Mid-Century Aperitif

This Massillon couple wanted a dedicated space in their 4,650-square-foot residence for guests to mix and mingle, perhaps before sitting down for one of the elaborate dinners they like to prepare. Betsy Casey and John Mizener, design consultants at North Canton-based Rembrandt Homes, came up with an eclectic, mid-century modern cocktail bar that eclipses the average home wet bar in size and style.

“This room is all about materials and finishes and how they interact — a conversation between the organic and geometric,” Casey says. 

Fireplace: Casey, Mizener and the homeowners chose to face the fireplace in Soho Studios’ Baroque Sequin Gun Metal, an elongated hexagonal ceramic tile finished to look like polished gunmetal that supplies the desired dimension. “The natural light from those big, open windows reflects off of the tile,” Casey observes. The result is a subtle but striking variance in metallic tones.

Cabinetry and hardware: A pair of brass handles, each one-half of an octopus, accentuate a cabinet in the fireplace-flanking built-ins painted Sherwin-Williams Hunt Club. This color serves as a bright foil for Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black walls. “[The clients] wanted a bold color,” Casey says, “and green is one of their favorites.” The handles, ordered online from Indonesia, reminded them of an antique pair they saw while in France. “They do love the sea,” Casey says, “so they wanted to bring that into the space.”

Backsplash: Casey suggested extending Artistic Tile’s Tambourine Traps Gillespie Green Mosaic — an arrangement of polished- and matte-glass trapezoids ranging in color from spring green to turquoise to emerald to almost-black — from the steel-gray leathered-granite countertop to the ceiling. Mizener added two brushed-brass sconces to the wall. “That creates more of a dramatic effect, with the light bouncing off those tiles,” Casey says.  

The chandelier: The fixture, which drips clear, white and gold blown glass droplets, is a souvenir of the homeowners’ honeymoon stop on Murano, an island in Venice, Italy, known around the world for its glass. “They were walking through one of the shops there, saw this extremely beautiful chandelier and just fell in love with it,” Casey says. “They purchased it and had it sent back to the States.”