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HOW TO EAT VEGAN p. 17

PLAYING POLO IN EUREKA p. 40

Kitchens & Baths TRANSFORMATIONS THAT TELL A STORY p.43

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JUL/AUG

C ON T EN TS

40

DISCOVER 17 VA-VA-VA VEGGIES!

A chopped salad for vegans 18 VEGGIE GIRL

A conversation with STL Veg Girl Caryn Dugan

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

20 EVERYDAY ALFRESCO

Freshen up your kitchen.

Eureka’s Southern Spring Farm & Polo Club

22 LA BELLE VILLE

Make time for Ste. Gen.

DESIGN 25 FLOWER POWER

At Roar, creativity is always welcome.

ON THE COVER

Photography by Alise O’Brien

28 HIGH-VOLTAGE VINTAGE

Sucheta Bhide reworks furniture her way.

30 THE CITY AS INDEX

Missouri History Museum archivist Dennis Northcott

PROPERTY 33 COOLER THAN COOLAIRE

Alicia LaChance’s studio PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER

36 DOWNSIZING

Where to start, and whom to call 38 BUILT FOR LIVING

Home sites for modern life G AT HER I NGS

68 PRAIRIE LANDS

An outdoor dinner party in Wright City

FEATURES

I NDEX

70 DESIGN DECISIONS

Editors talk renovations.

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72 HOUSE SHOPPING

KITCHENS AND BATHS

CREATIVE VISION

A field trip to a new subdivision, circa 1966

Your guide to everything new and exciting

The Pearsons live out their dreams at home.

I CON

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60

TWIN OAKS

The magical cottage of one woman’s imagination

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OUTDOOR SEATING ALWAYS AVAILABLE

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ST. L OU I S AT HOM E

1600 S. BRENTWOOD, SUITE 550 ST. LOUIS, MO 63144 314-918-3000 | FAX 314-918-3099 STLMAG.COM

Eclectic. Stylish. Unique.

Modern and vintage furniture, home decor and art to help you decorate your home with style.

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Veronica Theodoro CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jarrett Medlin EXECUTIVE EDITOR Stefene Russell STAFF WRITER Jeannette Cooperman DINING EDITOR George Mahe DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER Steph Zimmerman EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Katelyn Mae Petrin DIGITAL EDITOR Sarah Kloepple COPY EDITOR Kerry Bailey CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Pat Eby, CJ Lotz,

Charlene Oldham, and Sydney Loughran Wolf INTERNS Chelsie Hollis, Lance Jordan

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ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTOR Tom White ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Emily Cramsey SALES & MARKETING DESIGNER Aubrey Dosmann PRODUCTION MANAGER Dave Brickey STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Kevin A. Roberts CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS

Larry Emerson, Wesley Law, Alise O’Brien, Jennifer Silverberg, Pete Sucheski, Carmen Troesser INTERNS Alyssa Dosmann, Kylie Henderson

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Chad Beck, Jill Gubin, Brian Haupt, Laura Hughes, Carrie Mayer, Kim Moore, Liz Schaefer, Dani Toney ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Dee Dee Douglas CONTRIBUTING WRITER Tiffany Leong

MARKETING

MARKETING & EVENTS COORDINATOR Kathleen Kennedy MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Todd Schuessler

CIRCULATION

CIRCUL ATION MANAGER Dede Dierkes CIRCUL ATION COORDINATOR Teresa Foss

BUSINESS

PUBLISHER Ray Hartmann BUSINESS MANAGER Carol Struebig

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6/5/17 9:20 AM

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VOLUME 13, ISSUE 4

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Six issues of St. Louis At Home and two issues of St. Louis Family are included with a paid subscription to St. Louis Magazine ($19.95 for 20 issues).

Call 314-918-3000 to place an order or to inform us of a change of address, or visit stlmag.com/subscribe. For corporate and group subscription rates, contact Teresa Foss at 314-918-3030.

ONLINE CALENDAR

Call Stefene Russell at 314-918-3011 or email srussell@stlmag.com. (Please include “Online Calendar” in subject line.) Deadline is two months before publication date.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send letters to Feedback at the address above, or email feedback@stlmag.com.

MARKETING AND EVENTS

For information about marketing, promotions, and special events, call Kathleen Kennedy at 314-918-3055.

ADVERTISING

To place an ad, call Dee Dee Douglas at 314-918-3002.

DISTRIBUTION

Call Dede Dierkes at 314-918-3006.

SBA Family-Owned Small Business of the Year!

Subscription Rates: $19.95 for one year. Call for foreign subscription rates. Frequency: Monthly. Single Copies in Office: $5.46. Back Issues: $7.50 by mail (prepaid). Copyright 2016 by St. Louis Magazine, LLC. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. Unsolicited manuscripts may be submitted but must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. ©2017 by St. Louis Magazine. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1600 S. Brentwood, Suite 550 St. Louis, MO 63144 314-918-3000 | Fax 314-918-3099 stlmag.com

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a place for everything

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LETTER

FROM THE EDITOR at the start of the summer, I was reporting a story for the magazine when—as is often the case—the site of a home grabbed my attention and moved me to take a closer look. This particular house, a beautiful example of a Mediterranean Revival with a bright-white stucco façade, is situated on a corner lot atop a small hill, ideal conditions for taking in the summer sunlight. Deciding that my story could wait, I turned onto the street to explore the neighborhood.

I tend to know fairly quickly what I like, so it didn’t take long to zero in on a cottagestyle house with a luscious front yard, pea gravel drive, and a sign at the front door that read, “Twin Oaks.” I turned into the driveway, walked to the door, and knocked.

Then, I waited…and waited. Assuming that nobody was at home, I had turned to go back to my car when the front door opened and a woman’s voice called out, “May I help you?”

On page 60, I invite you to read all about that cottage and its homeowners, Susan and Larry Emerson. Knowing Susan as I now do, it seems only fitting that on the day of my first visit she had taken the afternoon to edit the contents of her closet. “More is just more, not better,” as Susan likes to say.

All houses tell stories, and this is especially true during and after a renovation. In this issue, we visit with homeowners who’ve

L

AST YEAR,

vtheodoro@stlmag.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

weathered kitchen and bathroom makeovers to learn what worked…and what didn’t. I recently completed renovations on my own home (check out my cool new kitchen on this page!), and the experience has taught me that there’s nothing like starting anew to help you home in on what you really love, and how essential it is to see your personal aesthetic and values reflected through design. Whether you’ve recently embarked on a kitchen redo or are checking off those final punch-list items, we hope that our coverage helps steer you toward the house you’ve always wanted.

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#1 INDIVIDUAL REALTOR IN THE CENTRAL AREA FOR 2016 CONTACT ME TODAY FOR MORE INFORMATION CELL 314.607.5555 EMAIL TED@TEDWIGHT.COM SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING IN ST. LOUIS WWW.STLOUIS.STYLE OFFICE 314.725.0009

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PRODUCTS AND PLACES

CONNECT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

stlveggirl.com

Va-va-va Veggies!

STLVegGirl Caryn Dugan makes the traditionally meat-heavy chopped salad into a vegan delight. Just replace ham with protein- and vitamin-packed vegetables and the dairy with a creamy hemp heart ranch. Set the salad ingredients in bowls on a table, lay out an array of tongs and spoons, and allow your guests to create their own salads. Perfectly suited for summer entertaining! —KATELYN MAE PETRIN stlmag.com

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FIRST PERSON

Veggie Girl Caryn Dugan talks about eating healthy, changing habits, and embracing the St. Louis vegan scene. thing, but the minute you shift to eating more vegetables, or eating “better,” it’s, like, [gasps] “Where are you going to get your protein? Where you gonna get your calcium?” I think that the biggest barrier is that people don’t have support, and they need support.

HOW CAN PEOPLE OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES?

You don’t have to leave the comfort of your own grocery store.

You can shop anywhere. It’s also a lot less expensive to eat this way because meat, dairy, seafood is expensive—a bag of lentils is $1.98. One of my big tips that I tell everybody is, when you’re changing your eating habits stick with one source—whether it be a single cookbook, or a single blogger, or a single website—because cookbooks or recipe authors tend to use the same-ish types of ingredients over and over again.

They also have a voice that you become familiar with. You’ll learn a lot quicker, and you’ll be going through your ingredients a lot faster as well. You won’t have a cupboard of half-used whatever—that can rack up in price.

HOW HAS ST. L OU I S CHANGED SIN C E YOU B EG AN YOUR JOUR NE Y ?

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WHAT’S YOUR FOOD PHILOSOPHY?

Whole food, plant-based.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

When I say “plant-based,” I mean all plants.

I really enjoy cooking using the whole food, because that is the most immune-boosting.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BARRIERS TO GOING VEGAN?

When somebody’s making a lifestyle change, it’s usually a solo mission. Families don’t decide to make some kind of major shift. That’s tough. If you’re chowing down on chicken wings or pizza nobody says any-

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

Caryn Dugan’s transformation from unhealthy eater to professional vegan began in 2008, when, just 10 weeks after cancer killed her father, a dermatologist found a tumor in her arm. She took a hard look at her health and realized that she had to make changes. “I took, overnight, everything out of my kitchen that had any animal products in it,” she says. But the change wasn’t easy: She had no clue how to prepare a vegan meal and had to Google common vegetables. But after taking, and then teaching, vegan cooking classes at Whole Foods, she began her own business. Now, as STLVegGirl, Dugan helps others embrace a plant-based diet.

When I first adopted this, in 2008 or 2009, I went to New York, then I was out in California. I can remember— because I was still really new, myself, at this—I saw on both coasts that it was no big deal, and I thought that was the coolest thing. I thought, “Gosh, I cannot wait for St. Louis to get this way.” For years and years, I was swimming upstream, but I didn’t have a whole lot of support. Then it started to seep into St. Louis, and it’s been really great. I enjoy watching everybody thrive, because it all comes from a good place. —K.M.P. stlmag.com

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Phot

Photography by Alise O’Brien

AWARD WINNING RESULTS DELIVERED BY A FRIENDLY CUSTOMER FOCUSED TEAM WITH DECADES OF EXPERIENCE AND A PASSION FOR THE DETAILS Thanks to everyone who made this project a success including Architect Donna Boxx, Markway Construction, Russo Stone and Tile, and Roth Living AH_Discover_0717.indd 19

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ROOM FOR TWO

Everyday Alfresco Freshen up your kitchen this summer by bringing a touch of nature indoors. —MEGAN MERTZ

La Rochère bee wineglasses, two sizes, $10 per glass, Clay & Cotton, 113 N. Kirkwood, 314394-1400, clayandcottonkirkwood.com

GEORGE MAHE Dining editor, St. Louis Magazine

AARON GROFF Co-chef/co-owner, Sucrose

Though the glassware is handsome and practical, I prefer a more thinlipped glass for wine.

Using these would be fine for water or iced tea, although my first choice would be La Rochère’s tumbler in the Artois pattern.

Measuring cups should have handles, in my opinion, so my inclination would be to use these for holding prepped items while cooking or to serve condiments, spreadable cheese, and herbed butter.

I first saw these towels at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and remember being just as impressed with the feel of them as I was with the colors.

Everything about this set is appealing: the heftiness of the knife, the neutral color of the board, the subtlety of the speckling... The fleur-de-lis pattern is restrained, classy.

Many geometric tile patterns are either too boring or too M.C. Escher.

This one makes you want to immediately feel it and study it.

This glass says French farmhouse.

Take some to the lake house or cabin, or use them in the backyard for a summer sangria or ice-cold rosé while throwing washers.

The thicker glass will hold up to all of your summer barbecues.

The Swiss army knife of measuring cups. They look like they’re fun to use for making Sunday waffles, or leave them on the counter to hold fresh flowers.

I picked up a few of these when I did the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market.

They have some fun retro designs. The cotton will polish those La Rochère glasses perfectly.

I love anything from a kiln. An aesthetically pleasing platter-and-knife combo that will land you style points from your guests.

If you’ve ever been to Sucrose, you know we’re about clean lines, mosaics, and hexagons. Use it as a backsplash or cover a small table for a bar that will always be in style.

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Terra cotta nesting prep set, $14.99, Lemon Gem Kitchen Goods, 4180 Manchester, 314-696-2744, lemongem.com

Ceramic cheese board, $32, and wooden-handled knife, $29, Urban Matter, 4704 Virginia, 314-4566941, urbanmatter stl.com

Waterworks MasterPiece Bar Graphic Petite Mosaic tile pattern, price available on request, Immerse

by Atlas, 836 Hanley Industrial, 314-375-1500, immersestl.com

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

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Screen-printed flour sack towels, $12.95 each, Sprouted Designs, sprouteddesigns.com

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STOREFRONT

La Belle Ville This summer, make time to visit Ste. Genevieve, which boasts more French Colonial architecture than any other place in North America. The shopping is good, too. —STEFENE RUSSELL

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EUROPEAN ENTITLEMENTS

ASL PEWTER FOUNDRY

Thomas and Patricia Hooper founded ASL Pewter in 1995. A few years ago, they relocated to Ste. Gen from Louisiana (not the state—the town in Missouri) and continue to create their lead-free pewter pieces by hand on a lathe. Their stock includes historic reproductions of plates, teapots, utensils, mugs, and salt cellars, many cast in antique molds. The workroom is open during business hours, so you can watch pieces as they’re made.

183 S. Third 573-883-2095 aslpewter.com

Everything in this shop is imported from Europe, mostly from century businesses— including a few that date back to the 1700s, just like Ste. Genevieve. In keeping with the provenance of the town, there are French tablecloths, spice grinders, and milled soaps, but you’ll also find Italian leather handbags, German porcelain, English garden tools, Irish wool blankets, and art prints from all over the Continent.

102 S. Main 573-883-8233 europeanentitlements.com

2 Experiencing Ste. Gen requires a stop to at least one or two of its historic house museums.

The Welcome Center, at 66 S. Main, offers a $15 Historic Tour Passport good for entry to six sites, including the Bolduc and Vallé homes. If you’re inspired by the jardins potagers and faience pottery, stop at either site’s gift shop for books on colonial French life, handmade soaps, honey, art, handicrafts, and music by such artists as Dennis Stroughmatt & L’Esprit Creole.

198 Merchant 573-883-7102 116 S. Main 573-883-3105

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WHAT NOTS & ODDITIES This shop is a showcase for local artists. Because the stock’s handmade and always changing, your mileage may vary, but things you’ll probably spot include upcycled jewelry, bath salts, baby onesies, art prints, ribbon lollipops, and sparkling rock candy from Perryville’s Lavender Hill Candy Boutique.

316 Market 573-535-9791

LET’S HAVE LUNCH COMFORT FOOD AT ITS BEST.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

FELIX VALLÉ HOUSE HISTORIC SITE GIFT SHOP/LINDEN HOUSE GIFT SHOP

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AUDUBON’S GRILL & BAR Located in what was the historic Hotel Audubon, the restaurant was remodeled four years ago, trading dated oxblood and hunter-green for minimalist white. The all-day menu is extensive, but a cup of tortilla soup and a Cobb salad is hard to beat. 9 N. Main, 573-883-2479, audubonstegen. info THE ANVIL SALOON & RESTAURANT: Comfort food should be served by a caring waitstaff, and so it is at The Anvil. Onion rings, sandwiches, and fried chicken are notable; the same goes for the homemade pies. Be sure to check in with Jerry Holliday, who presides over a bar from an 1850s Mississippi River steamboat. 46 S. Third, 573-883-7323 —GEORGE MAHE

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Bathroom Paint, Redefined.

Enhance your bath. Experience a luxurious matte paint that can stand up to any amount of moisture.

Paint Like No Other

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To find a store near you, please visit the store locator on benjaminmoore.com

©2017 Benjamin Moore & Co. Aura, Benjamin Moore, Color Lock, Paint like no other, and the triangle “M” symbol are registered trademarks licensed to Benjamin Moore & Co.

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LIVING WITH DESIGN

VISIT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SILVERBERG

Roar 8150 Big Bend 314-736-1051 roarstl.com

Flower Power

At Roar in Webster Groves, guests are invited to explore their creativity. stlmag.com

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WOMEN—YOUNG AND OLD , friends and

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tulips, demure anemone and ranunculus. Stems of sturdy statice and fragile Queen Anne’s lace are provided to offer structure to the arrangements. Ethereal mimosa fern jostles with woolly dusty miller for the attention of students looking for filler to set off their blooms.

As guests snip stems, strip foliage, and place foundation greenery, conversation flows, punctuated by periods of reflection.

For Dadian-Smith, the takeaway isn’t strictly business. “I love sharing [my love of ] working with flowers,” she says. “It’s transformative. One guest told me she schedules a workshop every few months as a gift to herself.” —PAT EBY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SILVERBERG

strangers alike—wander into conversation spaces delineated not by walls but instead by plush sofas and chairs accented with sheepskin throws. Accessories such as vintage globes and books have been edited and styled atop built-in shelves; artwork beams out inspirational messages. The homey lived-in feel of the space invites guests to explore their creativity…or Roar, as the name of the space implies.

Located in downtown Webster Groves, Roar is the brainchild of interior designer Lisa Knight, who launched the multipurpose space last April.

“I opened the space because I missed working with people when I went into the interior design business on my own,” she says. “I wanted to be around other creative people. I thought Webster needed more diverse retail space, which is why we have occasional popup markets where vendors can sell their wares.”

On a late spring day, the light-filled room is set up to accommodate a flowerarranging workshop led by Silvia DadianSmith of Snapdragon Studio. It’s just one of many themed parties held at Roar, which also offers private offices, meeting rooms, a photography studio, and the aforementioned retail popup markets for creative types.

“We’re going to start by making a reusable and recyclable chicken wire base,” Dadian-Smith—who has teamed up with local artist and potter Marcelle Calder for the workshop—tells the class. The wire makes a better support than old-school florist’s foam for natural-looking flower arrangements. Dadian-Smith says her environmentalism extends to working with locally grown flowers whenever possible, many of them from Urban Buds, a city flower farm. Next, she guides the class through the basics: Decide how the arrangement will be seen—against a wall, or freestanding?

Choose flowers and greenery for their shape and color.

Examine the arrangement from multiple angles.

Stop adding flowers and greenery before the arrangement looks overdone.

“Don’t worry about copying what I’m doing,” adds Dadian-Smith. “Do what you like best.”

As the women mill about a table festooned with flowers, the sweet scent perfumes the air. Participants choose from a selection of frilled parrot and double

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STYLE FILE

High-Voltage Vintage Sucheta Bhide reworks furniture with a style of her own.

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Sucheta Bhide, owner of The Resplendent Crow, found a cloverleaf table at Big Bend Antique Gallery that was the perfect shape but was made of a dated, grainy wood that rendered it unattractive. Rather than pass on it altogether, Bhide was inspired by her passion for glossy color to lacquer it in a brilliant leafy green shade. The dramatic transformation thrilled Bhide and set her on a new path. Three years and hundreds of pieces of vintage furniture later, Bhide has perfected her process and honed her signature look: brightly colored high-gloss furniture adorned with statement hardware that packs a delightful visual punch. At her warehouse in University City, Bhide turns an unremarkable dresser into a high-end vintage piece that is sure to electrify any room in the house. —SYDNEY LOUGHRAN WOLF

CONNECT

The Resplendent Crow 6363 Olive Appointment only 314-255-3242 theresplendentcrow.com $975, including delivery

STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4

STEP 5

SCOUT FOR STYLE

PREP TO PERFECTION

THE POWER OF PAINT

GLOSSING OVER IT

PULL IT TOGETHER

Bhide spots this Hollywood Regency dresser at an estate sale and is attracted to the juxtaposition of its overall boxiness and the curves of the drawers. “It may look blah now, but it’s a really cool piece,” she says. Sturdy woodon-wood glides that keep drawers tracking straight signal that the piece is from the 1950s or ’60s and built to last.

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The dresser is sanded and scuffed, creating a rough surface that will allow the primer to stick. Bhide uses a power sander for large areas but does more detailed sections by hand. She uses Bondo wood filler to repair peeled veneer, and applies two coats of a polyester auto body primer. “Every inch has to be like glass,” she says.

Bhide envisions the dresser in a color like Benjamin Moore Twilight Magenta. She adds pigment to clear Mohawk lacquer, tinting it until it becomes an exact match to the magenta shade.

Next, she applies three to five layers, using a sprayer, to produce a high-gloss finish that’s devoid of texture. “A lacquer coating makes furniture so much more beautiful and durable. A glass of hot or cold water could be set on a table for days and it wouldn’t affect the finish,” she says.

Bhide loves bold oversized hardware as much as she does bright colors. Here, she chooses large floral medallion pulls with intricate carved details and paints them a shiny gold. “The bottom four drawers are substantial in size and can handle pulls that add interest.” The once nondescript dresser has been transformed into a striking piece.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

STEP 1

stlmag.com

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Highlands Living Room by Stickley

QUALITY AND STYLE, MADE I N AMERICA. Dau Furniture has a wide variety of quality furniture made in America. No matter what your style, we’ve got it!

www.metrolightingcenters.com

15424 MANCHESTER ROAD, ELLISVILLE, MO DauFurniture.com 636 394 3005

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

The City As Index Missouri History Museum archivist Dennis Northcott EVERY DAY, MISSOURI History Museum

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a talk,” he says. “One of the women who went searched our genealogy index for her address and found that one of the UE magazines had a picture of her home. She’d heard a story that there was a set of stone stairs leading to the back door, and she wanted to restore the house to the way that it had been—and sure enough, the photograph showed exactly that.” —STEFENE RUSSELL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER

associate archivist Dennis Northcott navigates an alternate version of St. Louis that spans centuries and decades. It exists in spidery notes on index cards that are neatly filed in the drawers of the card catalog, and in diaries, letters, yearbooks, and real estate listings. It also exists in copies of Budcaster, Anheuser-Busch’s employee magazine. And sometimes it lives in two places at once.

Ten years ago, Northcott saved a spreadsheet to his desktop and began indexing the stuff that wasn’t in the catalog. “I thought, this is kind of ridiculous that we’re putting cards in this catalog in the internet age,” he says.

Eventually the project mushroomed into the Genealogy and Local History Index (genealogy.mohistory.org). When one of those sources of information pops up, he and his volunteers often spend a year or more translating it into searchable digital information.

One volunteer entered every unique first and last name mentioned in MHM’s collection of Union Electric Magazine: approximately 40,000 first names and 40,000 last names.

“These employee magazines are just jampacked,” Northcott says.

Soon after the Index went online, Northcott realized that it wasn’t just attracting people looking for ancestors. People were researching the history of a house. “So then, whatever source we were indexing, whenever that source had a St. Louis city or county address, we were typing that into the address field. Now, if you’re researching your home or address, you can go to the address search and find some of these magazines, which say so-and-so lived at this address,” he says.

He shows the proof: a UE magazine bearing a two-page spread about the company’s Christmas lighting contest for emplyees, complete with names and home addresses.

As material is added, the Index becomes more useful. He’s currently adding information from the real estate sections of the Post-Dispatch and Globe-Democrat. When he’s browsing newspapers on microfilm and sees a home or a building, he keys in the address, the name of the buyer, and of the seller.

Northcott says one of the most coveted items is an old picture of a person’s house, but it’s often tough to find, which is why the employee magazines are so invaluable. But, he says, if you can find one, it can serve a purpose beyond the “Hey, that’s cool!” factor.

“Just recently, Richmond Heights was celebrating its centennial, so I was asked to give

On August 26, Northcott leads one of his twiceyearly House History Workshops. Registration is required. Call 314-361-9017, or visit mohistory.org stlmag.com

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REAL ESTATE, CONTRACTORS, ARCHITECTS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

Cooler than Coolaire

Making authentic art, says Alicia LaChance, is like “letting people step into your dreams.”

BY JEANNETTE COOPERMAN

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and use Q-tips or objects from the street or antique sign-painting tools.” How did she get the twigs so…twiggy? “I paint them with string. Once I didn’t have any brushes—I literally couldn’t afford them—so I ripped a piece of string off the back of the canvas and let gravity do the work. Now I use that to render a lot of botanicals.”

On the studio’s opposite end waits one of the largest flatbed lithographic presses in the country—“a first-edition Peter Marcus,” she bubbles. She rented an engine hoist and inveigled her sons’ help to move the 2-ton press to her studio, where she scrubbed away the rust.

“I always fascinate over old theater and wine posters,” she says.

“I love the idea of doing something of that old-world quality in a 21st-century design language.” She also wants to print work by artists represented at her Maplewood gallery, Hoffman LaChance Contemporary.

“They’re the real deal,” she says. “They’ll come and live in the gallery for a week,” prepping an exhibit. “You walk in and you can smell the sweat and the wet paint. It’s not as polished as other places, but it’s been a touchstone.”

LaChance has work hanging in Asia and Russia; she researched sacred geometry and created 15 huge mandala-esque paintings for a five-star hotel in Abu Dhabi. Lately she’s been painting luminous panels of color, trying to get the paint to behave in new ways, and “projecting light through different parabolic structures, trying to throw color without any canvas at all.” Her goal is to create works of art that—like a cool workspace—“are meant to be experienced, not possessed.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN A. ROBERTS

THE WHITE “COOLAIRE CO.” sign has faded into the redbrick, and the stern little square building on Hodiamont looks like a home for industrial ghosts. Then the gate swings open, and Alicia LaChance invites you in the back way—to a skylit, color-splashed studio. Walls of shelves hold paint cans, books, and a bright “boneyard” of mistakes she’ll rework.

LaChance learned years ago to free up, experiment, hold herself only to her own standards. Originally a fashion designer, she painted landscapes from old English auction catalogs, using art as a way to stay home with her daughter and twin sons. “That wasn’t really getting me anywhere,” she says, “although I loved painting them.”

So she loosened up, found her own, fresher language—and had an instant audience.

The turning point was a big canvas she’d work on in the studio “then strap it to the top of my car, take it home, put it on the living room floor, and study it. I was obsessed. When that painting was done, I felt like I had finally made something that was truly my own.”

Eight years ago, LaChance found this building. It’s owned by Pat and Carol Schuchard, who are reviving Bevo Mill, and it gives her even more room to play.

On one table is the brilliantly colored foundation of Walking City, commissioned by a client in London. “It’s a maximalist piece,” she explains. “I’ll wind up creating three paintings that read through each other.” At the moment it’s a patchwork of glimpsed nature and architectural texture, with flower blossoms exploding like firecrackers.

“I’ll use anything to make a mark,” she says, grinning. “I’ll freehand

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INSIDER

Downsizing Your Home Enlisting the help of a third party makes it easier to part ways with your possessions.

LOUISE HARRE HAS been organizing estate

sales and helping owners downsize for more than 40 years, but when she began to pare down her possessions for a move last year, the process proved challenging even for her.

Harre, who owns Always in Season Ltd., a St. Louis–based estate sale company, downsized from a 5,000-square-foot home on 2 acres in Frontenac to a Chesterfield condo of about 3,000 square feet. During the process, she repeated the same advice to herself that she’s been doling out for decades to clients: Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to seek help.

That help, however, shouldn’t always come from adult children or other family members. Sometimes a friend or a professional organizer can provide an extra pair of hands and an unbiased eye that makes the selling or tossing of items less fraught with emotion. For her own project, Harre asked a colleague for advice. The pair was successful in minimizing the number of things Harre would take with her to the new condo, she says, because the colleague approached the task as a professional obligation, not as a personal favor.

“Both of my children live in St. Louis and were helpful, but having that other person made it a lot easier,” she says.

According to a survey by the Demand Institute, Harre is among the 37 percent of older Americans who are planning a move at some point, 42 percent of them saying they’ll seek smaller spaces when they do.

Former homeowner Vera Emmons sought help from a moving company for large items but took charge of the bulk of the transition herself. She and her husband, Bill Emmons, sold their 1,600-square-foot West County house and decided to lease an apartment in the Central West End. With two bedrooms and a separate space for entertaining on the upper floor, the 2,200-square-foot city apartment feels comfortable and fits the couple’s needs now that their children are grown.

The pair love the walkability of their new neighborhood and stroll to coffeehouses, restaurants, and attractions in Forest Park.

Maintenance on their outdoor spaces has dropped to zero. The nearby MetroLink, which Bill uses to commute to his job at the Federal Reserve Bank, allowed the couple to drop to just one car.

“I tell people, ‘We didn’t downsize; we right-sized,” says Vera.

Nonetheless, the lifestyle change has come with some pitfalls. Vera, who volunteers at the Holocaust Museum & Learning Center,

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estimates that she spends more time in the car than before the move and contends with the traffic brought on by extensive construction on Forest Park Parkway. Also, rather than visiting one store for her groceries, she has to make multiple stops to buy what she needs.

Scoping out shopping destinations and other neighborhood amenities is just one adjustment to leaving a longtime home, so experts recommend being proactive.

“I think it’s important to give yourself time to prepare, because downsizing is an

emotional process, not just a lot of physical hard work,” says Suzanne Woodard, founder and owner of The Refind Room, which buys and sells vintage and contemporary furniture.

“Make a list of the things you don’t want, and the things you really love. Then, there are a huge amount of items that fall in the middle.”

For those, suggests Woodard, look to family, friends, charities, and consignment outlets.

“But don’t be offended if people don’t want your items. Furniture is so personal,” she says.

—CHARLENE OLDHAM

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RENOVATIONS | ADDITIONS | INTERIORS R e a l - L i f e D e s i g n s , H o l i s t i c S o l u t i o n s | r e f i n e b y u i c.c o m

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BLUEPRINT

Built for Living Home sites that offer owners all the luxuries of modern living

IN 2002, THE owner of a large parcel of property in Ladue

approached Kent Higginbotham of Higginbotham Bros. with the idea of selling his land together with that of his next-door neighbor for a greater profit; in turn, Higginbotham helped an investor develop six home sites on the property. The existing houses were torn down and the land resurveyed to yield a more fluid layout for the neighborhood. By 2003, four homeowners had submitted contracts for new home construction.

This Glencairn house took more than a year to build. The two Higginbothams and Bruce Korn, another co-owner of Higginbotham Bros., lent their expertise and experience to the project.

“The most challenging part was not going overboard with the three of us offering ideas,” says Higginbotham. “We were trying to stay on budget, but it probably has a lot more goodies than the price would indicate.” —CHELSIE HOLLIS

BY THE NUMBERS

3 Fireplaces

5,000 Square footage of the house

Car spaces in the garage

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Vaulted ceiling with stained wood beams

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Height of main floor doors, in feet

Bedroom suites on the second floor

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Full baths

ILLUSTRATION BY PETE SUCHESKI

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Half baths

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SOUTHERN H O S P I TA L I T Y Southern Spring Farm & Polo Club makes everyone part of the family.

BY JEANNETTE COOPERMAN

I

against plump pillows on her new Southern swing bed, smiling up at the blue ceiling of her front porch. And if this were a short story, everything would flow from that sentence. “People here don’t understand,” says Baisch, who grew up in Georgia, “that a front porch is more than a porch.”

DA BAISCH LEANS

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follows him around devotedly.

Campbell was named for a wizard horse trainer who mentored Ida, back when she was a young horse trainer and met Justin Baisch, a professional polo player. “I was smitten,” she admits. “I kept telling myself, ‘It’s just a guy on a horse.’”

Now Justin plays for fun and co-owns a commercial freight business, and Baisch runs Southern Spring Farm & Polo Club. Every summer, crowds gather to watch matches, and anyone’s welcome.

The Baisches used to live in Wildwood, but they really wanted a field, so Ida started taking the kids to the diners the farmers frequented, asking whether anything was for sale. Finally, she contacted a family that owned farmland in Eureka and asked about the parcel with that nice flat area at the bottom of the hill. They agreed to sell it.

“All of this was hayfields and soybeans,” she says.

First, the Baisches built the barn and moved the horses in. Then they started on the field, the polo arena, and the house.

It’s rustic in a polished way, and, in respite from the cheerful chaos of the barnyard, serene. “If you don’t have one ‘style,’ it either goes very badly or it’s very good,” she says, giving designer Emily Castle of Castle Design credit for reading her personality and taste so accurately. Above all, Baisch says, it had to be peaceful: “You want your home to be a sanctuary when the rest of the world is falling apart.”

Baisch, who grew up in an antebellum house,

brought pieces from her childhood. “Some things are just going to have to fit in.” An old tack chest doubles as a table; many of the chairs, she painted herself. Friends come over to watch football games on the patio. On quiet evenings, Baisch reads on the porch. She owns every Dick Francis book; a stack is on her desk in the office. Trophies and family pictures and antique metal bits hang on the wall, for which Castle found just the right paint shade: a deep blue-black-green that changes with the light, and warms the room instead of deadening it.

Farm life and the breeding and training of polo ponies aren’t easy work, but Baisch loves it. She grew up this way, and she wants the same life for her kids: a family in which everybody’s caring about the same things, too full of fresh air to get lost in a screen.

And when the girls are riding their ponies, and Justin’s playing one of the horses Baisch foaled and trained, and Blue is trotting after Campbell, and the donkey and the sheep are strolling the grounds… she knows that the work is worth it. No evil spirits can get a toehold.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN TROESSER

It’s the buffer between a busy day and domestic life. “I sit out here and drink my coffee,” she says.

“I read out here at the end of the day.” She hoists her 2-year-old son to her lap and says, mock-stern, “This was supposed to be my quiet spot. Yesterday there were two baby goats up here!”

The house sits atop a hill, so the long, deep front porch made grading a nightmare. “We couldn’t just have a nice back porch?” Justin Baisch asked.

“Absolutely not,” his wife replied. The rest of the design took its cues from that porch, and its ceiling had to be painted “haint blue,” which, in the Gullah tradition of Ida Baisch’s native Georgia’s lowlands, keeps spirits from entering the home. “I’m probably not that superstitious,” she says, “but my mother had a blue porch ceiling, and my grandmother had a blue porch ceiling…”

The swing, its mattress encased in burlap, overlooks a manicured vista: swaths of flat velvet green and rich corduroy brown; trees as round as they are in a children’s book; bubbling springs and a creek and a pond; a pasture with horses scattered.

In summer, 35 polo ponies fill the barn, welcomed by the family’s other horses, Charlotte the pig, an old sheep, a donkey, two border collies, a Great Pyrenees, a supposed barn cat that prefers to sip from the powder room commode, and the aforementioned baby goats. The black-and-white one, Blue, comes to the front porch each morning and bleats for the Baisches’ toddler, Campbell, then J U L - AU G 2 0 17

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“YOU WANT YOUR HOME TO BE A SANCTUARY WHEN THE REST OF THE WORLD I S F A L L I N G A P A R T .”

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My grandfather helped engineer and build portable bridges for the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. In 1947 he used this incomparable experience to start his own business. My dad followed in his footsteps, and I have been doing it my whole life. When you choose John Beal Roofing to do your project, you are choosing a company with over 60 years of pride and tradition. You have my personal guarantee that we will treat you fairly and honestly. And, as always, I promise you the very best job for your money.

A live person answers our phones 24/7. When you call, we will answer. We will respond to any emergency within 24 hours. We will schedule an appointment when we receive your call, we will show up on time, and we will stay until the job is completed.

AS SEEN IN

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Call 1.800.NEW.ROOF or visit www.JohnBealRoofing.com

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K I T C H E N S

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BY

CHELSIE HOLLIS, SARAH KLOEPPLE, CJ LOTZ, VERONICA THEODORO AND SYDNEY LOUGHRAN WOLF PHOTOGRAPHY BY

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B A T H S

ALISE O’BRIEN

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KITCHENS

BEFORE & AFTER Homeowners, designers, and architects share inspiring stories of transformation.

BY CJ LOTZ

A REALIZED PRIZE

The Challenge / When the owners purchased their Clayton house, they quickly built an addition, and then…well…life got in the way.

“Friends would ask, ‘Is your kitchen done yet?’” recalls one of the homeowners.

The Resolution / After years of putting the project on hold, the homeowners decided that the time was finally right to build that kitchen.

“We had windows and plumbing in place, but otherwise we started from square one,” says Mary Ellen Going, then with Karr Bick Kitchen & Bath. A classic black-and-white palette emerged as a balance to the bright colors and artwork found throughout the rest of the home. “We looked at her dreams and cherry-picked the best,” says Going. The team installed cabinets by Mouser Cabinetry in ebony, a shade that Going says works best when there’s plenty of natural light, and crisp quartz countertops to complete the look.

The Homeowner’s Take / One word: relief.

The owners had used a “temporary” kitchen from December 2003–December 2016.

“Crazy, right?” one of them says. “I hosted many parties out of that silly little kitchen,” says the wife. “No one ever left hungry, just confused.” The owner says she’s glad she splurged on a few appliances, most notably a trash compactor, an oven with a swing door, and a prep sink in addition to the main sink.

CLASSIC TO CONTEMPORARY

The Challenge / Most people would be satisfied to call Dawn Sturmon’s “before” pictures their “after” pictures. But none of that fussiness matched the lifestyle of her fun-loving family. With family arriving from around the country last summer, the challenge was to get the job done, fast! “Fifteen house guests and a kitchen construction project wouldn’t do,” says Sturmon.

The Homeowner’s Take / Sturmon pulled off that fête for 15 and credits the right team and a commitment to staying on schedule as paramount. “The planning time took longer than the actual construction,” says Sturmon, who acted as a general contractor. “After all the heavy lifting was complete, I had a blast layering on the pieces, like the hand-painted ceramic tiles,” she says. “I love that synthesis of traditional and edgy. To me, that’s where the magic happens.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALISE O’BRIEN

The Resolution / “Most people worry that they’ll be out of a kitchen for months when they do a project like this,” she says, “but if you have your ducks in a row and know what you want, it’s easy-breezy.” The redesign took just 28 days. Sturmon traded opulent for sleek and practical: quartz instead of granite countertops and floating shelves in place of heavy cabinetry. She called the original cabinetmaker, Jerry’s Quality Woodworking in St. Clair, to take back the burled walnut and redesign cabinet fronts in reclaimed Missouri fir. Sturmon’s friend and design guru, Marci Marsh, recommended that they whitewash a sandstone wall to create a natural stone texture. Sturmon used black-and-white cement Clé tile behind the range and hand-painted “Deco Flower Green” tiles from Australian artisans Bonnie and Neil behind the floating shelves.

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B A T H S

COUNTRY CHIC

The Challenge / Interiors dating to the 1960s were still in place when homeowner Martha Stiehl decided to move back into her childhood home outside Salem, Illinois, an hour and a half drive from St. Louis. The kitchen, which lacked good lighting to begin with, was also relegated to the back of the house, adding to its secluded air. Stiehl dreamed of a kitchen with more natural light and low-maintenance finishes, plus a design that imparted coziness without veering too far into the direction of what she calls “country cottage cuteness.”

The Resolution / Designer Julie Abner is based in St. Louis but grew up in Salem. She combined her small-town know-how and bigcity contacts to design the kitchen space. The team started by moving the original kitchen from the back of the house to the former dining room. “The dining room had a better relationship with the rest of the house and provided enough space for island seating,” says Abner. Architect Thad Heckman and cabinet designer Jim Howard of Alspaugh Kitchen & Bath created a ceiling design that hides the HVAC system.

The Homeowner’s Take / “I can see from the front of the house to the back, and there’s a lot of natural light,” says Stiehl. She loves the blue-and-white palette, from the patterned tile on the floor to the Dutch-inspired handpainted tiles on the backsplash.

COTTAGE COZY

The Challenge / A former hunting lodge featured a Frankenstein-esque set of additions that positioned the kitchen a step down from the main living area. Three doors chopped it up into several sections, and there was no flow. Architect Susan Bower of Mitchell Wall Architecture & Design noticed another funny thing, “A former owner had painted the illusion of an open window above the sink, as well as a coat rack on another wall,” she says.

“We felt like this told us, ‘You need a kitchen window and you need a mudroom.’”

The Resolution / Bower swapped the kitchen for the living room and took the old space and converted it into a mudroom and butler’s pantry. An AGA range is a refined nod to the space’s history. Subway tile and white cabinetry brighten the room; natural light pours in.

The Homeowner’s Take / The owner wanted a kitchen for gatherings, and that’s what she got. With so much light pouring in, window painting gimmicks are no longer necessary. stlmag.com

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B AT H R O O M S

BEFORE & AFTER Bathrooms look better and function more efficiently with advice from designers and architects.

BY SYDNEY LOUGHRAN WOLF

RECLAIMED SPACE

The Challenge / At 110 square feet, “the awkward, impractical layout limited the room’s functionality,” says Refine by UIC president Paige McClellan. “The tub and the vanity had been placed at 45-degree angles, creating a narrow diagonal pathway. The toilet was in the center of the room, and the shower was tucked into a small space at the back.”

The Homeowner’s Take / Owner Katie Manga loves the space for its improved flow and functionality, and for its new aesthetic. “Now, the bathroom ties in beautifully to the rest of the home but is still a standout,” she says.

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The Challenge / In the 30 years that the owners have lived in the home, they’d learned to work around the idiosyncracies of the master bathroom: its small size, its pink corner tub and limited storage space. “They were happy with the original light-color wood finish on the doors upstairs and wanted to work that color into the bathroom cabinetry,” says Susan Bower, an architect with Mitchell Wall Architecture and Design.

The Resolution / The bathroom tripled in size, from 77 to 269 square feet. Cabinets built

by McMillan Construction Group now match the home’s original wood and stain. The tops of the upper cabinets and mirrors and the tile line up with the tops of the windows, whose sills determined the height of the backsplash.

The lower cabinets float in a plane above the baseboard heaters. “The care that was taken with various alignments at various levels is one of the most important elements of the room,” says Bower. A Volcanic Limestone– resin tub and matching sinks are eye-catching.

An artistic waterfall-like tile wall behind the tub echoes an inset ledge made of the same tile that wraps around the walk-in shower.

The Homeowner’s Take / “I’ve gone from an outdated traditional bathroom with virtually no storage to a spacious room that feels calm and looks uncluttered,” says the owner.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALISE O’BRIEN

The Resolution / “Our focus was to maximize the space and not necessarily encourage the client to take on a larger footprint,” she says. A standard-size bath and glass-wall shower, tiled in a translucent white glass mini-brick, were installed where the old tub once stood. A tankless toilet sits in the space that the old shower once occupied, and a pocket door adds privacy. A paisley Schumacher wallpaper hangs above a double-basin Caesarstone countertop with a backsplash and wall-mounted chrome fixtures.

SERENE ESCAPE

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B A T H S

BLACK AND LIGHT

The Challenge / The homeowner was relocating to St. Louis and had purchased a Beaux Arts mansion built in 1911. Last updated 20 years ago, it needed a sweeping renovation. The homeowner, a selfdescribed Modernist, hired Jimmy Jamieson of Jamieson Design as the project’s architect and designer. “I wanted someone who was a scholar as much as a designer, who could help me do this home in a historically appropriate yet modern manner,” says the owner. Beyond this mandate, the owner did request one specific feature for the master bathroom, in particular: black-lacquered walls.

The Resolution / The bathroom more than doubled in size, from 126 to 312 square feet. The walls were plastered, treated with applied molding, and brushed with 14 coats of black lacquer, a process that took three months to complete. “With every coat, the lacquer gains depth and becomes more translucent,” says Jamieson. “In low light, color recedes and the black walls start to act as mirrors.” To create flow and balance, Jamieson placed a vanity at either end of the room, near the two doors, and positioned the toilet compartment in the center to serve as the room’s axis. As a means of ensuring both privacy and light transference, the doors to the toilet room and the walk-in shower are made of sandblasted glass. The classical borders of the doors are repeated in the pattern of the bold black-and-white floor, made of alternating veined marble tiles. A freestanding tub sits atop a black marble pedestal in an alcove with a television concealed in the wall.

The Homeowner’s Take / The room is quiet, masculine and modern, with bespoke black-and-white materials befitting the historic mansion.

“It’s a private retreat,” says the owner. “I can spend the entire morning having a bath, watching the news, and drinking a cup of coffee.”

RHAPSODY IN BLUE

The Challenge / In the first-floor powder room, the owner wanted to incorporate a ceramic tile from The Winchester Tile Company, which reminded her of the homes she’d long admired while living in Zurich, and imbue a palette of blue and white. “Not every client is open to such a fun pattern,” says Julie Abner of Julie Abner Interiors. “It was a real treat to work with someone who wanted to push the boundaries.”

The Resolution / Abner began by setting the multihued blue tiles in a repeat pattern around the room and carrying that pattern down to the wainscoting. To frame the tiles, she selected a brilliant solid ocean blue tile beneath the patterned tiles and on the chair rail. Wallpaper from Sanderson and a Cowtan & Tout–fabric window treatment with a beaded drop fringe complement the room’s patterns. The designer selected sconces from Schonbek and the client’s own oval French mirror. The space is anchored by a burled English walnut cabinet and a quartz countertop softened with a decorative ogee edge.

The Homeowner’s Take / The room has a special energy, thanks to the textural blue tile, the graceful upswing of the wallpaper and valance, and the burl of the wood. Best of all, says the owner, “the tile evokes happy memories of my time in Europe.” stlmag.com

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WATER PURIFIERS 101 Options for every kitchen style

BY SARAH KLOEPPLE

Increased interest in water filters for the home isn’t surprising in light of both news about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which was first reported in 2014, and the uncertain future of the Environmental Protection Agency under the new administration.

When water is contaminated— in a main break or by aged infrastructure—those without filters turn to boil orders. These are issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to notify those in the affected area that they need to boil their drinking water for a specified amount of time. Some of the main reasons for boil orders are fecal coliform or Escherichia coli bacterial contamination, low water pressure, and an inadequate level of chlorine.

“We’re seeing more people aware of it,” says Paul Reigelsberger, general manager of Immerse Plumbing Studio in Brentwood.

Although the Missouri DNR maintains that the city and Missouri American Water have “excellent” histories of complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act, associates at Immerse say they’ve noticed increased interest in purifiers.

“Even though St. Louis water tastes good, we’ve seen more things in the news lately, like, ‘You should boil your water in Fenton this week,’” says Adrienne Nienkamp, a sales consultant at Immerse, “so we now get more questions about it.”

Immerse associates provided details on three models:

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P O I N T- O F-U S E F I LT E R

This small faucet located off to the side of a kitchen’s main faucet—sort of like an extra appliance—provides a smaller stream at a lower pressure (meant for things like a cup of tea), allowing the system to remove more contaminants. The Water Dispenser by Dornbracht is available at Immerse. The contemporary design’s single control lever instantly produces filtered hot or cold water, depending on how it’s tilted.

UNDERSINK F I LT E R

Such models are installed in the plumbing under your sink, so they’re practically invisible, and filter all of the water that flows through your kitchen faucet. “It makes more and more sense for people who want to eat organic [to be able to] wash all of their vegetables in filtered water,” Nienkamp says. Immerse associates recommend the model from Water Inc. SHOWER HEAD F I LT E R

For people who are worried about ruining their hair color or who may be sensitive to shower water contamination (e.g. after undergoing cancer treatment), Nienkamp recommends the shower head filter. This filter is attached to the end of a shower arm, and the shower head is attached to the filter. “A lot gets absorbed through our skin, more than we realize,” says Nienkamp.

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B A T H S

To Do, or Not to Do?

Renovating a kitchen? Updating a bathroom? Two views on what to budget for and when to say no.

IN THE KITCHEN K1. Pot Filler

KENNETH HENRY

KATY THOMAS

DESIGNER,

HOMEOWNER AND VETERAN OF FIVE

ALSPAUGH KITCHEN & BATH

K 1 : “It’s more of a decorative item than it is a function.

They’re not as popular as they once were—probably because you still have to take the pot off the stove to empty it.”

K 2 : “An air switch is about an 1 ½-inch to 2-inch hole in a countertop with a button in the center that turns your disposal on and off. It is so convenient. If the sink is in front of a big window, you don’t have to take a couple steps over to turn the switch on—it’s right there next to the faucet in the countertop. We’re doing quite a lot of them for the island.”

K 3 : “There is a benefit—if you’re a chef and have a lot of small dishes and containers as you prepare a meal, then you can wash all those things at the same time, versus if you’re a one-pot cook. With most of my clients I have them bring in their largest dish, especially if they’re getting a three-racker, to make sure it’s going to fit in there.”

K 4 : “If customers have the space for a double oven in their kitchen, it’s definitely preferred over a single oven. The advantage for that is resale.”

K 5 : “My first choice is to a natural stone. However, I always make sure that the customer knows the downfalls of using a natural stone. A lot of people want a white marble countertop, but anything acidic is going to etch and take the shine off the surface, even with a good sealer on it. If it doesn’t fit their family’s needs, then look at the quartz product.”

B 1 : “I rarely do these. It’s a nice add-on feature, but I can’t say it’s first on the list with customers. With what bathrooms cost, it’s not a necessary option that people are choosing.”

B 2 : “We’re seeing more toilets with bidet seats, not specifically bidets, because unless the bathroom is new construction and somebody provided the extra space for a bidet, you usually can’t fit it. Actually, the toilets with bidet seats on them are better anyway, because they offer a heated seat and blowdry—you can’t have that on a bidet by itself.”

B 3 : “It’s almost in every shower that I do, and it works well for multi-height bathers. Probably the biggest reason I recommend that we put them in is for cleaning the shower.”

B 4 : “With the low-voltage system, it’s not something you turn on before you go to the bathroom and expect the floor to heat up. It takes basically a day before it warms the whole floor, though people turn those on for the season. It just knocks the chill off a natural tile or any type of tile floor.”

B 5 : “It’s an added convenience that, due to budget, can be eliminated. Not only do you need to buy a separate steam unit, you also need to have a drain, make sure there’s a seat in the shower; the ceiling needs to be angled... There are many related costs.”

B 6 : “I’m not doing as much natural stone tiles because of cleaning and maintenance. We’re doing more porcelain tiles that look like stone. You have to reseal the natural stone. You don’t have to worry about that with porcelain product.”

K2. Air Switch

K3. Three-rack Dishwasher

K4. Double Oven

K5. Natural Stone

IN THE BATH B1. Towel Warmer

B2. Bidet

B3. Handheld Shower

B4. Heated Floors

B5. Steam Shower

B6. Natural Stone

KITCHEN AND NINE BATH REMODELS

K 1 : “If you’re considering a full-slab backsplash, cutting a hole into a piece of material that’s that beautiful just doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t have a problem filling a pot and bringing it to the stove.”

K 2 : “It seems like a great idea from a safety perspective, but it also works because it’s not breaking up that backsplash with another switch. Especially with an island, where would you put that switch? You don’t want it behind you.”

K 3 : “The third rack for the dishwasher is a great invention.

My husband gets upset when I put tall spoons in the utensil caddy and they catch the upper rack. If you’re upgrading your dishwasher, I highly recommend it.”

K 4 : “We cook all the time for crowds, so I find myself not only using two ovens but sometimes using the third. Even if I rarely cooked, I’d probably consider double ovens for resale value. If you do have the space, put in a wall-mounted double oven, because not only are they easier to access and pull food in and out, they have more space.”

K 5 : “We’ve lived in older homes, so we’re fans of using natural stone, including marble, which everyone seems afraid of.

I worried about staining, but that proved to be a non-issue.

We used Vermont Danby marble, which is what they use most often on the national monuments. I figured if it can last outdoors, it can last in my house. What did happen was the etching, but I viewed that as a patina. It can also chip easily, especially with the popular squared edge.

B 1 : “If you have the wall space, go for it; if not, it’s not a [must-have]. If you live in an older home and you have a radiator in there, it works great as a towel warmer when you place a nice piece of marble on top of it.”

B 2 : “I recommend that if you do choose a bidet seat, keep it to your master bath, not in your guest bathrooms, where people might be confused and end up having a gushing fountain all over your bathroom.”

B 3 : “I love it for children, as well as for cleaning the showers.

I feel strongly about rainfall shower heads: Use them first before you decide that’s your only source of water.”

B 4 : “If you can do them, it just makes a world of difference.”

B 5 : “It’s our plan on our next master bath. I know that you have to plan out your space and get it so that it’s enclosed.

You’re trying to minimize the air so you can create that level of steam and it’s not escaping, which can be a challenge.”

B 6 : “We’ve done marble floors and walls and have had no problems. In a small guest bath, treat it like a jewelbox, because the tile can be impressive. In a master there’s no staining, and I haven’t encountered any etching, so it’s not the same as a kitchen. The only thing to consider: Since they’re not all rectified tiles, they can have pressed edges where they’re raised. It can make sweeping difficult, because each tile is slightly irregular.” –Interviews by Chelsie Hollis stlmag.com

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#themillennialkitchen

A generation raised on the internet seeks authenticity in design.

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“Most of the people I know want a project,” he says. “They want a place that they can put something into and make it their own.”

Right now, millennials constitute the largest percentage of the population, and their numbers put them on track to surpass the buying power of previous generations, says Kellee Hollenback Hammond, vice president of sales and marketing for Littman Brands, who studies spending and buying habits. The fact that they’re also the first generation to come of age with the internet makes theirs an important one to watch for emerging trends.

“For millennials, the experience of purchasing a product is very important to them,” she says. “They want to feel proud to be associated with you. They’re a loyal group,” she adds, “but to earn their loyalty, you need to hit them emotionally.”

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BROOKSBERRY & ASSOCIATES / ALISE O’BRIEN

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hen Melanie Bernds and her fiancée, Scott Smith, bought their first home last year, they saw their dreams unfolding in the kitchen of the charming 1940s brick ranch in St. Louis Hills.

Despite some of the home’s idiosyncrasies, such as the teapot-motif tile that dots the kitchen walls and the flamingo-themed mural that’s sprawled across a bathroom wall, Bernds and Smith—31 and 30, respectively— didn’t shy away from buying it.

“We consider these our secret gems,” says Bernds, who works in public relations for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

Lucas Delort, 26, recently purchased his first house as well. A passion for historical architecture drew him to the 1912 Gravois Park fixer-upper. The Craftsman-style house required a new kitchen, says Delort, and updates to the bathrooms.

Delort, who loves to cook and bake, says he allotted most of his budget to gutting the kitchen, adding a peninsula, and splurging on appliances. To offset those costs, he built his own kitchen cabinets and trawled the web for alternatives to granite and marble countertops.

After some research, including watching online videos about how to pour concrete, he decided to build his own concrete countertops.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is something I can do myself.’ It was stressful,” he says, “but it’s a unique look.”

Millennials were brought up to believe that they can be anything they want by parents who truly believe that, says Hammond. Their upbringing under the watchful eyes of Baby Boomer parents taught millennials to place a premium on customer service.

When an internet service provider was working in her home recently, Bernds told the company that she didn’t want any drilling into the hardwood floors.

“Millennials are service-minded. We’ll pay for what we want,” she says, “or we’ll find someone to accommodate us.”

Companies are taking notice of millennials.

Recently brooksBerry & Associates Kitchens and Baths began offering a line of quality cabinets at midrange prices. That line, by the manufacturer Schrock, is priced 30 to 40 percent lower than brooksBerry’s more customizable high-end Rutt and Touchstone lines.

“We see a need to reach out to millennials,” says brooksBerry’s Amy Herman, a senior designer.

“They’re on trend to outspend previous generations in kitchen and bath remodeling,” she says. “Some haven’t bounced back from the recession, but others are buying their first homes, settling down, and starting a family.”

In addition to being less expensive, brooksBerry’s new line ships faster, a bonus for millennials accustomed to the convenience of having items delivered to their homes. Aesthetically, the line features a contemporary look. “In this sense, it helps us to compete with places like IKEA,” says Herman.

On a spring day, Alex Sprigg, 24, and her fiancée, Chris Basile, 27, were preparing to meet with their builder to select fixtures for their new home, part of a development in Maryland Heights called the Manors at Maryland Oaks.

The couple decided to purchase a new build rather than renovate because they didn’t want the uncertainty of unexpected expenses. “So much can come up in an old house,” says Sprigg, the director of human resources for the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership.

“I feel like we’re the opposite of our millennial friends,” says Sprigg. “A lot of them want to fix up a house, renovate something, but I’m not interested in that. I’m rare. I see my parents’ values in there. I definitely want less risk.” —V.T. stlmag.com

5/30/17 3:33 PM

HOME WARES & DESIGN STUDIO LITTLEBLACKDOORDESIGNS.COM 545 W. WOODBINE AVE., KIRKWOOD 63122 @LITTLEBLACKDOOR

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C R EAT I V E VISION

After a multiphase renovation, the Pearsons live out their dreams at home.

BY

PAT EBY PHOTOGRAPHY BY

ALISE O’BRIEN stlmag.com

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M

aggie Pearson knew the moment she walked into the grand Victorian on Maryland Avenue that she was meant to live there. The house, she says, felt right for her family; the fact that her sister lives across the street made the connection all the more compelling.

But it would take close to two years of home renovations before Pearson and her family would feel truly settled. Undeterred by the challenges of updating a house built in 1888, Pearson and her husband, Alex Pearson, devised a three-phase plan that began with the basics and ended with the décor, which Pearson, an artist and graphic designer, spearheaded.

But before any of the decorating could be started, the foundation needed some love. “The

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house sloped so much on the northeast side that our crazy leaning doorways looked like a Surrealist painting,” Pearson says, recalling how workers used a hydraulic lift to set steel beams and rebuild the foundation on site.

In addition, the plumbing needed updating and the narrow-board floors required replacement with wider, more substantial hardwood. Central air was installed, and the couple began work on the backyard, with Pearson focused on the design of a formal English-style garden with boxwoods and an evergreen hedge, punctuated by peonies, iris, astilbe and hydrangeas.

Alex Pearson, who works in IT, designed and installed an irrigation system “to keep our plants alive,” Pearson says.

By month 18, as the couple was reclaiming the house and coaxing the garden to life, the first phase had come alive. The next phase called for the addition of a covered porch to the back of the house and a lighting plan that

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called for the placement of can lights in dark corners and the lowering of existing chandeliers to bring more sparkle to the rooms. “We worked out a layered plan to make the house glow,” Pearson says.

The couple also replaced woodwork and added paneled walls and crown moldings. “Good woodwork and trim puts a ribbon on a room,” Pearson says.

“It wasn’t so much a restoration of a Victorian home with heavy woodwork, Victorian velvet drapes, and massive furniture but more a reimagining of the house for our family.”

During part of the renovation, the Pearsons lived in the house with their son, Jack, who was 3 at the time; Pearson was expecting their second child, Auggie. “It taxes your nerves,” she says. “At the start, Alex and I would stop by the house with Jack; he would refer to our new home as ‘the dirty house,’ much to the delight of our neighbors, who still remember that.”

In time, the basics took hold and Pearson could start working on the fun stuff, using her artistic talents to tackle the interiors. “I approached the design with what we could afford in mind. I see my house as the home version of the prom dress you sewed yourself,” she says.

Out of necessity, she focused first on the kitchen. “It’s where we have breakfast, where homework gets done, where we debrief—it’s the center of our home,” Pearson says.

She selected glass-front upper cabinets to display a collection of muchloved family mementos and everyday objects. “The cans, the cookbooks, the glassware and dishes—to me, they’re a still life, a snapshot of who we

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are.” Vintage pots made of American cast iron hang near English Georgian copper pots given to her by her husband’s family.

Because the budget ruled, Pearson got creative. She understood, for instance, that the chunky mantel in the living room needed a statement mirror for balance, but those cost a bundle, so she hired a glass company to cut a flat mirror to her measurements: “I rummaged around Fellenz Antiques for vintage millwork and carved pieces, assembled them into a frame, and gold-leafed over it. My brother-in-law and I glued the mirror together.”

Pearson added built-in bookcases for display and storage and used strong graphic elements—such as a chevron flat-weave rug made from several smaller rugs that she purchased online and serged together—to make the room pop. She also sewed the floor-to-ceiling curtains.

To nurture Jack’s inner artist, Pearson painted a giant chalkboard wall in his bedroom. “Sometimes Jack imagines he’s Ebenezer Scrooge, as in the George C. Scott rendition, and pulls the curtains [around his bed] closed,” she says.

Pearson views her house as a story in progress, one that will serve her family throughout the many phases yet to come.

“Right now, we call Auggie ‘the 5-year-old hurricane,’ and Jack?

He’s the classic first-born, a responsible child,” Pearson says. “The boys will grow; our house will develop and change with us.”

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Laura Lee HOM E

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Twin

Oaks The magical cottage of one woman’s imagination.

BY

VERONICA THEODORO PHOTOGRAPHY BY

ALISE O’BRIEN

stlmag.com

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S

usan Emerson doesn’t like to waste much of anything: her time, her talent, or her money.

There was a phase in her life, she says, when she made everything that she owned, from her swimsuits to her winter coats. Even now, she feels the same way about paying full price for the pair of Céline flats she favors as she does a sofa or a chair.

To visit Emerson’s 1930s cottage, named after the pair of oak trees that once shaded the front yard, is to bear witness to her creativity. She styled the interiors of the brick house with furnishings and decorative objects purchased mostly from estate sales, outlets, and resale shops.

“I like to repurpose things,” says Emerson, 65, who volunteers at Miriam Switching Post, pricing inventory. “I’m a big believer in recycling. I would rather buy something used and breathe new life into it.”

Emerson’s inventiveness, and her ability to give gently used items new life, is apparent throughout the house. “You won’t walk in here and think, ‘Oh, Susan’s been to Restoration Hardware!’” she says. She loves antique bottles, which she repurposes to hold mouthwash, and anything related to the garden and the outdoors, such as her collection of walking sticks and cabbage leaf–pattern dishes. She

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has a knack for spotting rare furniture, including the original Vicente Wolf sleigh bed that she saw at the Henredon outlet but hesitated to buy. “One year later, it was advertised in the classified section of the newspaper, and I knew it was the same bed. I bought it from the owner, who had never used it.” The bench in the home’s entry, upholstered in a turquoise-andwhite–checked silk, was another great find. “It was a COM [customer’s own material], but for whatever reason it was never picked up, so it went to the outlet,” she says. More recently, Emerson was at a resale shop when she found an accent chair whose lines and deep seat she liked. She had it slipcovered in a white Ralph Lauren fabric from Anatol’s and placed it under the skylights in her sunroom.

“I prefer to spend less money rather than more money,” she says, “and I think the reason why people get so stuck, whether it’s decorating their home or buying for their own closet, is that they’re afraid of making a mistake. Mistakes are expensive, and you have to look at them and live with them.”

Almost 20 years ago, Emerson and her husband, Larry, an advertising executive who now works as a professional photographer, decided to

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY L ARRY EMERSON

downsize from a large Ladue house and purchase the 2,500-squarefoot cottage, located just a few miles away. The house was missing a garage, which Emerson began to work on soon after moving in, and she spent hours thinking about the garden and researching the work of its original designer, Harriet Rhodes Bakewell, who was a previous owner and spent her final years in the house. (Bakewell was the daughter of George T. Moore, the second director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and grew up on the grounds of the Garden. She was also the first woman to earn a landscape architecture degree from Washington University.)

“Bakewell was very purposeful in everything she did,” says Emerson.

“She was ahead of her time in the way that she laid out the garden. This was the early ’80s. There are waterfalls and reflecting pools, which are common now, but they weren’t back then.”

Over the years, Emerson has remained true to Bakewell’s vision.

“There’s a micro-climate out there,” says Emerson, adding that she and Bakewell encountered some of the same challenges. “What I’ve learned as a gardener is, if it doesn’t work, don’t force it.” She finally hit on a plan with gravel, flagstone, and ajuga that seems to thrive in wet and sunny conditions. There’s a Japanese maple tree, five difference kinds of Magnolia trees, Wisteria, and plenty of herbs—chives, thyme, fennel, and rosemary—to add as much flavor as possible into the couple’s favorite quinoa dish. The garden has been designated a Garden of Merit by the Smithsonian Institution and is in its permanent archives.

As is the case with many homes with gardens as a centerpiece, the property’s greenhouse/potting shed offers another window into Emerson’s world: There’s the collection of birdhouses built by her father; hawk feathers rescued from the yard and mounted on the wall as art; birch branches dried in the sun…

At this cottage, the collection of perfectly imperfect finds goes on and on.

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The Abbey features custom furniture made by local craftsman using architectural salvage and reclaimed wood. And, for the first time ever, it is on sale.

Throughout the entire month of June, get 30% off select floor pieces so that we can make room for more one-of-a-kind Abbey finds for you!

10090 Manche ster Road • Glendale, Missouri 31 4.965.1 400

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

KITCHEN & BATH RESOURCE GUIDE Arguably the most highly used rooms of any home, the kitchen and bathroom(s) also are high on the list of areas that buyers scrutinize during their home searches. So whether you’re looking to sell in the near future or just want a better space for yourself, it pays to upgrade. Here is a list of quality businesses that can help you get the job done.

APPLIANCES AUTCOhome

Metro Lighting

AUTCOhome provides you with an intimate experience when selecting new or replacement appliances for your home and lifestyle. Their sales staff pride themselves on being some of the most experienced and knowledgeable in the industry. Whether you are looking for a complete high-end luxury kitchen or to replace a cooktop, they can help.

314-473-3050 (Westport), 636-349-4946 (Fenton), 636-244-3844 (O’Fallon) | autcohome.com

In business since 1967, Metro Lighting offers an unbeatable selection of lighting, ceiling fans, home furnishings and accessories at six family-operated lighting centers throughout St. Louis. Metro Lighting is committed to being environmentally friendly, and customers can find in their inventory a number of ENERGY STAR products, the latest in LED and other energy-saving devices.

314-963-8330 | metrolightingcenters.com

CABINETRY

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LIGHTING

ORGANIZATION

Beck/Allen Cabinetry

Saint Louis Closet Co.

Beck/Allen Cabinetry has served homeowners, builders, architects and interior designers for over 20 years. They’ve been recipients of numerous design awards and the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for exceptional customer service. Beck/Allen Cabinetry has showrooms in Chesterfield and at the Interior Design Center of St. Louis.

636-519-1611 (Chesterfield), 314-677-6713 (Interior Design Center) beckallencabinetry.com

Saint Louis Closet Co. provides customized shelving and accessories for pantries, with free estimates. Purchasing in bulk is much easier when the space in your pantry is outfitted for proper storage. With a system made specifically for your pantry, things like food, paper goods and even excess dishes and appliances can be neatly stowed away but still within reach.

314-781-9000 | stlouisclosetco.com

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

DESIGN SERVICES

PLUMBING FIXTURES

Alspaugh Kitchen & Bath

Premier Plumbing Studio

Alspaugh Kitchen & Bath is the premier design firm in the greater St. Louis area, with a reputation for outstanding service that spans six decades. Alspaugh’s mission is to provide unsurpassed design, the best products in the industry, quality service and expert installation to exceed customers’ expectations.

314-993-6644 | glenalspaughkitchens.com

A division of Wholesale Plumbing Supply Company, Premier Plumbing Studio gives consumers a chance to experience the finest fixtures from a variety of top brands, including Kohler. Showroom coordinators are available to guide visitors through 6,000 square feet of working displays and demonstrations, so you’ll be able to experience and observe products prior to purchasing them.

314-872-9339 | premierplumbingstudio.com

brooksBerry & Associates Kitchens and Baths Since 1994, brooksBerry & Associates has been creating beautiful and individualized spaces using the highest quality materials and fine craftsmanship. By leveraging over 40 years of experience and using the best custom cabinetry designs, the expert team at brooksBerry & Associates is able to deliver superior and unique kitchen designs to its clients.

314-872-7720 | brooksberry.com

Detailed Designs, etc.

Detailed Designs, etc. creates personalized kitchens, baths and basements for clients, focusing on lifestyle, goals and budget. Beyond designs, Detailed Designs also selects and provides perfect products for each project. Their 29 years of experience will guide you through tough decisions, and their commitment until project completion allows peace of mind.

636-220-6445 | detaileddesignsbydenise.com

Karr Bick Kitchen and Bath Karr Bick Kitchen and Bath’s promise is to create nothing ordinary with your space, style and budget. They help to find your inspiration and then create spaces you don’t want to leave. Karr Bick designs and installs each project—giving you peace of mind from start to finish.

314-645-6545 | karrbick.com

Signature Kitchen & Bath For over 35 years, homeowners have trusted Signature Kitchen & Bath to bring their dream spaces to life. A team of experienced designers and licensed contractors works with clients from concept to completion on spaces of all sizes. Three area showroom locations provide a firsthand look at Signature’s wide selection of kitchen and bathroom products.

636-230-6400 (West County), 636-720-0451 (Rock Hill), 636-926-2414 (St. Peters) | signaturekb.com

FLOORING & COUNTERTOPS Cosentino Group Cosentino Group is a global, Spanish, family-owned company that produces and distributes high-value innovative surfaces for the world of design and architecture. The company has pioneered leading brands, such as Silestone® quartz surfaces, Dekton® ultracompact surfaces and Sensa by Cosentino® protected natural stone—all technologically advanced surfaces for creating spaces and unique designs.

Available at retailers across St. Louis 281-732-7938 | cosentino.com

St. Louis Tile Company St. Louis Tile Company offers a beautiful showroom and a large selection of tile and hardwood. Their knowledgeable staff can help you reach your design dreams, and their local warehouse means that you can achieve those dreams faster. Most tile can be picked up the next day!

636-220-3550 | stlouistileco.com

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GATHERI NGS

PRAIRIE LANDS Megan and Brian Clinton throw a party at their Wright City property.

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HOTS RING OUT across a glassy lake and clay pigeons shatter, echoing from the range to the house. As some guests, clad in galoshes and jeans, aim shotguns over old prairie lands, others look on, nibbling at cheeses, pâté de campagne, and pickle chips. All the while, Megan Clinton arranges the table, bedecking it in floral place settings.

“Envision this having a prairie and having a catered dinner down here,” says Brian Clinton, who inherited the property from his father, Jerry Clinton of Grey Eagle Distributors. The Clintons are exploring ways to make that dream a reality, returning the Eagle Estate to the role it once played as a corporate retreat.

The fields are already beginning to sprout wildflowers, and if the Clintons have their way, eventually the prairie will be covered in Missouri native plants. “We want to restore the land to what it might have been when the bison roamed,” says Megan.

On the way back from the range, guests hop aboard a tractor for a drive to the house. They marvel at the 200-acre estate, where woods edge along hills and a white fence lines the fields. A table—illuminated with strings of antique-style lights—awaits guests under the covered porch of the pool house. Mac’s Local Buys has delivered a meal of roasted pork with Carolina-style barbecue sauce, cornbread drizzled in edamame honey, colorful salads, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. Chef Chris McKenzie designed the menu to be “country style” and “approachable.”

For now, the land is a gathering place where Brian’s culinary instincts and Megan’s green thumb and decorating talents mesh. “We’re trying to merge these two worlds of ours,” says Megan as she joins her guests, now sipping cocktails by the lake. —KATELYN MAE PETRIN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WESLEY L AW

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The National Museum of the United States Army, scheduled to open at Fort Belvoir, Virginia in 2015 will be the nation’s one and only Museum to present the complete Army’s history since 1775. It’s immersive exhibits, soldier artifacts, and dynamic venues will tell the stories of selfless service and personal sacrifices of the 30 million American men and women who have worn the Army uniform.

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INDEX

DESIGN DECISIONS Often, minor design elements create the biggest impact. —LANCE JORDAN

1

I haven’t done a lot to my kitchen—I need to replace my counters. (No more butcher block, ever! No one needs to spend hours every week buffing their counter with mineral oil… at least I don’t.)

When I moved in, my kitchen was orange, which would make lots of people perfectly happy, but it was a little too much for my nervous system, so I painted the kitchen yellow.

It made a huge difference in the look and feel. —STEFENE RUSSELL, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

5

To change the kitchen backsplash. It was white ceramic tile—harmless, flawless, but devoid of charm, running in a narrow strip beneath the cabinets. That narrow strip is now the first thing everybody notices! —JEANNETTE COOPERMAN, STAFF WRITER

6

3

When we had our granite countertops installed, there was just enough left over to add a full-height backsplash, an idea we thought up (and measured), not the fabricator. The cost was minimal, the results were dramatic, and the splash inspires more comments than the countertop. —GEORGE MAHE, DINING EDITOR

4

Upgrading to a rain showerhead has been lifechanging. It has definitely elevated my showers from a daily chore to an awesome and more relaxing experience.

—TOM WHITE, ART DIRECTOR

2

A friend had some travertine floor tile that she’d decided not to use but couldn’t return. We bought it from her at an attractive discount. It became the starting point for a bathroom remodeling project that set us on a path to selecting high-end materials throughout the room, which was a great decision. It really transformed our modest bathroom into something special. —CHARLENE OLDHAM, FREELANCE WRITER

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I live in an old house, so my kitchen is long and narrow. The best decision I made was to not take the cabinets up to the ceiling in a large part of the kitchen. That gives the kitchen a much lighter and relaxed feel. It also gives me some great wall space for artwork. —ALISE O’BRIEN, PHOTOGRAPHER

7

In 1991, I bought a two-family with a kitchen that included a perfect up-and-down set of metal kitchen cabinets from the 1950s.

I decided to keep them. My kitchen renovations included adding more storage space with similar pieces, like the not-as-perfect freestanding metal cabinet I dragged in from an alley with a gray-swirl linoleum top. Later, I found a large kitchen worktop in the same gray pattern with two drawers and cabinets as a base. I restored both and love my retro-renovation.

—PAT EBY, FREELANCE WRITER

8

I decided to maintain the original—yet imperfect—floor and wall tile in my hall bathroom. It would have been tempting to get caught up in the excitement of selecting shiny new materials and finishes, but the beauty of this bathroom is its connection to the past. —VERONICA THEODORO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF stlmag.com

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ICON

HOUSE SHOPPING A field trip to a new subdivision, circa 1966

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY HENRY “MAC” MIZUKI, COURTESY OF THE MISSOURI HISTORY MUSEUM

GRANITE CITY IS named not for the rock but instead for graniteware—those midnight-blue enamel pans speckled with white dots that look like a night sky. When it was founded in 1896 as a steel mill company town, Granite’s No. 1 export was patterned dishware; the mill workers hailed from Armenia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Mexico, and Russia, and settled immediately around the mills in a neighborhood called Lincoln Place (nicknamed “Hungary Hollow,” during the first waves of immigration, then “Hungry Hollow” during the Great Depression). Seventy years later, when this photo was taken, the mills made trains and trusses, not pots, and were so large they resembled a city filled with brightly lit towers, squiggly pipes, and flame-topped smokestacks. It was the 1960s, the era of upward and onward, the era of suburban migration. So these Granite City housewives were easily lured onto a bus for a sales tour of Paddock Woods subdivision in Ballwin. The name makes no sense—a horse enclosure in the woods?—but that odd image strikes straight at the heart. Horses are for people of means and leisure. Fairytales take place in the woods. The woods are full of sunshine filtered by tree branches, wildflowers, and juicy green grass. It didn’t matter that these were the same ranch houses being built in Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Metropolis, Annapolis, and Boise. You got to pick your carpets and finishes. You got a picture window that looked out over a stretch of lawn. And that picture window had a view of a sky unclouded with ash, and air that smelled like nothing but air. —STEFENE RUSSELL stlmag.com

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