By Madoline Markham Koonce
Any aesthetic choice Elizabeth Adams makes in her home is driven by art.
“I don’t find the painting to match the sofa, I find the sofa to match the painting,” she said.
That’s just what you will see as you walk through her Spanish Mission-style home in the Hollywood neighborhood of Homewood and take in the artwork Adams – an artist herself who designs jewelry for her store Ex Voto Vintage in Mountain Brook Village – has curated there, all loaded with intention and meaning to her.
You can see it for yourself with its halls colorfully decked for Christmas in the 74th Annual Independent Presbyterian Church Holiday House Tour and Tea on Dec. 9.
The home is one of three houses that will be on tour as part of the event. IPC’s historic 1926 church sanctuary is also a part of the tour.
In addition to the Adams home, tour guests also will view the Crane home, a new build with modern design, and the home of interior designer Danielle Balanis, which was recently featured at Christmas in Flower Magazine.
Adams has enjoyed the home tour for many years in the past and recommends it to anyone who is interested.
“It always gets you into the Christmas spirit, and it’s fun to see what someone else creates and how their personality is represented in their Christmas décor,” she said.
A Fresh Start
Indeed, Adams’ personality shines in her home, although she and her husband have lived there only since April. They had downsized to a condo after their two children started college, but when the first Christmas came with their children there, they realized that they needed more space and that Birmingham – not Rosemary Beach, where they own a home and a store – was “home” for their kids.
Around the same time, Adams’ husband brought up a house he’d had his eye on — a Spanish Mission-style home in Hollywood.
“It is exactly the size of what we use every single day,” Adams said. “It’s been like Goldilocks; we were in something really big, then we went really small and this is just right.”
The Adamses were also drawn to the uniqueness of the 1926 home.
“It was kind of quirky, kind of funky and had a lot of personality and character,” she said. At nearly 100 years old, its floors aren’t exactly all even, but Adams, who grew up in a historic home in Montgomery, fell for its thick textured plaster walls and barrel ceiling in the living room, along with the chipped terra cotta floor on the front porch. As one of its many quirks, there is no dining room, so the kitchen island doubles as their only dining table. Still, the four-bedroom home is just right for the Adams.
A Palette of Color
Throughout the home, you’ll find the Adams’ “travel treasures.” When exploring a new place, she’s always on the hunt for local art both for her home and to sell in Ex Voto Vintage, whether she is in Mexico, Madrid or Italy. In addition to home décor finds, she’s keeping her eyes open for antique pieces that she can cast from to make pendants and other jewelry pieces.
What stands out most about her home décor, though, is all of its bold colors. Adams’ art and rugs – most of which are from Paige Albright Orientals – pop with color against the home’s tall white walls, as does her Christmas décor, which she’s been playing with this year in the new home.
“I decided let’s be fun and have color and make it whimsical,” she said. That’s just what the tree in her living room is, with mercury glass ornaments, one of which was her grandmother’s; velvet ribbon in multiple colors; and dehydrated orange slices that she ordered on Etsy from a farm in Texas and made into ornaments.
The way Adams’ multicolored string lights on the stone fireplace – which has no mantle – blend with her living room décor isn’t coincidental.
“I feel like your Christmas decorating needs to blend with your interiors style,” Adams said. “I want it to be harmonious with the rest of the room, which is why we will have a lot of orange and yellow and not just green and red.”
This Christmas, Adams is also decorating a second tree in a bedroom-turned-den that her husband has nicknamed the “ladies’ lounge.” It will feature white lights, yellows, a handmade star she found in Etsy and Milagro, or “miracle,” ornaments, which are popular as spiritual charms in Mexican and Peruvian culture. Ex Voto Vintage also sells Milagro ornaments.
Earlier this year, Adams attended a weeklong program of intensive classes at New York Flower School “for fun and to do something creative,” so she plans to do all the floral arranging herself to decorate her home for the IPC tour. She’s envisioning yellow spray roses, yellow and orange winterberries and orange ranunculus for the ladies’ lounge, with magnolia and lemon on its fireplace mantle. In the living room and kitchen, she’s going with red roses and red ranunculus.
A Home of Artists
No matter the time of year, the Adams home is a showcase for the many artists in their family. Adams herself painted two landscapes that hang in the hallway and created handmade paper that hangs in the ladies’ lounge.
Most dominant in the home is artwork by her dad, Montgomery artist Phillip Coley. A still life he painted right out of college sits on the kitchen counter, but most of his art in the home are modern pieces he created during Adams’ formative years growing up.
“In the ‘80s, he was doing abstract when abstract wasn’t as cool as it is now,” Adams said.
A larger format, pink abstract painting by Coley hangs dominant in the middle of the living room, flanked by another piece of art on each side. To the left is a painting by Craig Green out of Nashville that Adams and her husband commissioned for their 25th wedding anniversary; it bears numbers and initials that are significant to their relationship over the years. To the right is a botanical painting by Charleston artist Raven Roxanne. Beyond it to the right are two small paintings, one by Montgomery artist Camilla Armstrong Montgomery and another by Ashley Armistead, who grew up in Montgomery and now lives in Birmingham.
Another wall in the living room showcases a painting by Adams’ husband’s uncle Howard Adams of horses – his signature subject. Adams won it at a family dirty Santa swap.
The more you look in the home, the more you see items of significance. Next to a chair sits an elephant that Adams’ dad commissioned by an artist in Thailand when he was stationed there during the Vietnam War. The pillows on two chairs are covered in a fabric design that an interior designer friend made using the brushstrokes of Adams’ youngest daughter, who passed away from a brain tumor when was 4 years old.
No matter where you cast your gaze in the home, you’ll find art Adams has carefully curated for the holidays and all year long, but it’s only for one day that you can see it on the IPC tour.
