Over the past year, the Journal-World has looked inside all kinds of homes belonging to all kinds of people. Empty-nesters making their forever-coop. A college student who finally feels like she has a place to call her own. Collectors who use vintage stock in modern ways, and families making the most out of their homes. Peruse this section or visit ljworld.com to find out more about the people who live here.
Lauren and Zach Parr loved their home in California, but in 2018 they began to consider trading it in for one in Kansas.
One reason for that was that Zach’s mother, of Topeka, was sick, and he wanted to move closer to her. Another reason was that the Parrs had young children, then ages 3 and 1, and the couple were starting to imagine what their childhoods would be like. In California the skies were often smoggy, and the Parrs’ house was next to a busy road.
“It wasn’t really safe for (the kids) to go out without me, but projecting forward I wondered when I would feel safe about them going out. Probably never,” Lauren says. “There was all this traffic. Tobin was still a baby — a year and a half — and when you have a baby you’re so worried about things like is the baby going to get asthma because of all this pollution? Kansas doesn’t really have air-quality issues.”
Amid these considerations was the reality that Zach’s mother had been newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and he felt helpless to assist her from so far away. Still, the Parrs were not actively looking for a home in Lawrence on the night someone shared a listing with them on Facebook. That didn’t stop them from becoming instantly enamored with the house.
Living more than 1,500 miles away, the Parrs were unable to look at the house in person, so they sent a relative to scope it out.
“We had Zach’s dad come over and look at the house that night,” Lauren says. “He FaceTimed us around, and it looked like a good house. … it had
all of these lush things, and it solved all of those things that had been on my mind, that I had been worried about.”
The Parrs bought the two-story four bedroom home at 4405 W. 12th St. before they were even able to step inside, certain they would love it based on video tours and photos.
They purchased the house in the summer of 2018 but couldn’t move until fall; they were waiting until Zach had secured a job as the senior aviation software engineer at Garmin. Zach has since switched jobs and now works as a senior game play engineer for Activision, which he
Owner transformed house that had fallen into disrepair
Brindy Fitzpatrick prides herself on finding a house few would want and making it desirable.
Before she bought her house at 2040 Ohio St., it was a heap of rotted wood, malformed gutters, trash and scurrying rodents.
Despite the mess, Fitzpatrick made an offer immediately on the 1957 house in
central Lawrence.
“The porch was rotten, and a bunch of mice were living under it,” says Fitzpatrick, who works as a nurse. “I had to get the basement put on beams, and redo the plumbing out to the street. Everything was very expensive. … But the house had potential.”
Capitalizing on that
potential took a lot of work: From February to May 2021, Fitzpatrick ripped up the porch, poured a cement foundation in its place and finished the drywall in the basement. Next she hauled abandoned junk and other trash from the premises.
does from his home basement office. The house sits on a half acre lot, and a creek runs down its property line.
“That was such a big motivator for me to have a huge yard,” Lauren says. “All this overgrowth makes it feel very natural. The neighbors cut all that down, but we like it. It makes it feel so private. I guess I was looking for that magic of childhood — the ability to explore and feel free without really having to go far. The kids are down there (at the creek); they’re in yelling distance, but they feel like they’re alone.”
Childhood joy made family’s return to Kansas even sweeter
Back in 2006 when they still had children living with them, Linda and Pat Slimmer bought a plot of land at 1751 Learnard Ave., intending to build a typical family home. In 2008, they even drew plans for a two-story house; however, because of the volatile nature of the housing market, the timing was never right.
Eventually the Slimmers’ children grew up and moved out. By the time the Slimmers were ready to build, their vision of a home had altered completely: Instead of a standard two-story house, the couple now envisioned an age-in-place one-level home they could spend the duration of their lives in.
“It was a good thing we waited because our needs completely changed,” Pat says. “We talked to a lot of people our age, and an age-in-place house kept coming up. A lot of people think about it. It’s something we both wanted to do.”
According to research by the American Association of Retired Persons, 77% of adults 50 and older wish to stay in their homes throughout their lives. But without major alterations, most already-built homes and new construction are not accessible for older people with mobility limitations.
Mike and Sarah Randolph’s past 20 years living in their three-story home at 1643 Rhode Island St. have been rife with full-circle moments.
After all, they both grew up in Lawrence — Mike across town from their current home in East Lawrence, and Sarah in the home right across the backyard. The Randolphs’ home backs up to the home Sarah’s parents have lived in for more than 40 years.
It’s only fitting that the couple ended up in a home with a rich history, a home that Sarah calls their “own little time capsule.” It was built in 1913 and had never housed any children or pets until the Randolphs became the homeowners in 2001, following a decade living in Atlanta. Their return to Lawrence, and to this home in particular, meant their children could effectively grow up with two childhood homes.
“Our kids got an experience that a lot of kids don’t now, where they grew up with my parents intimately involved in their daily lives,” Sarah said. “They were doing scavenger hunts for them. They were very, very involved.”
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The home has its original woodwork, and its first and second floor have their original push-button light switch covers. The couple love living in an old home, despite the extra work that brings.
ABOVE: Three wings of the house at 1751 Learnard Ave. surround an exterior courtyard.
LEFT: A large walk-in shower is a feature in the bathroom.
Mike said each old home has its own look, and the craftsmanship required to build them differs from what it takes today. Homes had to be built with a lot of thought, he said, and for form and function first and profit second.
“I think the feeling, too, that you get with these older homes is you feel like you’re a steward of them, just because of the longevity and the history that happened before you,” Mike said. “You want that to carry forward.”
The home does have one addition: A third level was added in 1994 by its previous owner, artist Myles Schachter. That floor is where the Randolphs chose to locate their bedroom, and it also includes a bathroom and a small balcony overlooking the back yard.
Empty-nesters Linda & Pat Slimmer built a home that they could spend the rest of their lives in.Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo PAT AND LINDA SLIMMER RECENTLY MOVED INTO THEIR CUSTOM HOME — which Pat helped build — at 1751 Learnard Ave. Mike Yoder/JournalWorld Photos Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo ANTIQUE POST OFFICE LOCK BOXES, lower right, add a vintage flair to Sarah and Mike Randolph’s home at 1643 Rhode Island St. > COZY, 6C > HISTORY, 6C
When Katie Nelson was debating whether to move on from Lawrence, one factor played a key part in her decision to stay put: an apartment availability at Poehler Lofts, 619 E. Eighth St.
“I’ve been wanting to live at Poehler since I moved to Lawrence last year, so it’s kind of like a dream come true finally getting in here,” Nelson told the Journal-World.
A full wall of exposed brick reminds her of a New York loft. She also is a big fan of the unit’s high ceilings, which she estimates are around 16 feet and which lend a spacious feel to the approximately 700-squarefoot apartment.
The open floor plan and polished cement flooring also make her list of things to love. Nelson even rides around the apartment on a Razor scooter, a benefit of the smooth floors.
On top of reveling in the new place, Nelson is thrilled that she gets to decorate it, especially because she had previously shared an apartment with a roommate whose decor tastes differed from her own.
One of her personal touches is a shelf of plants near one of the unit’s tall windows. Many of the plants are cuttings inherited from friends and family members. Nelson nursed the plants back into healthy growth, and they’re in pots from the Jungle House store, which is just down the street from her building.
“It brings me a lot of peace having lots of plants and stuff in here,” Nelson said. “It really makes me feel like I’m outside even when I’m not outside.”
The apartment is also a space that Nelson can fill with as many secondhand or vintage furniture pieces as she likes, like a pair of couches upholstered in blue velvet or a TV stand fashioned out of a locker, or with racks displaying some of her favorite clothing pieces.
“Previously, I never really had a space where I was living at that felt like ‘mine’ and that I wanted to be at all the time,”
Nelson said. “At my old place, I felt like I was always wanting to be out and never at home, but now I feel like I’m in a ‘home.’”
Poehler Lofts, in the Warehouse Arts District in East Lawrence, is a building with a long history — hinted at in the words emblazoned on the building’s side — “Theo. Poehler Mercantile Co.
ABOVE: Katie Nelson’s apartment in Poehler Lofts — a former warehouse built in 1904 that has been rehabbed — is located in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District in East Lawrence.
LEFT: Katie Nelson’s Poehler Lofts apartment has 16-foot ceilings, which provide a spacious feeling for a onebedroom apartment of just under 700 square feet.
Wholesale Grocers.” The brick building, constructed in 1904, was once the home of one of the largest grocery wholesalers in the region in the early 20th century.
The history of the building and its namesake, Theodore Poehler Jr., were covered extensively by the Journal-World back in 2011, the year before it was renovated and became the home of nearly 50 apartments.
That historic feel is still present in the building, which is about half a mile from
Massachusetts Street. The exposed brick Nelson loves so much is original, as are the wooden beams and poles positioned throughout the unit.
Nelson has fully embraced living in the heart of the arts district. The walls in her unit are dotted with art pieces, some of which are reclaimed. A large mixed-media piece made with stretched strips of cloth across a large gray canvas was found in the building’s basement after going unclaimed for years. Other pieces were created by Nelson herself.
Nelson is studying interior design and hopes to stage homes one day, so the open living space in her current home gives her a chance to practice. Her apartment also gives her the space to work on projects like her painted skateboards or the next project on her list: custom carpets.
“Being in the arts district has actually been such a blessing, because it’s inspired me to do more art,” Nelson said.
Hannah Grow had dreamed of starting a nature-inspired child-care program for more than a decade.
A former kindergarten teacher and single mother of four, Grow felt her dream was out of reach for years, and at times she questioned whether she could ever achieve it. Then in 2019 circumstances started to align in her favor when a home offer she made — and considered humble — was accepted.
Just like that, Grow became a homeowner and a small-business owner, having acquired the residence at 2527 Belle Crest Drive — a three-bedroom in central Lawrence with an 8,000-square-foot yard.
When Grow initially toured the house she looked for features that would allow her to use the property to launch Wild Blossom Daycare. Eyeing the large back lot and the openarea living room adjacent to the kitchen, Grow was convinced the property would be a great space for young children.
“I was trying to put together the space that I had been dreaming of for 10 years. ... I’d worked with licensing for so long that I knew all the regulations, and I knew this place was great,” Grow says. “It was perfect for a home program.”
Before buying the house on Belle Crest, Grow lived in an 800-square foot apartment with her four kids — Charlie, Henry, Gus and Juniper. That apartment, which didn’t have any kind of yard, was all Grow could find, and it wouldn’t have worked as a home-care program. Now Grow has enough
space for seven children in addition to her own four.
Bunnies, blue jays and cardinals regularly visit the yard, which includes a hammock, playground, balance beam, sandpit and toddler play area.
“I really wanted a natural playspace that allowed for imaginative play,” Grow says. “We have all these great trees, and it makes it a very magical backyard space. It’s so beautiful; when I look out my window
Mike Yoder/ Journal-World Photos
ABOVE: Hannah Grow and three of her four children are pictured in the backyard of their home at 2527 Belle Crest Drive. From left are Henry Grow, August “Gus” Grow, Juniper Grow and Hannah Grow.
LEFT: Grow’s kitchen features an island with chairs for casual dining.
and I just see those trees, it makes me feel so good inside.”
The house has wood floors, not carpet, which are easy to clean. Grow even had an outdoor sink installed to aid in cleanup of messy kids.
“Kids love to be muddy, and I wanted it to be a nature space where kids can just immerse themselves and do whatever it is they need for their sensory experience,” Grow says. “For kids to just be in the mud and be in the sand, and we can wash it all off; it’s really nurturing.”
At 1,100 square feet, the inside of the house is small but the open-area living room and kitchen make it feel more spacious, Grow says.
“I love that it’s a big open space,” Grow says. “I am a play facilitator, and we do baking, we do chopping ... children can learn to measure, and they feel the warmness and the closeness to an adult as they’re creating something together, and if they don’t want to (bake) they have this whole play space they can be in ... where I can still see them.”
The house features an unfinished basement, which doubles the home’s square footage; currently it’s a rec room and a storage area. Grow says the space isn’t very fancy, but it’s filled with love — and kids.
“I worked really hard to get this property, and I own this as a single mom with four kids, and that’s a big deal to me,” Grow says. “It’s my home, and it’s also my business.”
Spacious yard, open layout was just right for home day care serviceMike Yoder/Journal-World Photo HANNAH GROW TURNED ONE OF HER HOME’S BEDROOMS into a playroom for her day care clientele.
Tessa Vancil is intrigued by design. The young Lawrence resident likes to consider how furniture should be arranged, how colors should be used and how to achieve clean lines in a room. That’s why Tessa, who aspires to be an architect, jumped on the opportunity to arrange her own bedroom as well as help her parents with color and tile selection for a recent bathroom renovation.
At the start of the COVID lockdown, Brian and Sara Vancil had asked Tessa to exchange her bedroom for a different room in the house so they could use her old room as an office. Tessa initially balked, but the idea of redesigning her own environment was too compelling to pass up.
The aqua-colored walls, the textured accent lamp, the bed with drawers, the slender tan couch — each item in Tessa’s room was thoughtfully curated.
“I love my room,” Tessa says. “I just really enjoy being in it.”
When the Vancils bought their three-bedroom home at 3116 W. 23rd Terrace in 2008, Tessa was not born yet, but the Vancils knew they wanted to have kids in the home.
“We planned to have children and definitely considered that when buying,” Sara says. “We decided to just have one child and the house ended up being the perfect size for three of us.”
The house is a smidge more than 1,300 square feet, a size that matches the Vancils’ minimalist mindset.
“I have slight hoarding tendencies, so not having unlimited space to expand means that piles of junk annoy us earlier than they would if we lived in a larger house,” Brian says. “For instance, I love board games, but not having space for all of them led me to subscribe to the Bring-RPG-Home game subscription program from RPG (Restaurant, Pub & Games) downtown.”
Buying an appropriately sized house, rather than one loaded with spare rooms that might have sat empty, or worse, filled up with unused junk, was important to Sara, too.
“(Our) house is big enough to meet all our needs but not so big that we have empty spaces that need to be furnished or cleaned but are never used,” she says.
When the Vancils first moved into the home, they concentrated their energies on improving the yard. The original raised beds in the backyard were overgrown but seemed like a promising place to start a garden. Now the Vancils have a 200-square-foot garden
flush with fruits, vegetables, flowers and native plants for pollinators.
ABOVE: Both Sara and Brian Vancil worked at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and converted their daughter Tessa’s former bedroom into a shared workspace.
LEFT: Tessa Vancil sits in her room. She had a lot to do with creating the bedroom environment.
During the COVID lockdown, the Vancils started working from home full-time.
Both work at the University of Kansas, Brian as a statistician and Sara in the financial aid office.
Being at home more inspired the Vancils to make improvements.
In addition to creating a multipurpose office, they installed Marmoleum flooring, a brand of linoleum made with natural raw materials, in the living and dining rooms, and remodeled both bathrooms, one of which Tessa helped design.
Chris Powers of Meadowlark Construction did the structural work for the renovations.
“He’s a consummate professional, and we’ve been so happy working with him,” Sara says. “The final project on the house is to update the kitchen, and we’ll use him when the time comes.”
One feature the Vancils love is the bay window, which provides space for their many house plants.
“Noticing (the plants) always boosts my mood,” Brian says.
Though the Vancils like to think of ways to enhance their home, they are also happy with it as it is.
“Brian and I wanted a home that was right-sized and functional with the opportunity to make improvements, both inside and outside, to make it work for us,” Sara says. “It has everything we need. And we’ve made it our own through dedicated and intentional improvements to the garden and living spaces.”
Family gets creative to make their home the perfect spotMike Yoder/Journal-World Photos Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo TESSA VANCIL, LEFT, AND HER PARENTS BRIAN AND SARA VANCIL, and their Boston terrier, Quinn, live at 3116 W. 23rd Terrace.
But the bathroom wasn’t always a bathroom; Mike said Schachter previously had that space filled entirely by a 500-gallon hot tub. Schachter had installed screws in the exterior paneling that allowed it to be removed so the hot tub could be taken out on the balcony side. Mike said the family decided about 10 years ago to rent a crane and remove the massive tub altogether, allowing the space to become a bathroom.
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Some of the home’s most interesting elements might be its eclectic decorations, starting with artwork from a list of more than a dozen local artists. The list includes paintings by the couple’s good friend Geoff Benzing, cut paper artwork by Alicia Kelly and photography by Ann Dean. Other decorations are reclaimed items, such as the lighted “cashier” sign that hangs from the tin ceiling in the home’s kitchen. The Randolphs suspect the sign could have come from an old Woolworths or Ben Franklin store. In the nearby dining room, there’s an old church pulpit in the corner that Mike said has been in the home for around 15 years.
Then there are the eyecatchers on the front porch — a “Select-O-Rama” vending machine, which still works and is filled with toys, some of them the original prizes, and part of a train station sign that the couple’s friends found in a dumpster and has since been turned into a railing leading up to the front door.
Many items that decorate the home were found through Mike’s work flipping houses, such as the pair of post office boxes stationed in the living
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room. Mike said they were originally located in Baldwin City’s post office. They found a new life at the Randolphs’ home as decorations — and as a place for the couple’s daughters, who are now adults, to stash items while playing with their friends.
The couple’s collection of dozens of bowling balls is perhaps the most noticeable decor, given that those balls decorate both the front and back yards. Mike estimates there are upward of 80 of them, some of which are mounted to poles. The first set of balls was recovered from a home Mike flipped that previously belonged to a family who owned a bowling alley in Holton, a small town north of Topeka. There were 10 or 15 bowling balls in that garage. They went on display in the front yard, and the Randolphs’ small collection roughly doubled in size over the years. Then, about five years ago, Mike said a woman knocked on their door and asked if they’d like even more bowling balls. She was moving out of the
Age-in-place homes include modifications that enhance independence for people with physical limitations, allowing seniors to remain in their homes longer rather than moving to an assisted-living facility. Some age-in-place features that Pat, 62, and Linda, 60, integrated include wider hallways for wheelchairs, sliding doors, lever-style door handles, no-step entries and ample artificial and natural light.
Linda says builder Scott Weber helped acclimate them to the age-in-place concept.
“Besides being a great builder and craftsman, he helped guide us through the whole process of building a house,” Linda says. Pat helped physically build the 2,300-square-foot house and its accompanying 1,200-square-foot garage and shop.
state, and she gave the Randolphs another 40 or 50 balls that she wouldn’t be able to take along with her.
Sarah’s favorite item in the house — a gift from Mike for her 50th birthday — is a plated dinner from a leftover cafeteria display the couple found in Sparks, Kansas. It’s positioned at one of the four seats at the dining room table, complete with its own “Reserved” sign. Sarah said it reminds her of meals with her grandmother at
Furr’s Family Dining, which closed its doors in Lawrence back in 2002.
With that many conversation pieces, it may not be a surprise that the couple don’t have a lengthy list of items they’re hoping to add to the current roster of decorations.
“We don’t really know what we want until we see it,” Sarah said. “We’re kind of on the down side of collecting, where we don’t want to add a lot more to our house and our stuff.”
Pat says. “We had to wait six months for siding; even our doors; it took four months to get our doors.”
Though the construction took a long time, it was also measured and precise, and the Slimmers find the house aesthetically pleasing as well as practical. For instance, the extra-wide hallway that leads from their living room to their master bedroom features clean, eye-catching lines, Pat says. It’s one of his favorite features.
The living room is an open space with minimal furniture and a gas fireplace. A skylight enhances the ambient light.
“I love the amount of light inside,” Linda says. “We both wanted a house that had a central courtyard and a lot of natural light.”
“I cherish the experience,” Pat says. “How many people get to build their own house? To be an integral part of that? I feel very fortunate to be part of that experience. I have a deep connection to the house, and from the first night we spent there it immediately felt like home.”
Building began at the
beginning of 2020. The house normally would have been completed by May, but the housing-supply shortage caused by the pandemic hobbled the house’s progress, and work on the house didn’t finish until October.
“(Weber) said he’d never spent so long building a house,”
Glass doors allow the Slimmers to look out onto the courtyard, which features seating for guests. Integrating livable outdoor space was something they both desired. The house also has a screened-in side porch that serves as a greenhouse and a hang-out spot.
Recently retired from
Slimmer’s Automotive Service, Pat is also a metal sculptor. When he was working, he would create his art at his shop, but now that he’s retired, he wanted a workspace at home. He decided to build an extralarge garage so he could have an art studio.
“It’s a very large garage for a house this size,” says Pat, who has had sculptures on display in Topeka’s NOTO Arts District, the Juried Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition in Manhattan and the Downtown Lawrence Sculpture Exhibition.
The Slimmers are pleased with their house: The central courtyard, the screened-in porch, the open living room and the natural lighting keep it cozy, they say.
“We were just trying to go for a house that was really comfortable and efficient,” Pat says. “I love how the house feels, the amount of natural light, the outdoor spaces, the flow and the peacefulness of the location. … I really love that it was something that Linda and I did together as a team and couple.”
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Douglas Co.
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On the main floor inside the house is an openarea living room and kitchen.
“I love the kitchen, the island, the way you can have a lot of people in there at once,” Zach says.
Socializing is important to the Parrs, and their large kitchen and open areas provide ample space for guests. The kitchen has multiple shelves for dishes and decor, and there’s a spacious pantry too. The refrigerator is integrated and stylishly set in the wood cabinetry.
Because of the multiple windows in the dining room, natural light often bathes the entire area. The Parrs recently had a third child, Wendy, and Lauren said the home makes it easy to keep an eye on her.
“Now that we have Wendy too, and she can crawl around, having the main floor being totally open is wonderful,” Lauren says. “She can’t get trapped somewhere, and she can see us so she feels comfortable moving around.”
The dining room doubles as a classroom for the
Parrs’ oldest child, Lulu, 6, who is homeschooled.
“The dining room table is where we do all of our schoolwork because that’s where (Lulu) wants to sit, in that big bright room,” Lauren says. “The kids do a ton of art at the dining table.”
The four bedrooms are all upstairs, and two of the kids’ rooms have window seats.
“That is something I loved about the house when we saw it,” Lauren says. “I just thought, what a sweet way to have a kid’s room.”
Tobin says he enjoys having his own room, and Lulu says she loves the “secret hideaway” — a very small room downstairs in the finished basement.
“It’s like my art studio kind of,” Lulu says. “It’s a secret room. It has my desk, my drawers, my karaoke machine.” She and her friends “tell scary stories and make confetti and stuff like that in there.”
Lulu and Tobin also love to play in the yard by the creek at least a few times a week in warm weather.
The house was built in 2007 and renovated in 2012; the renovation involved installing a custom wall made of skateboards. A few years after renovating, the former owners sold the house for a bigger home. The Parrs’ home is nearly 3,000 square feet, and Lauren and Zach can’t imagine ever outgrowing it.
“I was hauling dumpsters and dumpsters of trash out of here,” Fitzpatrick says. “The trash guys got mad at me and left a note saying, ‘You really need to get a dumpster; you’re filling the trash too much.’”
After three months, the house was ready for human inhabitants. For the final stage of renovation, Fitzpatrick, a self-taught artist, painted.
“I did that right away, because I have a lot of stuff, and once you have stuff inside, painting becomes very difficult,” she says.
Fitzpatrick used pink, white, and blue-green in the kitchen, and white in the living room. Upstairs she painted a pair of flamingos on the wall next to some built-in bookshelves.
“I don’t want the Realtor gray that every house is painted,” Fitzpatrick says. “I think coming home is something that should make you happy; I don’t necessarily sit in those (upstairs) chairs a lot, but I walk through that room a million times a day, and it makes me happy. I love it.”
Another feature of the home that Fitzpatrick loves is the half-moon table attached to the kitchen counter. She also appreciates the sunroom where she drinks coffee on spring mornings. The sunroom features hanging chairs and a $20 garage-sale mannequin named Claire.
Fitzpatrick decorated her home with antiques and garage-sale finds, including midcentury furniture and a collection of kitschy velvet paintings. She also refurbished items that she found on the roadside and elsewhere, including a colorful dresser that
adds a pop of color to her bedroom.
“I don’t want to go to Nebraska Furniture Mart and get the brown couch everyone else has,” she says. “I look until I find something amazing that inspires me, then I look for other things that build around this great thing I found.”
Fitzpatrick lives in the house with her son, Shea Fitzpatrick, who loves cooking in the bright, cheerful kitchen.
He’s also a fan of the large backyard, and he and Fitzpatrick were planning to put in a garden and see what they could coax from the soil.
