The fabulous outdoor garden and living space features design work by Chuck Beard of Creative Garden Designs and includes a patio, fireplace, waterfall and stone seating walls installed by Stone Mill Design Ltd.
Featured Homes
An Open Invitation
Indoor living makes a smooth transition to the outdoors in a newly remodeled Webster Groves home.
BY
Leah Johnson
PHOTOGRAPHY
Michael Jacob

“I wanted clean lines; a natural look that was simple, but tasteful.”
                         – Diane Lamboley

Joyce’s Tips
Joyce Cockrell, Allied ASID, of Joyce Cockrell Designs, recommends that you purchase accessories as you go, “If it works in three places in your home, then it’s a ‘buy it’ decision.”
•Buy or use pieces of furniture that fit your rooms and exemplify your own personality and lifestyle.
•Use fewer bold patterns in favor of solids, tones and textures to avoid boredom and stimulate the senses.
•When it comes to accessories, think oversize, and limit the number.
•Showcase your personality with a mix of styles, allowing a new purchase and an heirloom to be used in unison.
•Joyce’s thoughts about transitional style – Don’t be a copycat! Transition means bridging the past to the present or one style to another; blending contemporary and traditional; Craftsman and modern; American and French; and Art Deco and ’40s French, to name a few.
•Hire an ASID professional to get your project off the ground. A bit of expert help will save hours of anguished decision making.
Diane enjoys entertaining in her open, custom kitchen by Keith Gegg.
The spacious living area is layered in texture and color. The sophisticated transitional design allows comfort and elegance to blend in harmony.
The master bedroom’s geometric design scheme is morphed within the circular pattern on the bedding, as well as on the circles of the silver-toned floor lamp and ocean-inspired sculpture over the bed.

Ten years ago, Diane Lamboley, the president of the Webster Groves Chamber of Commerce, and her husband Rusty, a vice president at Emerson Electric, needed a home that was large enough for their blended family of eight children. At the time, the number of bedrooms was a key factor in their decision, along with the desire to stay in Webster Groves. As the children moved on, Diane and Rusty contemplated the next phase of their lives, considering whether to sell or remodel. They acknowledged their need for additional square footage for family gatherings, but they also needed the space to work in a different way.

Diane explains that creating more open living space, as opposed to private space, was a goal of theirs in the gut remodel of the main floor. The Lamboleys also wanted to connect the inside with the outside, marrying two of Diane’s favorite pastimes, cooking and gardening.

Today, the home “lives larger than it is” with its open floor plan and an inviting flow from the entry hall, living area and sunroom – all leading to a view of the lush outdoors for nearly year-round use. Stone seating walls provide additional space for guests to enjoy the unique setting.

Diane explains, “I wanted clean lines – a natural look that was simple but tasteful.” She was thrilled to work with interior designer Joyce Cockrell, who joined the project early on, bringing design expertise to all decisions. Joyce quickly understood that transitional style – with its sophisticated blend of traditional and contemporary, uncomplicated furniture, layered texturing of flooring and fabric and use of geometric shapes – would realize Diane’s vision of a warm and inviting atmosphere. The overall color palette that suggests earth and sea with azure, shades of beige and soft rust and green – all mixed with silver and pewter metallics – provides a unifying theme throughout the main level.

The startling transformation of the home centers on the kitchen, with its oversized granite island that features an extra-deep sink and built-in storage underneath. Kitchen designer Keith Gegg answered all of Diane’s entertaining needs, with two Bosch dishwashers, two Electrolux convection ovens and a stainless Kitchen Aid refrigerator. Diane thoroughly enjoys entertaining, and she wanted her home to reflect this focus while still providing pockets of privacy. The custom look includes red birch cabinets, a large pantry on one wall and a cleverly hidden cooktop exhaust hood between the dish and glassware cabinets. The porcelain tile floor, with its swirling pattern of warm reddish browns, cream and green, carries through the adjacent living room, where textures are subtly layered above a chunky rust-red cable rug.

The indoor space weaves its way into the sunroom addition, which has become a sanctuary for both Diane and Rusty. Whether reading the newspaper over coffee or sipping a glass of wine at the end of the day, the space joins the indoors and outdoors seamlessly. A custom-built stone fireplace is the focal point in the outdoor living space and draws you into the resort-like setting.

Throughout the Lamboleys’ indoor and outdoor living areas, designer Joyce Cockrell mirrored the earth and sea concept in the strategic use of accessories. Adding to the airy feeling of the indoors, the living area is punctuated with a Capese shell-covered lamp base, natural coral sculpture and a flowering dogwood painting that is showcased in a custom-built cherry and mahogany Ello cabinet.

Diane is especially pleased with the textures and tactile elements in both the entryway and dining room, emphasized by a striking pewter faux painted wall. The entry, which opens to the dining room, is accented by the triptych of brightly painted, bowed metal wall sculptures, decorative metal candlesticks and the metal console table. The dining room’s cork flooring subtly adds a soft touch, and it contrasts remarkably with the geometric shapes of a unique chandelier and two side tables that exude a worldly aesthetic with their inlaid sunburst pattern.

Inspired by a visit to a model home, Diane mimicked the use of wide horizontal stripes, textured with a faux paint finish, in shades of ivory and silver to make a soft statement in the home’s main level powder room. A multi-tiered leaf sculpture hangs on the wall below a favorite print purchased in Ireland.

For a respite at the end of a busy day, the master bedroom is tailored yet cozy, employing a rich palette of chocolate, vanilla, pewter, silver and steel blue. An emphasis on geometric shapes adds texture, with vertical stripes on the pillows, softening into a unique, wavy stripe fabric on the space’s occasional chair.

Natural elements, clean lines and the soft colors of the earth and sea blend beautifully with carefully chosen furniture and accessories, textured fabrics that add depth, and wall and ceiling colors used to create flow. The result is an inviting home for the entire family. The Lamboleys envisioned a home that would continue to suit their needs with plenty of room for their blended family, though warmth and comfort were never sacrificed as they broke down walls to create wide-open spaces for their children and grandchildren to gather.