The Hope Candlelight Tour will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $10 per person.
Proceeds from the tour will benefit the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN) and St. Joseph's Residence. RAIN offers AIDS/HIV education services and counselor training along with independent living services for AIDS patients. Since 1987, St. Joseph's Residence has provided nursing care and counseling in a homelike environment for AIDS patients and their families.
Homeowners opening their doors for this year's tour are: Wiley Parsons, 1601 S. Carson Ave.; David Daniel, 1603 S. Carson Ave.; Dena and Robert Hudson, 2707 S. Rockford Road; Maricarolyn and Brett Swab, 2112 S. Norfolk Ave.; and Jane and Monty Butts, 240 E. Woodward Blvd.
Tickets can be purchased at Jared's, 1602 E. 15th St.; Charles Faudree Inc., 1345 E 15th St.; or at the door of each home on the tour. For more information, call 747-9706.
For some people, margarita glasses conjure up thoughts of summer fiestas, nachos and Jimmy Buffett's hit song about the frozen cocktail.
But for Maricarolyn Swab, they're potential lampshades.
"We designed our home to be fun, comfortable and not too stuffy," she said, referring to the 1920s two-story, Mediterranean-style house she shares with her husband, Brett, and their three young children. "We didn't want any rooms to be off-limits to the kids. If something gets broken, it's no big deal."
The Maple Ridge-area home, located at 2112 S. Norfolk Ave., was designed entirely by Swab. It is one of five midtown homes featured on this weekend's Hope Candlelight Tour, an annual fund-raiser for Regional AIDS Interfaith Network and St. Joseph's Residence.
Visitors to the Swab home are greeted by a cozy, elegant foyer outfitted in a metallic-glazed, scroll-pattern wallpaper. An oversized chaise lounge in velvety beige fabric and a wrought- iron and stone table add interest to the room.
Swab's lighthearted sense of style shines through with the addition of a leopard-print runner to the room's wraparound staircase. A black and white striped pillow with crimson feather trim and a wine-colored, bead- trimmed throw blanket add zing to the neutral-colored chaise lounge at the bottom of the staircase.
The home's kitchen, located to the right of the foyer, is a relaxed, family-friendly space decorated with granite countertops, a large dining counter and an open seating area with a sofa and armchairs. Chalkboard fronts were added to the side-by-side refrigerator for note-taking and doodling, and olive green margarita glasses serve as shades for three hanging accent lamps.
Red leather bar stools, a multi-hued, checker-patterned rug, and crimson sofa pillows add a splash of color to the room's neutral decor. Swab hung three modern art paintings of red pears to the wall above the sofa and has added her children's artwork to the other walls.
The kitchen also features a Mexican stone floor, hardwood cabinets, a beige raised rock backsplash, and a coppery pressed wallpaper ceiling.
Swab's eclectic style isn't limited to the kitchen. The living room features a mix of colors, accessories and furniture styles.
A shimmery-gray paint by Ralph Lauren covers the walls, forming an ideal contrast to Swab's modern art watercolor of a giant fuschia pinwheel. The room's furnishings include a creamy shag rug, an antique velvet bench, two beige sofas accented by purple, maribou-trimmed pillows and a purple velvet chair tucked next to the carved-molding fireplace.
The room's most striking feature is a large, wrought-iron coffee table set between the two sofas. The tabletop is made from the face of a clock that once sat atop a bank building in London.
"Maricarolyn's style is very upbeat and with it," said interior designer Charles Faudree, a co-founder of the Hope Candlelight Tour. "She takes an eclectic mix of contemporary and traditional styles and uses things like the purple pillows and the clock-coffee table to give her rooms a different twist. It makes the decor unpredictable and fun."
The fun continues into the adjacent sunroom and office areas. The two rooms, separated by an archway trimmed with cream molding, feature comfy-but-elegant chairs in shades of caramel, red, cream and gray.
Caramel-beige walls, burnished gold cabinets and beige carpet coordinate well with the furniture and provide a neutral backdrop for more colorful accessories such as the red glazed, cast cement countertop on the computer desk. Swab also added fun touches such as antique-style phone, vintage advertisement posters found during a trip to London, an Elvis collectible doll and a vintage Coke machine purchased by her husband at an Arkansas flea market.
"Everything in this room and the rest of the house is a mix of things from flea market finds and antiques to modern pieces," she said. "It's a really eclectic combination and it works great in a house with three kids."
