JEANNETTE FRISTOE and Larry Blake’s house in Bel Air, Maryland, was featured on Houzz.com a couple of years ago in a feature by photographer and stylist Rikki Snyder, and the retired couple still love their airy nest.
Nonetheless, there have been changes, says Fristoe. The pictures here show the living room with white walls, but those walls just wanted to be gray. They’re now pewter, a little darker than the dining room, seen here in a mid-gray. In fact, says Fristoe, “All the rooms are now gray!”
The back wall of the sun porch has been painted black, as has the floor, a fine effect when all those windows keep light pouring in. In the kitchen, all the base cabinets are now black instead of white.
And what about the star of the kitchen, that big AGA Cooker? “We love it!” Fristoe exclaims. For those unfamiliar with the AGA concept, the range is basically on all the time, with hot plates on the top instead of burners and four ovens, each maintaining its own constant temperature.
“It’s like having a huge slow-cooker,” Fristoe explains. “You don’t have to man the stove.” If you want something done in an hour, you put it in one oven. If you want it to cook over the course of, say, four hours, you can put your dish in the 250-degree oven. It takes about 24 hours to heat up the appliance; Fristoe and Blake use it all winter. In warmer weather, they use a smaller Chamber range, seen tucked away in the pantry.
The outside of the house is just as remarkable as the inside. In another feature, Rikki Snyder showed the couple’s lush landscape. You can take a look at that here too.
—Nancy McKeon