CLASSIC

Black is always classic when it is part of the overall design concept and is architecturally appropriate. Based on the idea of historic iron and steel windows, black can add emphatic sophistication and solidity to a project. I would not recommend dousing an entire house with gray paint. I would not suggest painting trims black just to be trendy.  It all has to make sense.  Renée Céleste Flanders. 

With five grandchildren living nearby, a Kirkwood couple doted on frequent visits with the children. However, as the children grew and gained more independence, Grandma and Grandpa’s house, located on a winding, narrow road, proved problematic for the children riding their bikes or walking over alone. “It just made sense for us to move closer to them,” says the wife.

If ever a vintage house could be described as a “survivor,” this might be the one.  Built in the mid-1800s on nearly 60 acres of land in Kirkwood, the stately Gothic Revival two-story was locally known as the “Couch House,” so named for a prominent early owner. By 1909, the residence was still imposing, but most of the surrounding property had been sold off, and the town had begun to grow around it.

Homeowners Amy and Todd Krentz know high design. Throughout their Town and Country home it is, quite literally, 10 feet above their heads.

Their ceiling treatments are a pristine example of some of the latest architectural details that ambitious and on-trend builders are offering to clients with an eye for whole-home design. And because they aren’t structural, treatment styles like beams, planking and coffering are starting to span the ceilings of living rooms, dining rooms and — in the Krentz home — kitchens and patio settings.

Building a custom home allows homeowners to design their new residence to meet all of their wants and desires. During the blueprint phase of construction in Town and Country, builder Jim New of Monterey Custom Homes called on kitchen and bath designer Anne Boedges of Anne Marie Design Studio to ensure the homeowners’ kitchen was the perfect design for them and complemented the elegance of the rest of the home.