Creating a meticulously designed space from a blank canvas is a unique challenge. Looking for someone to take on the challenge, this new homeowner reached out to Morgan Brown of Castle Design after a neighbor’s home was transformed with Brown’s help. “She saw my work, and liked it, and so we went from there,” recalls Brown.

When Kevin Berges moved into his 2,500-square-foot loft a couple of years ago, he knew he’d want to update the space and make it his own. He was equally certain that the apartment, located in the Central West End in a 100-plus-year-old former pharmaceutical warehouse, needed to retain its unique metropolitan charm.

“When people walk into the room, I see them glance around and smile, and they say it’s really a happy room. And, it is,” says homeowner Nanette Stevenson. Manche has done nearly every room in the Stevensons' house, and the homeowners have followed even his boldest ideas. “Tom is very creative, and I trust him — a lot,” Nanette adds. When Manche decided Tarkay paintings from a nearby living room would set the newly built family room’s palette, he knew bright fuchsia and orange hues wouldn’t be an issue.

“I love everything about it – the granite, the crown molding, the built-in theater with seating for twelve, even the door handles. But I won’t buy this house. I just CAN’T with the red wall,” the wide-eyed reality show participant spouts off as she gives her final synopsis of the house she’s just finished touring. “The color just doesn’t feel…right. It isn’t me.”

Exposed brick, raw concrete walls, polyurethane subfloors and a steel door leading to nowhere – need we say more? It was the industrial look that drew Michael Henderson to his 3,000-square-foot home in an eight-story commercial-turned-residential building that opened as Sporting News back in 1923. 

There’s just one problem with the unrefined aesthetic: “My job,” explains Henderson, “is extremely stressful. I need warmth and serenity when I come home.”