Teeing Off Tradition – Carolina Home + Garden magazine

This view from the updated kitchen shows the blend of old and new appointments, including a majestic dining-room table and the former lanai turned great room, weatherized to blend naturally with the square footage and appointed with a hearth in light ledgestone surround. The marble waterfall countertop (“Calacatta Brasil”) is by Stone Connection Granite Interiors. *Photo by Ryan Theede.*

When cosmetic dentists Brian and Janet Childs sold their Florida-based practice in 2019, the couple knew exactly where they wanted to go: a place like Wyoming’s ruggedly charming Jackson Hole valley, just without the 428 inches of “cowboy powder” (aka snow) each year.

“We used to have a home in Jackson, and we loved the outdoor lifestyle,” Brian explains. “But we needed a place with a more temperate climate.”

That place proved to be Asheville, a mountain holding with great outdoor opportunities and, perhaps more importantly, not-so-great snowfall (i.e., a mere 12 inches per year compared to Jackson’s 36 feet). “We quickly fell in love with the city,” Brian says.

The handsome home on the green was already rock-solid. Tasteful updates by Morgan-Keefe Builders, Design Elite, and Stratton Design Group give it contemporary style and flow. *Photo by Ryan Theede*

A golfer and tennis player, respectively, Brian and Janet set their sights on buying a lot and building in The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, a gated golf community bordered by Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway in Arden. But then a home on the seventh hole hit the market. “It wasn’t perfect,” says Brian, “but I knew we could remodel to make it our own.”

Structurally speaking, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom domicile proved solid. (It had just been built in 2016, after all.) But the home wavered stylistically, what with its river-rock fireplaces, dark wood accents, and other rustic embellishments. “It was your classic mountain home,” Brian reveals. “That’s great for some people. However, we’re accustomed to a more contemporary look.”

Off the kitchen, the previous owners had opted for a covered lanai with flagstone flooring and a rock fireplace. Though well-intentioned, the al fresco area didn’t serve its new occupants. “We had a grill out there, but the screens kept getting blown out, so it went unused,” Brian laments.

The new great room was formerly a screened-in porch. Morgan-Keefe Builders salvaged the original rough-hewn beams — they were sanded and coated in a warm oak stain — a direct nod to the new white-oak flooring. A linear marble ledge stone from Crossville Studios anoints the fireplace surround. *Photo by Ryan Theede*

Intent on customizing the house to suit their tastes, the homeowners enlisted architecture firm Design Elite in Greenville, South Carolina, to draft initial plans for the remodeled living room and porch-turned-great room. Doug Stratton of Stratton Design Group in Skyland was then hired to pull together elements for other spaces, including the kitchen, butler’s pantry, and primary bathroom. All the while, Chris Kimmey, director of renovations at Morgan-Keefe Builders, managed the work.

“There were two main ideas driving this project: The first was to modernize the home. The second was to incorporate the screened-in porch into the main living area,” says Kimmey.

Hoping for an airy aesthetic in the primary bedroom, the homeowners worked with MKB Director of Renovations Chris Kimmey to reframe the walls. This afforded “sharper lines and angles,” says Brian. A coat of warm white paint and a hearty dose of shiplap completed the space. *Photo by Ryan Theede*

Though that may sound simple enough, Kimmey had to work with structural engineers at Mountain Contour Engineering to remove a wall separating the dining room and lanai and then reinforce the ceiling with large structural beams. The floor in the outdoor area also had to be raised and insulated, and the existing walls weatherized. “We wanted the room to look like a natural extension of the home,” says Brian. “Morgan-Keefe delivered just that.”

Reworking the floor plan elsewhere allowed the homeowners to add a few fun, yet still functional, embellishments to the main floor. Off the kitchen, for instance, they combined the pantry, laundry room, and a small office to create a sprawling butler’s pantry with copious cabinetry for bulk food storage and kitchen gadgets. A small nook near the living area was also retooled into a speakeasy-inspired dry bar.

“I was just going for what looked cool,” adds Stratton, who was responsible for designing the pocket saloon as well as several other creative flourishes, such as the geometric kitchen ceiling.

Brian agrees that the home is cool and chic — but not overly so. “It’s not too modern or funky. It’s the right amount of contemporary for us,” he says. “We’re super happy with how it all turned out.”