It Must’ve Been Kismet

The twists and turns of this custom home-building story almost defy credibility! By Barb Wilson

Longtime Kirkwood residents Mike and Susan weren’t in the market for a new home. The couple was perfectly content with the spacious home they’d owned for 25 years, filling it with antiques, family heirlooms and cherished memorabilia. That is, they were “content” until…

Driving home one day, Susan took a slightly different route, and a “Coming Soon” sign caught her eye. The picturesque 1.5-acre property included an Adirondack-styled ranch home and a 100-year-old barn that had potential as the headquarters for her thriving business, Knollwood Lane, where she and her partners hand-craft vintage-inspired gifts and décor.

You know the phrase “happy wife, happy life?” The family of six living in this remodeled Kirkwood home would probably change the saying to “happy house, happy family.”

The original floor plan of the 45-year-old home didn’t work well for a busy family of four teens and two parents. A closed-off kitchen and an 8-foot-by-10-foot laundry room were impractical; dark woodwork and 8-foot-tall ceilings tended to drag the house down.

The family seriously considered moving but realized the home’s great features—a nearly one-acre lot in a quiet neighborhood with great highway access—would be difficult to find again. After consulting with architects and contractors, the husband and wife decided they could live with the 8-foot ceilings if they built an addition to the back of the home and extensively remodeled the first floor, bringing it up to date and aligning the layout with the family’s

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Evoking thoughts of comfort, family, fertile fields and the aroma of baking bread, the farmhouse is more than a structural design. It’s a feeling.   

The basic farmhouse concept originated in Europe and Scandinavia, subsequently migrating to Canada, then to Colonial America. Wealthy Southern landowners built magnificent plantation houses during the pre-Civil War era, but life for the average American farm family was harsh. Their homes were small, low-ceilinged and dark, except for the kitchen where most of the daily indoor activity took place.

As city dwellers began moving away from congested urban centers in the late 1800s, they often fashioned their country homes after European villas.  But with the introduction of electricity and indoor plumbing to outlying areas in the 1930s, American farmhouse design came into its own. Adaptable to a huge range of architectural styles and décor—from traditional to rustic, European, Scandinavian, Coastal, even Boho, the nostalgic charm of farmhouse styling continues to appeal to today’s homeowners.

Read the whole article on St. Louis Homes Magazine

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