After years of living in their Ladue home with three young children, this vivacious couple decided a main-floor overhaul was necessary to better accommodate their active family. They called in experienced husband-and-wife builder/designer duo Randy and Davey Mayer, who have been in the business for more than three decades and partner together at RJ Mayer Development Corporation and Davette J. Mayer Design, to tackle the project.

Sometimes a home needs a facelift to freshen up, but with so many facade-fixing options, it’s hard to know where to start.

Every winter, homeowners Gary and Joyce Shaw leave the harsh Midwest temperatures behind by escaping to the warmer climes of temperate Tucson, AZ. Thus, a downsizing of their St. Louis living arrangement seemed logical.

The couple sought a smaller space that would maintain the quality of life they were used to and accommodate the furnishings from their previous, larger home. They wanted to be close to their places of work, shopping and downtown St. Charles, while also having easy access to downtown St. Louis.

Like every stereotypical 1950s-era home, this 2,200-square-foot Des Peres ranch was immured with compartmentalized rooms and smothered by eight-foot ceilings, wall-to-wall carpet and linoleum. So, two brave homeowners renovated the entire floor plan, taking the space from stale to stylish. The crowning achievement: conversion of the segregated kitchen, living and dining rooms into a casual cooking and eating area that’s constantly begging for company.

As many homeowners gracefully age, their focus begins to turn from their current living situation to where they will live in the later years of their lives. For many, staying in their own homes is important. The ability to “age in place” and enjoy the comforts of their surroundings has many homeowners rethinking the current state of their homes and making modifications to accommodate life changes in the future so that they can live independently in their own home and community.

When a Town and Country couple purchased a teardown in 2005, they knew part of their rebuild would include an exquisite backyard landscape featuring a pool house for year-round entertaining. “We wanted a space where we could entertain outside of the home,” the homeowner explains. “Something intimate and cozy.”