7 minute read
The Forever Home
By Heather N. Russell-Simmons Photography by Walt Roycraft
1 In May 2021, Sherry and John Lamanna moved into their 8,600 square foot, Craftsman-inspired custom-built home in Nicholasville, Ky.
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2 “I saw a cross beam ceiling on the internet and said, ‘I’m going to have that in one of my rooms,’” Sherry Lamanna said of the space alongside the foyer. Intended as a dining room, she decided to use the area for her digital baby grand piano.
Throughout their marriage of over 40 years, Sherry and John Lamanna, both natives of Pittsburgh, Pa., have lived in 11 homes. “Texas, Arizona, New Jersey…” John Lamanna recalled of places where his career led the family. “Kentucky from 1998 until 2013, then back again in 2016,” he added. After his retirement, with the option to move anywhere they wanted, the couple chose to settle in Kentucky.
In 2003, Tom Kelly and his son-in-law, John Beasley, built a custom home for the Lamanna’s in the Beaumont subdivision of Lexington, Ky. “In 2017, John Beasley did major renovation to our Wind Haven home,” Sherry Lamanna said. Eventually, the homeowners decided to start from scratch and build their forever home.
“John wanted to live on a golf course,” Sherry Lamanna said of the first step in their plan. “We looked at lots in various areas before finding this location in Nicholasville with views of the golf course and a horse farm.” The Lamanna’s broke ground in January of 2020, construction was completed in April of 2021 and the couple have called the 8,600 square foot house their home since May 2021.
Having an established working relationship with John Beasley, vice president of K&B Builders, the Lamanna’s trusted his understanding of what they wanted in their ideal home. Starting with plans for something similar, the Lamanna’s and Beasley reconfigured the starting point to incorporate elements of previous homes for a truly custom build. “John sat down with us and explained what he was going to do and why,” Sherry Lamanna said of the design collaboration with Beasley. That transparency and inclusion continued when changes needed to be made, too.
While most couples encounter headaches and disagreements with the stress of home construction, the Lamanna’s enjoyed building their home. “We were blessed with a builder who has an open mind,” said John Lamanna. “We’d tell him what we wanted to do, and if he hadn’t done it before, he’d say, ‘Let’s try it!’”
“We’ve lived in lots of homes, so we had a feel for what we wanted and were able to pick and choose what we liked,” said Sherry Lamanna. For convenience, and taking into consideration knee replacement surgery, she wanted a ranch-style home with the key living areas on the main floor. “When we lived in Arizona, the open floor plan was more popular at the time than it was in Kentucky,” she said.
“We also liked the higher elevations we had out west,” John Lamanna added when mentioning the tall ceilings and 8-foot-tall doors in the house as well as the 6-foot-tall windows in the back of the home that open to the surrounding lush, green scenery.
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3 When entering the Lamanna’s home, guests look through one of the home’s gathering spaces to see unobstructed views of the golf course.
A variety of woods—natural, reclaimed and engineered—are carefully designed as flooring, feature walls, beams and patterned ceilings to convey a rustic warmth throughout the home that pays homage to the Western styles of their time in Texas. “There is a different type of wood in each ceiling,” said Sherry Lamanna. Concerned with scratching, the Lamanna’s chose engineered hardwood for the floors.
“Greg Barber was phenomenal with the kitchen design,” said Sherry Lamanna. “He told me he’d never before done some of the work that he did in our kitchen.” One especially clever element is the hidden pantry configured to resemble a cabinet with drawers that surprises guests who see it for the first time.
Another hidden area is found in the primary bedroom, where a closet was redesigned to be Sherry Lamanna’s home office. What appears to be an oversized full-length mirror in a corner of the room is a swinging door that opens to the office. “The original plan had a men’s closet in the bedroom and a women’s closet in the bathroom,” Sherry Lamanna explained of her idea to combine the closets into one and free up an area for her office that was missing from the home’s plans. “This seemed like a fun way to make better use of that space.” “When we’re on the back patio, we will hear golfers call out, ‘We love your landscape!’” Sherry Lamanna said with a laugh, crediting Chad Hammond of Hammond Landscaping for a fantastic job that included outdoor lighting. “Just the other day, someone knocked on the front door and asked who did our lighting.”
With the help of Larry Moore from Xstream Aquatics, the Lamanna’s had a 20 by 16-foot pond installed in the back yard. “Watching Larry build that was like watching art being made,” Sherry Lamanna said in awe of the process. “He brought in pallets of boulders, looked at them carefully then placed them perfectly.”
By piecing together the best of earlier houses, the Lamanna’s are finally home. “This is it,” stated John Lamanna. “This is the forever home.”
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4 With granite maxing out at 11 feet, Sherry Lamanna opted for a second kitchen island to avoid a seam in the surface top. “One is the working island with a sink and the other is for entertaining,” she explained.
5 The dramatic ceiling in this room has a pitch from 10.5” to 13.5” tall. The Lamanna’s had a similar ceiling in a previous home that John Beasley of K&B Builders renovated. “I told John he was going to build that ceiling for me again in the new home,” said Sherry Lamanna.
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6 The Lamanna’s designed this outdoor wood-burning fireplace specifically to store wood on the right and include a bench on the left. “Our daughter-in-law told us we also needed a place in front to sit closer to the fireplace; this patio is her favorite spot in the house.”
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7 Separated from the seating area by a wrought iron gate and natural stone entry is where the Lamanna’s store their wine collection. Glenda Krauss, a professional muralist, painted the rear wall of the storage area. That work of art is a favorite home detail for the Lamanna’s guests.
8 By combining two closets in the primary bathroom, Sherry Lamanna made space for a home office inside the primary bedroom; the oversized mirror serves as a hidden door to that office. Wooden floors provide a sense of warmth to the room while motorized drapes offer privacy from views overlooking the golf course.
9 Sherry Lamanna chose gray with a white glaze for the custom vanity built by Greg Barber of Barber Cabinet Co. “Greg had never seen that, most people chose gray with a darker charcoal glaze,” she explained. “Gray with white glaze is now an option he offers clients.” Crystal light fixtures connect a touch of delicate elegance from the primary bedroom into the bath.
10 Wrapped in variety of muted and soft shades of green, this room is affectionately called The Oz Room. “When movers delivered an elliptical machine to the room, they all wanted to come in and see the wooden feature wall,” Lamanna said. “It’s something fun and different.” Outside, guests have a stunning view of the property’s pond by Xstream Aquatics.
11 With a particular vision for balance, Sherry Lamanna assembled the bathroom floor tiles to her liking in the adjacent room. The mason then replicated that assembly when setting the tiles in the bathroom. Like the joined guest bedroom, a mix of green colors and textures give this large bathroom its name.
HOME CREDITS
Builder: John Beasley, K&B Builders
Cabinetry: Greg Barber, Barber Cabinet Co.
Landscaping Chad Hammond, Hammond Landscaping
Outdoor Pond: Larry Moore, Xstream Aquatics
