Love It? List It?
After buying a new house in their current neighborhood, the siren call of their existing abode forced these Central West End homeowners to think again.
by Christy Marshall / photography by Alise O’Brien
Houses can grab a person’s heart and never let go.
Ten years ago, these homeowners—she’s from St. Louis, he hails from Boston, moved from New York back to St. Louis and bought a house in the Central West End. After their family expanded to four, they bought a manse on Hortense Place.
But they never moved in. They cancelled the sale.
“They were like, we love it here,’” says Julie Baur of Baur INTERIORS, the interior designer on the project. “‘We love the location.’ And they just couldn't really wrap their brains around trying to make that house feel as good as this house.”
Plunked on a corner lot, the house exudes the charms of the turn of the century. Once the family decided to love it, not list it, they packed up the family and the dog and moved out to an apartment on Kingshighway while their house was redone. Top to bottom.
“It was a total redo,” Julie says. “The overall goal was to make it more practical and livable for their young family.”
Architect Susan Bower of Bower Leet Design and Matt Markway of Markway Construction were added to what Baur calls “the dream team.”
The house “has a lot going for it,” Susan Bower says. “It shows how a house like this can be renovated for the 21st century… All these houses were built with the idea that you would have servants so the spaces were all segregated with the front of house, back of house. What we did was open it all up and get rid of those distinctions.”
I think it is very hard to find this aesthetic in the Central West End where you modernize while giving a nod to the history of the house,” says Alise O’Brien, the photographer on the story. “They celebrated what they were in. Also, they brought color into the house and were not afraid to paint wood stained millwork. I think that really works in an old house. It gives it life.”
The transformation took two years. Rooms were flipped. An old porch was ripped off. An addition to the back of the house was built allowing for a larger kitchen, family room, breakfast room and mudroom. Part of a back staircase was removed leaving space for a new laundry room and pantry. The powder room was redone. The garage was rebuilt and a new patio was built with an indoor gym below. The unfinished basement was finished, made taller and transformed into a sleepover heaven with kitchenette, full bath, and craft area.
“[The homeowners] are both very sophisticated and have a beautiful art collection and unique pieces from years of travel,” Julie says. “She is an artist, among other things, and was not afraid to take risks. All in all, it was a delightful project with a very special end result.”
Outside, the exterior was painted, new gardens added.
“For a Central West End house, it feels so charming,” Julie says. “It’s such a happy home.”
When the homeowners first moved in, Julie Baur redecorated this room to be the living room. When the decision was made to make it the dining room instead, the homeowner asked that the wallpaper and colors — which she loved — remain. The chairs were inherited from her grandmother but Baur “fluffed them up with textiles.” The lighting throughout the house was by Urban Electric.
What had been the dining room was reworked into the living room.
The sunroom.
The bar - Cabinetry by Classic Woodworking; the faucet and sink by Waterworks.
The staircase - The carpeting in the house came from Kaim Kister.
The existing kitchen before the redo was small and dark. The architect flipped the kitchen to the opposite side of the house and the old kitchen was transformed into the family room. A glassy two-story addition was clipped on to the back of the house adding much needed space and light. The patio level was raised to align with the main floor and a gym was tucked below it. Existing millwork stayed. The cabinets were fabricated by Classic Woodworking. “Picking these colors was just such a treat because they're so different,” Baur says. The kitchen now opens into the breakfast room, new family room and mudroom.
The coffee room - An added bonus to the kitchen.
“Their mud room is new,” Baur says. “This brought in a ton of light, natural light.” A brick wall and arched opening were left exposed in the mudroom to note where the old house used to end.
The revamp of the powder room drew a lot on the resources of Soane Britain. As Baur says, “[The homeowner]’s not afraid of pattern.”
The new addition gave both of the two girls additional sunroom spaces for a space/art/crafts nook as well as window seats overlooking the back yard. The girls also got a bigger bathroom that they share.