Nick Adams, architect and owner of Mademan Design, realized his dream of designing and building his own home when he and his wife Trisha Young moved into their 2,250-square-foot modern home in Webster Groves in April 2019. The open floor plan includes distinct spaces, but flows easily from the kitchen to the living room and out to the covered porch and patio for easy entertaining.
Our top 12 ‘at homes’ of the year
Every week, we feature an area home to showcase, usually because of its great style, but sometimes, just being quirky earns it the distinction. Here are the 12 most popular ‘at homes’ of 2020, based on website users.
Jim Edmonds' home in Frontenac
Our biggest "at home" story of the year, by far, was our peek inside the Frontenac home of former Cardinals outfielder and now broadcaster Jim Edmonds. Edmonds and his children moved into the nearly 20,000-square-foot house in December 2019. While every room was seemingly more impressive than the next, the walk-in closet, which wraps around the master suite, was one of the most-talked about. “My closet is bigger than the house I grew up in,” Edmonds said.
The Sheridans in Old North St. Louis
Visitors to the Old North St. Louis neighborhood regularly pause to stare in wonder at the home of Travis and Gina Sheridan, the first house built out of shipping containers in the city of St. Louis. The couple completed the house last spring after seven months of construction. They bought a three-parcel lot through the city’s Land Reutilization Authority program and brought in nine shipping containers. The home is built out of nine stacked, extra-large containers. They commissioned a mural on the East side of the house by one of their favorite artists, Robert Amador.
Brad Johnson and Rachel Brandt of Kirkwood
As a contractor with Kirkwood-based Anderson Building Co., Brad Johnson is no stranger to restoring the area’s historic homes to their glory. While working on one such home a few years ago, Johnson developed a professional curiosity about a vacant Victorian farmhouse that was across the street. Its owner was an elderly woman who had moved to a nursing home, leaving it empty and in a state of disrepair. He and his wife, Rachel Brandt, closed on the house in 2018 and got to work making it structurally sound and livable — a process that took about six months. Johnson made this long dining table from wood he reclaimed from an old house renovation in University City, as well as the bench, with wood salvaged from an old carriage house.
The Everetts of the Central West End
The spaciousness inside the 130-year-old home is what captivated Nidhi Everett when her real-estate agent sister, Priya Soni, showed her the residence in 2009. “It was in foreclosure, and the interior had been neglected for years” she recalls. “My sister and I walked room to room laughing at how large the home was, imagining what it might be like to live here, and how much work someone would have to undertake for it to be livable. Then Edgar and I bought it. We were young and up to the challenge.” The living room features contemporary leather furniture and a large photo of the three Everett girls over the fireplace.
The Links of Chesterfield
A profusion of different décor and layered fabrics is the theme of the sitting room in the 3,000-square-foot home of Deborah and Steve Link. Windows look out onto a thickly wooded backyard. Not seen is a pool and hot tub area just beneath the windows. Deborah Link designed and built the hutch with her father to resemble a Mackenzie-Childs hutch. “I cannot stand dull,” she says.
Nick Adams and Trisha Young of Webster Groves
Lilly Huxhold of St. Louis Hills
Lilly Huxhold’s apartment was a blank space before she moved in. Now, it’s filled with a carefully curated selection of plants, knickknacks and books. She spends most of her time here, in her living room, where she has a record player and an Amazon Alexa connected to her hi-fi stereo system.
Kaiser and Saggio of Tower Grove East
The pandemic has many people making major life changes. DJ Kaiser and Tom Saggio recently made two: They purchased a rehabbed 1899 brick home in the Tower Grove East neighborhood, their first together, and then they tied the knot. The owners just prior to Kaiser and Saggio remodeled the house, opening it up and renting it out as a venue for weddings and other events. The couple made cosmetic changes and added their furnishings, antiques and collections. Here, the view from the front door shows the restored woodwork.
The Dobbs family of Oakland
Sarah and Kyle Dobbs' midcentury home features plenty of original woodwork, including the beams and rafters in their living room. The home was built to be a “solar house,” that uses strategically placed windows to heat the space in the winter and keep it cool in the summer.
Ronnie Frank in Creve Coeur
After living in a five-bedroom home for 44 years, Ronnie Frank had a clear idea of what she wanted in a condominium once she was ready to downsize. She was interested in an open floor plan, bedrooms to accommodate family visits, space to display her art and a new kitchen to satisfy her enjoyment of cooking. She found a condo to gut in Creve Coeur and made it her own. The living room wood plank floor was installed as part of the renovation. The large bookcase and entertainment center was custom made to show off some of the art glass Frank collects. To the right of the couch is a card and game table, important to Frank as she is an avid bridge player.
The Leonbergers in Lakeshire
As a child Lara Leonberger lived just a few streets away from the home where she and her husband, Ehren, now reside in Lakeshire, a city in St. Louis County. She always admired the midcentury house she now calls home. The origin of the white marble fireplace in the living room is unknown although it almost certainly was not original to the 1952 midcentury modern home. The walls are now off white, but were originally wood paneling when the couple purchased the home. Decorative wood molding that was on the walls was retained and now functions as a picture frame for family photos.
The Roches in Innsbrook
The village of Innsbrook, in Warren County, was not new to Karen and Brad Roche when they purchased their home there in 2019. The couple previously had owned an A-frame chalet in the community for four years, but their primary residence had remained in Ballwin. In looking for their permanent home, they wanted one that had been updated throughout. This one had, including the open kitchen with its large bay window overlooking the woods.
Could your house be our next 'At Home'?
Do you have an interesting or well-designed home? If your home — or the home of someone you know — has a great story to tell, we’d love to feature it as one of our weekly “At Home” stories.
If interested, email Amy Bertrand at abertrand@post-dispatch.com and include at least two photos of your home.
We will respond if we are interested.
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