to grow

STAHL ARCHITECTS design a dream home for a family of ten

“I

says Jennifer Wolsky, the Carrington, North Dakota, wife and mother of eight. “One, being able to retire at an early age from the workplace to be a stay-at-home mom, and the other to have enough kids that my husband [Kevin] had no choice but to build us a home.” Both goals were reached.

Upgrading from the house the family had been living in was becoming imperative. In 2011, the Carrington couple with their then seven children, all between the ages of 11 years and five months, were living in a three bedroom rambler. “When the baby was sleeping in the hallway, a toddler in the laundry room, and no room to move between bunk beds,” says Jennifer, “we knew it was time to build.”

The Wolskys worked with Stahl Architects of Fargo to help achieve their dreams. Herman Novak was the lead architect for their new home. “They’re just really energetic and joy to work with,” says Novak. The Wolskys gave him a list of things they wanted to incorporate in the home, and additionally Jennifer showed him pictures of interiors that inspired her, something Novak says is common and helpful in determining a family’s style. “There are some people that have outlandish ideas that are either way over budget or just don’t make sense,” says Novak. “But the Wolskys did a great job.” After their first meeting, Novak made a schematic design and the Wolskys loved it right away.

Jennifer says Stahl Architects “put the fun” in their project. With Novak applying all the ideas the Wolskys shared immediately in their first draft, it showed the couple that Stahl Architects was really connecting with them. “It made the project feel like our own ideas with Stahl doing the finishing touches,” says Jennifer.

The Wolskys wanted a modern, rustic feel to their new home.

Jennifer envisioned a grand room featuring a fireplace reaching all the way to the top of a vaulted ceiling. She wanted the home to flow and feel connected. While there would be separate wings for the girls and boys bedrooms, the rest of the house should feel open, with the kitchen, dining room and great room all connected.

Jennifer recalls the excitement of watching their new home rise from the ground up. “Each time we visited the site it was like someone had waved a magic wand and another layer of the house was completed.” Watching that second story take shape, the Wolskys could see the design of their home that had once just been on paper, suddenly take real shape in front of their eyes.

By the time the Wolskys moved into their home during Thanksgiving of 2013, two years after breaking ground, Jennifer and her husband Kevin had welcome one more child into their loving family. And now they finally had a home with more than enough of space, and both stylishly and practically designed for their family of 10.

Novak worked with the Wolskys to design a home with durability first and foremost, but with the visual elements that appealed to Jennifer’s dream of both a modern and rustic style combination. With a blank canvas, the Wolskys chose a modern trend, beautiful crisp white walls, to maximize natural light. The walls are trimmed with poplar wood in a rich coffee stain. For continuity, each entryway in the home, plus the beams in the grand room, have Douglas fir beams, stained in the same beautiful coffee color. The grand room ceiling, in contrast to the trim and beams is timeless cedar, stained in a warm golden oak hue. To stand up to the intense foot traffic the home will see over the years, the Wolskys chose hardwood bamboo floors for most areas of the house. And for the main gathering area floors they went with textured charcoal stained concrete. They chose poplar for the custom-made cabinets and other woodwork because while it’s easy to work with like softer woods, it’s actually a hardwood and would stand the test of time. The iron-rod staircase to the second floor was left open, a design element Novak suggested to keep with Jennifer’s style of connectedness throughout the home.

The girls’ bedroom wing is simply enchanting. The older girls enjoy vanities with sinks in their bedrooms, and fun desks that each of them have personalized. And while all the kids, girls and boys, have great desk areas for quiet areas to do homework, Jennifer says that oftentimes she still finds all the kids wrapped around the kitchen counter doing their homework together.

The kitchen is a place you definitely gravitate towards, and one can easily see how the family would be compelled to gather there. The Wolskys chose contemporary white Corion for the countertops with gray and bright red pops of color to accent the modern design of the kitchen. To make preparing meals an easier task, Novak added a large walk-in pantry and a handy range top pot-filling faucet.

For Jennifer and Kevin, the bedroom, including a beautiful master bathroom, was designed to be a quiet, cozy retreat. Reminiscent of a rustic cabin interior, the ceilings are decked out in prefinished pine wood boards. And the pleasant soft flames from the two-sided fireplace are enjoyed from either the bedroom area or while relaxing in the luxuriously deep, freestanding framed porcelain tub in the master bathroom. For busy parents in need of a little down time, the hand shower feature on the tub’s faucet fixture makes choosing to relax in the tub just as practical as jumping in the shower.

And while the inside of the Wolskys’ home is stunning, the outdoor living area, Kevin’s favorite part of the house, is equally as impressive. Facing the golf course, just a short distance away, this outdoor haven, covered by an elaborate pergola, is exceptionally situated and plushly furnished. It’s shaded in the morning being on the east side of the house, and the pergola over top adds another level of sun protection and coziness. The attention paid to designing this area created a wonderful space for the family to either congregate, or spread out and enjoy their own space. The Wolskys say the large outdoor hot tub gets more use during the winter, making this outdoor space practical any time of year.

The Wolskys also included a second detached three-stall garage into their plans, which includes space for Kevin to work. And close to the house is a large sectioned off play set for the younger kids to play on.

The Wolskys couldn’t be happier with their new home. Jennifer says the design and functionality fit the lifestyle and needs of every member of their family. “The openness and the organized areas of the home reflect our family’s life as big, yet balanced; outgoing, yet organized.” Jennifer loves the practical elements like the upstairs laundry shoot leading to her spacious laundry room, her walk-in pantry, the walk-in closets and coat area. The younger kids are often seen in the openness of the main floor, as are the older kids when gathering with friends. And each child can escape upstairs to their own space. “I think we have the best of both worlds,” says Jennifer, reflecting on her family’s home. She says the building of a new home was perfect timing with the kids becoming older, bigger and more independent. “Coming from our small shared space, we appreciate our home that much more.”