The owners of this home were drawn to Ladue’s location —more convenient to the airport and downtown than the couple’s previous home in Chesterfield. As they imagined their dream home, the couple already knew who’d be part of the team creating it. Award-winning builder Mike Mahn is a family member, and interior designer Debbie Donnelly had worked on remodeling the couple’s Chesterfield home. Now the owners needed to find the perfect lot where they would build.
“Once we decided to move closer in, I just started driving around this area, and I saw a house for sale,” says the wife. The home’s wide lot backed up to a golf course, providing an idyllic setting. The lot’s existing home was taken down, and the couple began working with the team to design a bright, airy home ideal for entertaining friends and family, which includes three young adult children.
The founder of Mahn Custom Homes & Renovations, Mike says the couple wanted a home with open spaces that would maximize entertaining and allow good flow throughout the home. “They didn’t want it to feel cavernous, however,” says Mike. “They wanted a beautiful, welcoming space where every inch of it would be used, whether entertaining or in their daily lives.”
Mike introduced the owners to architect Jeff Day, principal of Jeff Day & Associates, who worked with the couple to design a home with a main-level primary suite; a large, open space for gathering, dining and entertaining; and an outdoor entertaining space accessible from the main level. “We wanted to walk directly out to the back yard pool, which this lot gave us,” says the wife. “Our previous house in Chesterfield had a deck so you had to walk down the steps to the backyard.”
The combination of stone, brick and siding on the exterior is sophisticated and elegant, yet traditional elements such as the front porch swing and gas lanterns add a homey welcome. “It’s a contemporary take on the traditional styling of a European country home,” Jeff says. Yet, “it’s not pretentious, just the perfect combination of lightness and texture,” says Debbie, owner of Donnelly Interiors and Donnelly Décor, a retail space featuring furniture and home furnishings.
An oversized window facing the street frames a floating staircase inside the home. “I love natural light in a stairwell, and if done right, a stairwell can be a work of art,” says Jeff. “In addition, from the outside you get a glimpse of what’s to come inside the home. In this case, there’s a two-story volume of space interrupted only by the stairwell, and the large window brings natural light into the upstairs loft, into the foyer area and along a corridor that runs through the middle of the main floor.”
That corridor is just one space in the home receiving specific attention to the ceiling. Debbie worked with Mike and an interior designer on the Mahn Custom Home team in designing architectural ceiling details throughout the home. In the long hallway on the main floor, a barrel vault ceiling is one of the wife’s favorite elements in the home. “It’s just something different you don’t see very often, and I love turning on the uplights and drawing attention to it,” the wife says.
The dining room features a coffered ceiling, and the primary bedroom’s steeply pitched beams add architectural interest to the simple serenity of the space. “Most of the time ceilings are forgotten,” says Debbie. “A ceiling treatment sets the tone and takes a room from ordinary to special.”
Walls also received special attention in intentional areas. On the main floor, a brick arch visually separates the living and dining areas from the kitchen. “Sitting in the great room and looking into the kitchen with the brick defining that view is just so inviting,” says Debbie. The wife says the brick wall is another favorite element in the home. And a powder room wows thanks to a Phillip Jeffries wallpaper.
A bar area opposite the casual eating space also provides a sense of separation in the vast main living and dining space. “We wanted a bar/beverage center on the main level,” says the wife. Featuring a coffee maker, ice maker, wine cooler and refridgerator drawers, this space further serves as a transition between kitchen and great room. Debbie suggested black cabinets for the bar area to contrast with the kitchen’s airy white and light natural wood cabinetry. “The black warms the space and definitely makes it more interesting,” says Debbie.
Outdoors, an impressive pool house “accompanies the house as opposed to being just another structure sitting out in the back yard that may or may not complement the house,” says Mike. The pool house’s list of attributes includes a kitchenette, a separate bedroom and a full bath, in addition to the large open space for gathering and dining. “It’s just a great space to go and relax and not interrupt anyone in the main house,” says Mike.
In reflecting on the couple’s vision, Jeff calls the home “a legacy home” —a place where young adult children and eventual grandchildren will want to visit. “It’s the central spot where everybody would want to be,” says Jeff. And it’s plenty large—around 9,000 square feet of finished space. “It feels elegant, even with its sheer mass,” says Jeff. Mike agrees. “It’s grand, but it’s just so warm and inviting. It’s a home they can truly hand down to the next generation and their family can enjoy absolutely wonderful memories, not only because it’s set up for entertaining, but it’s so filled with love.”
As a family member, Mike has been a part of those memory-making occasions, whether a family gathering or a large fundraising event for a charitable endeavor. “It’s fun to sit back and watch people come in, and their jaws drop while they are just trying to take it all in,” says Mike. “It’s just really fun to see what you’ve provided for a family and the memories they will keep from having these events in their home.”
