Barnyard chic

From early childhood, Pamela Bayer started collecting images for a special folder she labeled "Pamela's Barn." Since she grew up around the skyscraping structures of New York City and the contemporary homes on the Jersey Shore, farmland wasn't exactly in plain sight, so it's hard to recall the exact moment at which her enthrallment with barns began. Whatever the catalyst, her picture portfolio grew, along with her fascination.

Today, Bayer is living out her barn fantasy - literally - in a somewhat abrupt but seemingly destined turn of events. About a year ago, the New York-New Jersey interior designer and general contractor was Chicago-bound, to join her new husband Ralph in his downtown condo when he was recruited for a position with a Hudson company. Her first reaction? "What is [a] Hudson, Ohio?" The antithesis of the Windy City, she soon discovered.

Grappling with the sudden change in plans, they started house hunting. On the southern fringe of Hudson, on a short, dead-end street named Barlow Hill Drive that most locals would need directions to find, Bayer's real estate quest took her to Toad Hill Farm on her 46th birthday. Even an interior design newbie could conclude that the 1900s barn and stables would need gutting to the studs to be restored and brought up to modern standards, but the 2.3-acre estate had the potential of a dream home and design studio. So they bought it.

When Bayer sketched redesign plans for the barn, even her most experienced sub-contractors questioned their feasibility, but under her leadership, Pamela Bayer Interiors went to work on what would (12 months later) become of one their greatest residential renovations in the company's more-than-10-year history.

During the massive interior and exterior barn reconstruction, Bayer flew to Hudson from the East Coast every weekend for a year, and still spends several days a week overseeing projects on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, and in New York City.

This summer, Bayer and her husband moved into their voguish metropolitan pad, which features a 20-foot floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace with built-in plasma TV, a wine lounge, loft master bedroom with observation deck, and a gourmet kitchen designed for entertaining in style and comfort. Exterior distinctions include an old-fashioned windmill and tiny pond for frogs, juxtaposed to the expansive garage that houses Ralph's vintage Corvettes. While no farm animals remain, deer and other wildlife abound.

Bayer operates her interior design and general contracting business out of the stables on her property, which she converted into a unique office and mini-showroom with a view. Her focus in the Cleveland and Akron areas will be on residential and commercial interior design, as well as general contracting projects, from traditional to contemporary.

"My Ohio clients sometimes assume that, coming from the New York area, my work is largely with modern homes and buildings. When I present my portfolio, they are surprised to see so much traditional design," says Bayer, who has an equal talent for consulting with Mid-westerners who want to infuse big-city chic and glamour into their habitats, without the big-city price tag. "I've worked with every style and budget along the design continuum, from funky to art deco to Victorian."

From her experience with the barn reformation, Bayer has already amassed a pool of skilled local subcontractors and design associates. Her talent roster was recently bolstered by the arrival of her favorite office assistant, Laurel Fleetwood Mac, a "Wonder-Pug" that accompanies Bayer to the office every day.

Bayer may have ended up in Ohio unexpectedly, but she feels right at home. "One day I left the front door wide open while tooling around the yard, and Ralph asked me if I thought I lived in a barn. Now that I finally do, I doubt that joke will get old anytime soon."

Pamela Bayer Interiors can be reached at 330-653-9289, pbayerinteriors@gmail.com or
www.pamelabayer.com.