There’s something exceptionally sweet about finding your mate a bit later in life. You know yourself well: what you like; what you want. You’ve learned to play nicely with others, pool your resources and celebrate both your similarities and your differences. And so it is with Ann and Jerry McLellan and their welcoming home in Kenilworth.
When they married less than a decade ago, each had a well-appointed household, a well-established career in Michigan — Jerry in automotive marketing, Ann in library science — and distinct tastes. He’s fond of Mid-Century Modern and contemporary aesthetics; she has a penchant for antiques. Yet as they merged their lives, they found plenty they could agree upon: delight in the details, a certain joie de vivre and their choice of a retirement destination: Asheville, North Carolina.
The couple had spent time in the area visiting with Ann’s daughter and her family and found the environment and cultural offerings appealing. Since both were preparing to retire and wanted to downsize from their expansive, lakeside home in the Wolverine State, they began a search for the perfect little place near the grandchildren.
There were a few caveats, however. Their dream home needed to be compact, low maintenance, beautifully constructed, healthy-built and energy efficient. It had to accommodate the couple’s somewhat eclectic collection of art and furniture and enhance their anticipated easy-going lifestyle.
“We couldn’t find the standard we wanted in an existing smaller home,” Jerry recalls, “so we decided to build on a lot that Ann had purchased before we were married.” Ann’s daughter Susan Andrew introduced them to architect Robert Griffin and his colleague Roger Pollock, who immediately understood the parameters.
“There were priorities,” says Griffin. “There was a great concern for quality, not size — comfort, health, security and wellbeing. They both love wonderful art, which is great. I always ask clients to give us images of their things to help me identify their collections. That information determines wall space and placement, it also determines lighting. They took me quite seriously. We got photos of all the art and furniture, with the dimensions indicated — all digital and cataloged, so we were able to sit down and place things on the drawings during the design process.”
Ann and Jerry were very much a part of that process, from the siting of the house to the fine points. “Ann had all the trees on the property surveyed and numbered, along with the species and sizes,” says Jerry. “Only one big cherry had to come out. We even selected the driveway angle to save as many trees as possible.” Landscape design by Stephen Lee Johnson of Sitework Studios integrated the existing foliage while incorporating the shared views of neighbor’s gardens and providing Ann with “a small garden for me to play in. Otherwise, the rest is very low maintenance.”
The home’s exterior echoes the storybook quality of the neighborhood’s older Normandy style homes, but on a smaller scale, and adds “a touch of whimsy in the trim and details,” says Pollock. “Like the curve of the ‘cat-slide’ roof and the torchieres on the porch. There’s a playfulness to it.”
Inside, it’s all about the art, the furnishings and ease of living. “The interior is really where we departed from the 1930s style of the neighborhood,” Pollock observes. “The older homes tend to have lots of small rooms — to be rather dark. We took a more contemporary approach: bright, open and free flowing. We kept it very down to earth. It’s designed to be beautiful, simple and functional.”
That simplicity provides a perfect showcase for the couple’s treasured collections. “The McLellans have a very personal relationship with their artwork,” says Pollock. “They had a strong sense of where to position pieces so that they could best enjoy them.”
Rather than take a gallery approach, the home’s design is integrative. “There’s nothing wrong with contemporary art mixed with more traditional things,” explains Griffin. “In the public spaces, there’s a melding of the two, whereas in the private spaces there’s a bit more of the individual identity — spaces which are more appropriate for Ann’s antiques or Jerry’s more contemporary taste.”
The structural aspects of the home have a spare sensibility, but introduce a myriad of thoughtful details: softly rounded corners, delicately curved archways, warm cherry and black walnut woodwork and rustic timber beams. And the craftsmanship lives up to the McLellan’s exacting standards, incorporating the careful oversight of contractor Jim McClure, the cabinet artistry of Forest Millwork and the painstaking paintwork of Jesse York of All Seasons Painting.
It all comes together in 2,400 square feet of heaven for the McLellans as they embark on their explorations of the Golden Years. “It’s built on human scale. The house is small, but it lives large,” notes Griffin. “It’s designed for our lifestyle,” says Ann with a smile. “Part of the marriage in building this house was keeping our things. We felt at home immediately when the house was done. And other people seem to feel at home here the way we do.”
In a little house in Kenilworth, the McLellans have found an ideal common ground.
View a photo gallery.
Local Resources: Griffin Architects, PA – architecture and interior design; Forest Millwork – cabinets and millwork; Mountain Marble & Granite – granite countertops; Jim McClure – general contractor; Sitework Studios – landscape architect; Berrier Select Landscapes – landscape contractor; Home Energy Partners – environmental; C.T. Rowe – timberwork; All Seasons Painting – painting