By RENEE LaREAU Photos By Amanda TempleFrom the December/January 2007 Issue
Piano Man Grand Rapidian Sam Stryke on Christmas carols, Oprah and being a band nerd
Burning Question Q. Is artificial snow really artificial?
Extreme Makeover Pat Meyer came, saw and saved
the abandoned Felt Mansion.
You Lucky Dog, You Pamper yourself and spoil your pooch
with these dog-gone cool products.
Lake Magazine covers the hottest information on the Lake Michigan area.
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THE EPIPHANY: Kalamazoo architect and designer Roger Lepley (below) was lying on the couch, reading the Sunday paper when he realized he couldn’t reach his mug on the nearby coffee table. Like anyone who gets absorbed in the weekend paper, he didn’t want to get up. “All of a sudden, I thought, ‘Wait a minute!’” – and his mind flashed to Abstracta, the modular metal tubing system that his company bought the rights to manufacture. He drove to his office, snapped some tubing together, put a ceramic tile on top, and within an hour, he had his own portable, personal-sized coffee table.
THE BUZZ: Lepley and his wife, Kristy, entertain often, and the table soon became a conversation piece. “People kept saying ‘I want one of those,’” he says. He created four styles and named the table Mya – after his son’s dog. He designed a personal cigar table, too, which won kudos from Cigar Aficionado magazine. “At first people couldn’t understand why they were so small,” Lepley says. But soon New Yorkers living in tiny studios started snapping them up, and lake lovers began ordering sets of them for outdoor entertaining.
FUN FEATURE: Mya tables’ interchangeable tops come in 14 varieties – everything from funky frosted green acrylic to terra cotta to teak – so you can buy different tops for indoor and outdoor use.
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