From Past to Present
Written by Jessen O’Brien / Photography by Alise O’Brien
A leaky fridge was the last straw.
This St. Louis family had long struggled with what to do with the kitchen in their nearly century-old home, which was too small and too removed from their main living area.
“For years we had wanted to update it, but it was just a very land-locked room -- with no way to make it larger. And that was always going to be disappointing and not quite scratch the itch of what we were trying to accomplish,” says the homeowner. When the refrigerator started to leak, they knew they had to do something. “We have a beautiful home, but we were spending so much time in one of the smallest rooms of the house, and that just seemed silly.”
The solution proved to be swapping the kitchen with the family room -- which sat on the opposite end of the home -- and creating an addition where a large screened porch sat which had begun to show its age. It was an idea they had toyed with before, but each architect they had talked to had drawn up plans that weren’t in keeping with the look and feel of the original house. That is, until they met with Scott Krejci, senior project architect with Srote & Co Architects.
The backsplash’s white-and-gray floral pattern is inverted in the roman shade, a Morris & Co. embroidered linen fabric called Pure Honeysuckle.
“The homeowners love the home, and you can see it in how much they enjoy and care for it. They were both clear in wanting the design to blend seamlessly and complete what was missing for them in the home,” says Krejci. “The solution was a wonderfully light and generous kitchen, great room, patio and screened porch in a beautiful setting.”
A large-scale fireplace serves as the focal point for the elegant yet approachable great room.
Whereas other plans they had looked at involved a flat, one-story addition, Krejci’s vision echoed the peaks and height of the original home, giving them three stories to play with. Those extra floors opened up new possibilities, enabling them to build out a spacious, walk-in closet in the master suite.
“The design called for historic details and finishes, and the integration of modern structure and construction methods,” says Krejci. “Period Restoration executed it flawlessly, bringing passion for the work and the knowledge and craftsmanship it required.”
On the outside, stones were carefully chosen to match the existing exterior. To make the interior feel just as seamlessly connected with the original home, the homeowners brought in Meghan Heeter of Castle Design.
The great room flows into a screened porch and outdoor patio with a firepit and extra dining area, perfect for entertaining.
“Meghan’s phenomenal. She’s got such great taste and knows ours,” says the homeowner. “We don’t like having choice overload and she’s good at making very tractable decisions for us. And when she comes up with something, it’s usually exactly what we want or really, really close to it.”
“The inspiration for this project was really the home itself. It’s a beautiful century home; we wanted to celebrate that history but also make it look fresh,” says Heeter. “We were very conscious of the materials we used since we wanted to make them feel as though they had always been there. For example, the new kitchen has these beautiful terrazzo floors that match those in the foyer of the home.”
The other benefit of those terrazzo floors? Their ability to withstand family life. “They always say they don’t make homes like they used to, and it’s really true. Part of the reason is the materials they used,” says Heeter. “Terrazzo wears beautifully, even if the dogs or kids are hard on the floor. So not only is it a reflection of the original home, but it also shows that these materials were selected for good reason.
Ultimately, the homeowners were looking for a balancing act: a design that stayed true to the original home without feeling like a museum and that was as functional as it was beautiful. The key was determining which elements to continue, like the terrazzo floors, and which to update. For example, leaded glass windows are one of the standout features of the existing home. The addition has new windows, which provide much better insulation, but with a nod to this original feature of the interior design. Heeter worked with Alspaugh Kitchen and Bath to build a custom kitchen and a wet bar with leaded, antique German glass in the top cabinets.
Other highlights in the kitchen include the pendant lighting, hand-forged by Ironware International, and the backsplash, a floral micro-mosaic tile by Walker Zanger. “What I love about it is as you walk through the room, you get all these beautiful reflections,” says Heeter. “It’s just gorgeous. The homeowner loved this tile so much we had it flow up the entire wall.”
Stairs lead down from the kitchen to the great room, where a palette of mostly whites with touches of red creates a visual link with the stone work on the exterior of the home. Iron fixtures and furnishings -- from the chandelier and custom handrail to the hand-forged side and console tables -- continue a material found in the original home.
“I wanted the great room to be elegant but also approachable,” says Heeter. “I chose some elevated fabrics, like the Lewis and Wood drapery fabric you see in the dining area, which is an 18th-century English print called Palampore. Then, I mixed in more casual fabrics, like the plaid you see on one of the chairs or some of the textiles on the sofa, which are just a bit more relaxed and inviting.”
A dining area, wet bar and living space centered along a grand fireplace round out the great room. Although originally the plan was to vault the ceiling, the team decided to do a tall flat ceiling instead. Exposed beams were added, giving the space a more inviting period aesthetic.
Flattening the ceiling also created more space upstairs, enabling the homeowners to make a late addition to their renovation plans: an updated master suite. Period Restoration quickly swung into action. “I have to give them a lot of credit. It was a pretty remarkable turnaround and was sprung on them in the middle of a project, at a busy time of the year,” says the homeowner.
“We started the project over Christmas and worked Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and Day to finish the bathroom as quickly as possible,” says Randy Renner, the president and owner of Period Restoration. “We worked closely with Meghan Heeter and Castle Design to implement the vision of a beautiful and functional bathroom that compliments the home, which was built in the 1920s. It’s a bathroom that won't go out of style and will remain beautiful forever.”
A Murano-glass light fixture and thoughtful mix of large-scale tiles with a more delicate mosaic contribute to a look which is both luxurious and soothing. But the star of the show is the freestanding tub with nickel finish, which sits beside one of the home’s original stained-glass bay windows. “There’s a beautiful, polished-nickel grille behind the cabinet doors which repeats the pattern of the original window,” notes Heeter. “I love that window -- it’s just stunning -- and we wanted to incorporate an element from it into the other side of the room.”
The cabinet grilles and Calcutta marble flooring echo the diamond shape of the bathroom’s stained-glass window.
The original windows are draped in a Colefax and Fowler fabric called Snowtree, adding a feminine touch to the bathroom.
Redoing the master bath was an unexpected bonus, but not the only one. The addition not only provided the family with the kitchen, living and entertainment space they had wanted, but also breathed new life into the original home. “There are wonderful rooms in our house that we weren’t using as much because of the layout and where the old kitchen was,” says the homeowner. “The addition has re-opened those beautiful, original parts of the home that weren’t used as much as we’d like. I love that it’s still the same house, just with great new attributes and features.”