They have tackled state political campaigns, and have even switched sides from Democrat to Republican in a traditionally blue state. They founded a booming insurance company, worked with charities, raised children, and welcomed grandchildren.
At this point, you'd think former Maryland State Senator Francis "Frank" Kelly, 74, and his wife, Janet, who describes herself as being in her "early 70s," would be ready to kick back and maybe downsize to some condo on a fake lake in a gated Palm Beach golf community. But after living in their Hunt Valley home for 26 years, the couple decided to tackle another major project: renovating their kitchen. It was a job, however, that quickly snowballed into something much bigger.
"Originally, my vision was to get new cabinets," Janet says with a laugh. "But then a friend of ours came by and she said, 'Janet, why don't you take this wall out?'" That friend, notably, was interior designer Juliette Palarea, who had other ideas, too. "And, why don't you open that wall? And why don't you fix the step-down?," Palarea asked.
"My response," says Janet, "was 'Oh, well, that's much more than I planned.' But before I knew it, we had captured that vision as well."
The Kellys' seven-month-long renovation began with a crack team: high-end builder Delbert Adams Construction Group and Palarea of JP Styles.