Up two levels, past a mezzanine with a library overlooking the double-height windows, is an operatic eat-in kitchen. Its walls are covered in glossy emerald green tiles that go all the way to the ceiling, and the countertops, made of rosso levanto marble, have deep burgundy tones with white veins. The contrast is dazzling. In the center of the space is a Louis XV dining table paired with vintage Thonet chairs upholstered in a green gauffrage velvet and a French Art Deco glass pendant. “It’s an eclectic story of timeless furniture,” Kolker says. “It’s a rich, luxurious kitchen.”
On that same level is a parlor used as a media room, with a television hidden behind a sheath of blue curtains, dark navy walls, ceilings to match, and a monolithic floor-to-ceiling marble fireplace flanked by gilded mirrors. This is the room influenced by Loos and his penchant for symmetry and paneling.
Haslam, whose family owns the Haslam Sports Group, was so pleased with the results that he asked Kolker to design his home in Miami. “She knows her stuff,” he says. “And I was impressed by her ability to go outside of her own style.” Kolker has since established her interior design studio and taken on new clients—but none quite like her first. “A lot of people want a ‘safe’ home, but James is extremely creative,” she says. “It was an incredible experience.”
