillows are from Tiny Finch. A pair of Rico chandeliers of dark oil-rubbed bronze with exposed Edison bulbs hung with stainless threaded cables play up the hand-forged coffee table by Charles Cooper, who also created the curtain rods, rings and finials featuring wrought iron with a very light silver finish.

Masks. 

Mexican folk art masks were finds from Bazar Sábado held annually at the San Antonio Museum of Art and tribal masks found by Kelly on an African excursion made with her sister, Kathryn Killian Hensey, in 1996.

Dining Room.

Prominent Bettie Ward painting was jumping off point for furnishing the dining room, allowing more subtle and clean lines. From Italy, a lacquered eucalyptus wood Soho dining table with chrome legs by Costantini Pietro, purchased from Nest, works with an 18th century cherry wood French chest and Louis Philippe mirror from the 1800s with original Greek glass. Dining room drapery fabric is JF Gleam accented with a Greek key trim and hung on acrylic rods with chrome inlay.

Master Bedroom. 

Automated Roman shades allow natural light to filter into the master suite with white lacquer bedside tables by Worlds Away and Tube Top table lamps designed by Peter Stathis for Pablo, Design Within Reach. A Worlds Away nickel-plated tufted bench with navy velvet upholstery rests beneath a shimmery silver and white geometric headboard and matching bed skirt by Sylvia Middleton of The Great Cover Up.

Kitchen.

Rectangular Carrera marble island with double stainless steel apron sink includes prep sink next to a pull-out trash container and cleaning sink next to the built-in dishwasher. Extra deep cabinets hold pans and cooking sheets with pullout drawers for pots. Back splash of pillowed porcelain has white subway tile and stainless steel range hood.

Master Bath.

A deep soaking tub rests on basket weave Carrera tile. Walk-in shower features Kohler digital shower system with six body jets and a media module (to hear music or watch TV).  Contemporary enamel acrylic by Jorge Puron is titled TV Mind #1.

By JOHN BLOODSWORTH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AL RENDON