Featured Home: Animal Magnetism

"We started our safari theme when we bought our condo in Wyndemere in 1991, and had a truckload of furniture shipped down from the design center in Chicago," said Patty Payne. "We were able to expand on the theme when we bought our single-family home."

Payne explained that she and her husband had homes in downtown Chicago and Hinsdale while they both still worked for IBM, and later when Pat Payne worked for Waste Management Inc.

The couple decided to leave the condo and buy a "spec" home that was being built by friends in the estates section of Wyndemere in 1997, Patty Payne said, "but we didn't really go to work on the place until Pat retired in 2001 and we became full-time residents.

"The challenge was to create a blend of what we already had in our Chicago home and what we had moved over from our condo."

Payne said she consulted with Ann Morgan (Ann Morgan Interior Design) on window treatments, wall finishes and furniture arrangement.

"The living room furniture was all reupholstered," said Payne, a New Canaan, Conn., native. "There's an elephant fabric on two of the chairs, and the sofa is red. It was Ann's idea to accent the crown molding with a narrow wallpaper border in a red and gold Greek key pattern."

The same two colors were incorporated in the tasseled window treatment.

While the design pro created the look of the slider toppers, the homeowner shopped for the fabrics.

"I love a bargain," she said, "and I shopped for plenty of them, for this home and for my former homes. I got the lamps on the living room console table at a yard sale in Pelican Marsh."

Her fondness for preservation is evident throughout the floor plan.

"I wanted to keep my dining table from Chicago, but the chairs just weren't right for the new space. We got new dining chairs, but we used the old ones in the casual dining area, " she pointed out.

The old table and new chairs are crowned by a floating , faux-treated ceiling and flanked by breakfronts on one side and a built-in buffet on the other.

A cheetah painting hangs above the Russian-influenced display cabinets, monkey sconces adorn the walls and lionhead candlesticks decorate the table.

An elephant painting above the built-in bar introduces the casual wing, where even the walls are camel-colored. There are bronze and leather elephants in the family room, adding extra eye appeal to the bomber jacket leather seating trio.

	AT HOME
	Locale: Wyndemere Profile: 3-Bedroom/4- bath/den single-family home Area: 3,776 Air-conditioned square feet; 5,894 total square feet Built: 1997

Two hide-print chairs complete the seating; an elephant floor lamp and assorted animal sculptures fill out the family room menagerie.

Two animal fabrics work together perfectly in the first guest room. A tiger-in-the-grass printed silk has been paired with a small leopardskin print on the pewter-finish canopy bed. An African-look armoire from the old condo boosts the safari ambience.

The second option for guests benefits from some space realignment.

"We took some of the garage space to create a good-sized guest suite,'" said Payne. "The furniture is from our former master suite, and the settee has been with us for years."

There are monkey lamps on the nightstands, and a lionhead-trimmed campaign chair that are store-bought, but the exotic-looking fur throw is from closer to home -- it's an old mink coat she used to wear, Payne explained.

The Paynes indulged in a woven rattan sleigh bed for the master suite, and a faux-suede Cleopatara's chaise lounge that they placed in a corner. Oil-painted cheetahs gaze out at cognac-colored walls harmonizing linens, and a linen press armoire imported from England. A writing desk serves as office space for Patty Payne; her Waco, Texas-born husband tends to business in a library equipped with a lion floor lamp, leather top desk and oil paintings of lions and Dalmatians. The textured ceiling was created with woven wallpaper.

The former IBM executives, who met at work and have been married for 25 years, have become avid golfers since they moved to Wyndemere. When they swim in their pool, they are watched over by a pair of huge bronze lions bought locally.

A tropical mural on the lanai wall is the backdrop for a group of sculpted giraffes and cranes, and elsewhere on the deck bronze elephants and other jungle denizens give this Florida outdoor space an "Out of Africa" mood.

Patty Payne said she can't explain why animals are so much a part of the decor. She and her husband just love to have them around.