It was love at first sight when the owners purchased their Creve Coeur home on a quiet private road amidst the neighborhood’s quaint setting and beloved parklands. The classic Nantucket-style architecture and contemporary living spaces were more than enough to draw them in despite the outdated design of a partitioned kitchen, pantry space and family room.

At first sight, the classic architecture of this Tudor-style home in University City captured the homeowners’ attention. From the arched front door to the sunroom’s original stained-glass doors, their first instinct was to preserve the charm of this house yet also add modern elements to reflect their own personal style. So when they were set to renovate, they called on Kathleen Matthews, an interior designer of 30 years at the award-winning Marcia Moore Design firm in St. Louis.

The “effortlessly chic” look of a pared down space complete with clean lines, well-curated artwork and subtle yet memorable decor requires thoughtful precision and, oftentimes, a lot of hard work. Undeterred by the challenge, Jason and Lisa Noakes took up the mantel of minimalist design in their new addition to honor the history of the original 1920 house and make room for their growing boys.

There are a million and a half ways to go about home renovation. And some of them don’t even cost a million and a half straight out of the gate. 

For a pair of St. Louis Hills homeowners, a long-term timeline and a great deal of patience have allowed them to remodel their home from, as they tell it, “one inch to the other.” Their recently completed master bath, one of the last major renovations on the property, depending on whom you ask, is a beautiful, and textbook, example of their inch-by-inch approach to home improvement.

The 1990s may not seem so long ago, but in terms of house decor it’s an eternity, as Tamsin Mascetti of Tamsin Design Group can attest. Tamsin encountered a walk back in time with the recent redesign of client Christine Shore’s master bath. The home had undergone a refresh to most rooms, but the bathroom remained 220 square feet of anachronistic dysfunction. The interior design equivalent of the plaid flannel shirt, distressed jeans and Birkenstocks.

“My passion is bringing out the best in the floor plan,” says Peg Hammerschmidt, interior architect at Hammer & Schmidt Design. And while the homeowner describes her house’s original style as bland – “builder-grade late-90s contemporary,” she says – the catalyst for a stunning whole-house transformation was closet space, not aesthetic.