1924 Glamour: Interior Designer Mark Kennamer Showcases Historic Forest Park Home in IPC Holiday House Tour

Interior designer Mark Kennamer and his husband, John Paul Bruno, will open the doors of their 1924 Forest Park home for this year’s IPC Holiday House Tour.

By Madoline Markham Koonce

Walking into interior designer Mark Kennamer’s Forest Park Colonial feels like Christmas morning came a little early this year, as it is decked with live greenery, florals and family ornament collections all curated with his eye for design.

You can see it for yourself on the 75th anniversary of the IPC Holiday House Tour to be held Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Along with Kennamer’s home, featured homes in this year’s tour are the Dumas Home in Mountain Brook and Henderson Home in Mountain Brook.

After running out of decorating projects to do in a two-bedroom condo in Highland Park he’d lived in for 13 years, Kennamer found the 1924 Forest Park white Colonial seven years ago and made it his home. 

“I’m very symmetrical as far as my aesthetic goes, so it checked all the boxes for me,” Kennamer said.

Although the house is 100 years old, Kennamer and his husband of two years, John Paul Bruno, are only the fourth owners to live in it, and they inherited a lush landscaping job from the previous owners that they have maintained.

While the home’s original bones still shine, Kennamer has gradually been taking on projects to both update it and restore it to its original style.

“The house feels like it should be,” Kennamer said. “I feel like we have been putting it back together in a way that works for us and that is also true to the house.”

Five years ago, he had the upstairs bathrooms updated, and then earlier this year the kitchen was renovated, an entertaining room was added and the house was rewired by Trestle Construction.

Throughout the home, you’ll see Kennamer’s personal style, which he describes as “traditional with a little bit of eclectic mixed in,” on display. 

“I love modern art and modern lighting but beautiful antiques and classic furniture lines,” he said.

When it comes to working with clients, he works with each of their aesthetics and family needs so no one’s house looks the same, and no house looks quite like his own. 

He also likes to buy furniture from local shops such as Circa, Henhouse Antiques, Design Supply and The Nest.

Kennamer’s favorite way to decorate for the holidays is with greenery. Here some hangs over a mirror in the dining room, with a set of metallic feather trees on the table beneath it.

Decked Halls

For the IPC tour, the Kennamer and Bruno home will be decked in live greenery and florals crafted by Kennamer. Live wreaths will hang in all the windows and over the front door.

Over the kitchen window, Kennamer is planning to hang a large live wreath that he’ll make extra festive by adding dried oranges to it. Live garland will deck the foyer staircase bannister and hang over the master bedroom bed. Red berries and blue spruce greenery will dress up the fireplace mantle, roses and berries will spruce up the bar and amaryllis the breakfast table.

In the dining room, Kennamer will set a festive table with their Christmas china, Bernardaud Grenadiers with a toy soldier pattern, with a floral centerpiece featuring red roses, berries and tulips in the middle.

A live Christmas tree in the living room will display a collection of Christopher Radko ornaments that Kennamer’s mom has given him over the years as well as bright and colorful ornaments from Bruno’s grandmother’s collection. Kennamer also likes to set out his great-aunt’s ornaments and to decorate with her vintage reindeer covered in gold mesh on tables, and he uses a few ornaments from his own grandmother, which reminds him of decorating her home with her in years past.

A second tree in the kitchen will take on a more natural style by contrast. About 100 cardinals, sparrows and other birds will be nestled among metallic pine cone and mushroom ornaments, along with champagne and brown satin ribbons and hydrangeas Kennamer dried from their yard this year.

Amid the greenery on the white brick fireplace mantel, you’ll see stockings that Kennamer and Bruno selected for their first Christmas together. There’s one for each of them as well as their Australian shepherd, Rocko, and three cats, RayJ, Whitney and Posey. Over the mantle hangs a landscape from the early 1900s that Kennamer found at Henhouse.

“I grew up on a lake, so I love anything with water,” he said. “It’s peaceful.”

The couple won’t forget the presents, either. Beneath the trees, they’ll have packages wrapped for their nieces and nephew tied up with red, green or gold satin ribbon. Each child’s presents are wrapped with a different paper so there’s no confusion about who gets what.

More than 100 birds are perched on the natural-themed Christmas tree in Mark Kennamer and John Paul Bruno’s kitchen. They sit amongst dried hydrangeas, pinecone and mushroom ornaments, and ornate ribbon that deck the tree.

Evolution of Decor

In addition to Christmas decorations, tour guests will get to see Kennamer’s style on display in the decor that lives there year-round. 

It particularly shines in the entertainment room they created in a former porch off the living room. The cozy space features a muted blue-green wall and cabinet paint (Benjamin Moore Stratton Blue) accented by a Chinese mural-style wallpaper by Iksel. 

The original porch space had been closed in at some point but had a large plate glass window that needed to be replaced, prompting Kennamer to rethink the whole room.

To start with, he decided to move an original kitchen window that didn’t allow enough light into the cooking space to the new entertaining room and create a bar with a wine refrigerator and storage for glasses.

The plan for the room evolved from there, with updated bookshelves that hold Kennamer’s design books and magazines and a new seating area.

“One of my favorite things is to pour a glass of wine and sit in there and go through books and get new inspiration,” Kennamer said.

The home’s newly renovated kitchen also shows off Kennamer’s style and dedication to keeping it in line with the original design of the home.

The kitchen was gutted in renovations, and while they talked about moving it to a different location and adding a large island, they wanted to keep it within the footprint of the original kitchen and keep the layout as original as possible. They did update the 1990s renovation with black granite countertops.

Working with Cindy Cantley with Cantley & Company, they refined the layout to best function for cooking and to have the symmetry that Kennamer loves. Bruno, who likes to cook, researched appliances.

When it came to finishes for the kitchen, Kennamer picked out marble for the countertops and a 2-by-8-inch white backsplash tile – “The way the light hits it is really pretty,” he said – to coordinate with a darker neutral cabinet color – Farrow & Ball London Stone – and brass hardware. The crown decorative jewel in the space is a rug from Paige Albright Orientals that brings in more color.

One of the biggest differences after the renovation is the light that shines in from a large window as well as small recessed lights and sconces on the walls on either side of the bar.

“It lets in twice as much light as the other window,” Kennamer said. “Because they are new windows they can open them, whereas the other originals were painted shut.”

The final project Kennamer got in before the tour was one he’d envisioned since buying the house: wallpapering the foyer. He had a blue and white print from Inchyra, a Scottish designer, installed by Coverwalls in November.

Originally he had picked out a Brunshwig & Fils wallpaper for this space, but earlier this fall he and Bruno took a trip to New York City and stopped by the New York Design Center only for Kennamer to set his eyes on a new pattern. 

“I saw it and thought, ‘This is it,’” he recalls. “The background almost looks like a textured fabric.”

Now that design will greet visitors to the tour and be their first taste of all the decorative touches on display in the rest of the home.

IPC Holiday House Tour Returns for the 75th Year

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Independent Presbyterian Church’s Holiday House Tour, to be held Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tickets, $40 each for adults and $20 for kids, cover entrance to tour three homes decorated for the season as well as the church’s sanctuary and dollhouses. This year’s featured homes are the Kennamer and Bruno Home in Forest Park, Dumas Home in Mountain Brook, and Henderson Home in Mountain Brook. 

You also can buy joint tickets for the tour and a seated afternoon tea to be held 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the IPC Great Hall for $75. For the tea, scones, biscuits, finger sandwiches and sweets from the church’s Holiday House Cookbook will be served.

Throughout its 75 years, the tour has raised funds for programs that benefit women and children in need. Net proceeds from this year’s event will go to IPC Food Ministries, First Light Women’s Shelter, Children’s Fresh Air Farm/Summer Learning Program and Presbyterian Home for Children. 

Tickets can be purchased at ipcholidayhouse.com, during daily office hours at IPC’s 3100 Highland Ave. address, on Sundays in the IPC Parlor and at each home on the day of the tour.