The Times

Weekend of January 22/23, 1977 TIMES/GUIDE 13

Home has 'lived in' theme and the sounds of laughter

By DOROTHY STEIN Staff Writer "The things that are important in my home are the people who live in it, the sounds of laughter and of people having a good time," says Barbara Lefcourt, of her 11-room, 4-bath, 3-daughter, 1-dog home in rural South Dade. As women's editor of the North Dade Journal, Barbara is well aware of how the well-dressed home is expected to look, but says she's quite content with her own "just plain furniture." The theme of the house, she says, is "lived in," which is why she can't be bothered with fancy decorator pieces that the entire family is not at liberty to enjoy. "I just don't believe in perfect please-don't-touch houses," she insists. "My children will be gone before the furniture is worn out. If the house looks elegant, it's by accident." But the house does look elegant, despite its owner's claim that most of the furniture has been constantly recovered and recycled to fit every home its been put into. In fact, while other women might be embarrassed by it, Barbara is proud to point out that the end-table in her study is nothing more than a wooden stool covered with left-over drapery fabric and, in the family room, a drum covered with patent leather serves the same function. A long marble-tiled gallery runs through the center of the house, separating one room from another, as well as the living from the sleeping quarters. Its walls are lined with lithographs, which Barbara says she purchases only at auctions or outdoor art shows. The spaciousness of the house is dramatized by 15-foot ceilings in the living and dining rooms, a feature that particularly attracted Barbara when they bought the house seven years ago. "It made the house out of the ordinary for me." But the heart of the Lefcourt home is its family room. With rosewood panelled walls, a recessed brick fireplace and a professional-looking bar, this room radiates the comfort and the cozy "gemutlichkeit" of a ski lodge. And it's truly a "family" room, says Barbara. "We live in it, we spill on it, do homework in it, and, of course, I love to entertain in it." The furnishings consist of two brown suede love-seats and two nubby tweed chairs, grouped around a glass-and-wood coffee table. A reading chair in a brown geometric design—its third recovering—is Barbara's favorite, and will continue to go wherever she does. On either side of the fireplace are bookshelves, and above it a beautiful clock fashioned from a slab of petrified wood. The large living room Barbara describes as being furnished in "Early Conglomerate," and if there's a theme at all, she says, it's wicker. Although the least used room of the house, it has come in handy upon occasion for holding large numbers of people. "Many times I've thought of it as wasted space," she says, "but I'm happy that it was large enough for my daughter Beth's entire Palmetto Senior High choral group to rehearse in, and in February there'll be 75 people in it for a wedding." The reasons for people's choices of color are often vague, but Barbara has no trouble explaining why her home was done in black and white and shades of brown. "We picked these colors to match Lover Girl, our German Shepherd and very good friend," she says. "No matter where she chooses to lie down, she always matches the decor." Scattered around the house are travel mementos which Barbara regards as "fun" items rather than objects d'art. In her living room is an antique Oriental gong, which in so large a home is sometimes the only way she can get the attention of three children. Also on display are Barbara's priceless, one-of-a-kind items, such as her daughter Patti's papier mache' seal, the Mother's Day plate that Beth made in kindergarten, and her other daughter Margie's shell ashtray . . .the real "treasures" in any home.

WILLIAM R. ROWE, C.L.U.

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