Carleton Varney: At Home with Katherine the Great

It's been almost four months since Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris was in the eye of the electoral storm. But her impact hasn't faded.

When introduced at theng of the Sarasota Opera, two months ago, Katherine, with her husband Anders Ebbeson, received thunderous applause.

I also attended "Falstaff" that night, and during the ovation, the couple sitting next to me, a lady and gentleman from Missouri, nodded with approval. The woman leaned over and whispered to me, "You know, she's the lady who saved our democracy."

Whether you agree or not, one thing is sure, Katherine Harris is someone you will hear more and more about in the coming months.

We've read about her lipstick and eye makeup and her political forthrightness, but we know little about her style, her likes, her dislikes or the way she lives. I was in Washington for the Inauguration to visit friends and to lunch with Katherine and her husband. I wanted to learn a bit about her Florida style.

Katherine and Anders, her husband of four years, share two very different homes, one in Sarasota at Longboat Key and another in the state capital, Tallahassee.

The Longboat Key house is very contemporary - basically white, cream and beige - and is fitted with some good contemporary art including a Rauschenberg lithograph Anders owned prior to their marriage. The two-story residence is much like those in many of the country's gated communities. It has a large, comfortable kitchen with a bay window overlooking a swimming pool and a boat dock. Anders is into boating, and the two often take their round-about for a whirl on a Sunday afternoon.

The countertops, flooring and cabinets in the kitchen are all of a light wood grain. When I visited the residence, which has been off limits to the press, the couple sat with me at a table in the bay window and we chatted about Katherine's newly decorated dining room, with its elegant drapery of cream, black trim and beige.

Katherine was pleased with the new look and with the new damask-style wallcovering. "The original wallcovering was not available, so I made a substitution. I'm so glad everything worked."

Katherine and Anders have mixed contemporary with traditional - to a pleasing end.

 

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In the library of the residence, a painting by Swedish artist Tord Lager proudly hangs above a built-in cabinet of blind wood. The oil painting has a background of puffy white clouds, aquablue sky and marine-blue water. From the painting, a large sailing ship called the "Norwegian Lion" pops out in full sail - a handsome projection. Anders points out with pride a movie theater room styled with cream leather reclining seats and a 10-by-10-foot screen.

Katherine is witty, charming and feminine. She supported her husbands likes and dislikes during our chat. Anders brought lots of Swedish antiquities into the Harris/Ebbeson home in Tallahassee which Katherine acquired shortly after her election as Florida Secretary of State.

The Tallahassee residence is a two-story Greek Revival house built in 1937. The home is on it's own block of land and has a white brick exterior and wood trim. The shutters are painted dark green. Katherine and Anders will most likely sell it when she completes her term. (The office will become an appointed position in two years.)

This house, a former bed and breakfast, is classical in style - a complete departure from the Longboat Key home. Katherine decorated the place herself - using Anders' antiques - and she's now working on creating gardens around the property.

She loves the grounds, especially the 110 camellia trees, oaks, dogwoods and rhodadendrums. The five bedroom house is "lots of work, but work that I enjoy,” she told me.

To acquire all her antiques, Katherine replied that soon after her election to her post as Secretary of State, she rented an 18 foot U-haul truck and traveled up and down the Florida Coast all the way to Georgia, stopping at Antique Shops looking, collecting and buying for her new beautiful home. Actually Katherine told me she made two trips up the coast in her van, driving the distance herself, wearing jeans and a baseball cap, listening to great music and sometimes calling home when necessary to check up on the matters of state.

“Just think,” she said, “I never had to ship anything, I bought, I paid, I packed the goods into the truck and away I went. I simply backed the truck over the lawn of my new Tallahassee home and unloaded.

Katherine loves bright colors. Her dining room at Tallahassee is bright, sunny golden yellow with white trim. Draperies are a rich burgundy, the perfect background for mahogany period furnishings in the Sheraton style.

She comes from a family of historians. She is a third generation Floridian - her Mother and Father still live in Bartow, Florida, about 18 miles from Lakeland. “My family always loved antiques and I guess collecting just comes naturally.”

She has two siblings: a sister, married to one of Nashville's leading songwriters, and a brother, who owns and operates Aspen Colorado’s famed Syzygy in Aspen, Colo. Katherine is a skier as well as a painter of “photo oils” as she call them, realistic images in what she calls icy pastels and strong colors, which she uses on her walls and her clothes.

Katherine has always been a sportswoman. She loves to fish and once caught a 13-pound tarpon off the coast of Boca Grande. Boca Grande is the spot where the Bush family fishes and enjoys festive holidays at the famous Gasparilla Inn of Dupont family fame.

Katherine is an avid horsewoman, having learned to ride as a child. "I've been riding horses since I was eight," she told me.