Date:  November 2, 2018  |   Story: Tiffany Adams  |   Photography: Rett Peek  |   Styling: Hope Johnstone  |  

A young family brings their love of down-to-earth style with them as they settle in to a new Northwest Arkansas home

Moving from upstate New York to Northwest Arkansas, the owners of this Fayetteville home were eager to bring a few of their favorite things to their new location—namely the style of their previous home. “We had a Craftsman house in New York, and I really wanted to stay with that style for our next home,” one of the homeowners says. However, after online real estate searches proved to be unfruitful, she and her husband realized they would need to build to get the look they desired.

“I began Googling house plans and found a Southern Living one that I loved,” the homeowner says. “It had a huge front porch, and I thought, ‘I’m going to the South so I have to have a front porch,’” she adds. She and her husband began working with Celtic Custom Homes to build. “When I first talked with the husband, he told me his wife already had the plan she wanted and she even brought me a picture of their home in New York for inspiration,” recalls Lee Scarlett, owner of Celtic Custom Homes, who also helped the couple find their lot. During the framing process, the couple realized they needed help selecting finishes and ultimately furnishings and turned to Katie Rees of Katie Grace Designs.

From there, Katie and her team member Corrie Rusch worked alongside the homeowner on the interiors. “She has great style and taste; she just needed our guidance to keep the vibe cohesive and translate from her mind to the house,” Katie says. Part of this came in defining the style of the home. “I wouldn’t call it total farmhouse; it’s more refined and transitional. There are a lot of cottage details throughout this house, and that’s something Corrie and I came to realize the owners wanted throughout the process.”

Ultimately, it was this personalized blend that makes the family feel at home in their new town and their new residence. “This house would not look the way it does without Katie and her team,” the homeowner says. “They helped me to make every room work for our family.”

At the front entrance of the Craftsman-style home, stamped concrete floors give the look of real wood and offer the durability to stand up to years of wear-and-tear with little maintenance.  

Elegantly Inviting
The formal living room is one of the first spaces you see upon walking through the front door, thus it needed to be equally pretty and welcoming. “The homeowner knew she wanted an all-neutral palette, and we really liked the idea of going monochromatic and bringing in interest through texture,” Katie says. The light fixture, which Katie notes is the anchor of the room, complements the serene hues and the wooden antique artwork seen over the fireplace. Built-in shelves house a mix of personal and stylistic finds.

Cooking Up Style
Craftsman influence carries over to the kitchen with a mix of natural materials and practical style. Here, engineered wood floors (which run the expanse of most of the home) pair with cream cabinetry and a light gray island, which Katie says brings out the veining in the quartz countertops. Furniture-style cabinetry on the far wall features cremone bolt hardware and tidily hides small appliances, while panels reduce the number of visible large appliances thus giving a simplified feel.

Katie and her team adjusted the kitchen’s floor plan to give the family a dedicated pantry and the openness they desired. The pantry door was a find from Round Top Antiques Fair and is thought to be from the 1800s.

The Gathering Place
A hearth room (below) connects to the kitchen and functions as the central hangout for the family. The corbels on the mantel echo the design of the wood framing seen in the kitchen’s entryway (above). The two-story room features two sets of windows, allowing an abundance of natural light to spill into the space.

The repetition of a shiplap treatment on the walls and ceilings is present throughout much of the home. “We worked with trim carpenters for months to get this right,” Katie says. “It was a balance to figure out which rooms would get which treatment and how to make it all feel cohesive; we didn’t want to overdo it.”

Down-to-Earth Dining
“She didn’t want the dining room to be too formal; she was thinking classy but a little more casual,” Katie says of the homeowner’s vision. The approachable design is grounded in the same neutral hues seen throughout the home, but accented with more vibrant punches of color as seen in the rug and the artwork, which was created by Northwest Arkansas-based artist Allison Hobbs.

Subtle Sophistication
“This is one of my favorite rooms,” Katie says of the galley-style master bath. “So much detail went into it but, at the same time, it’s all really simple.” A casual, on-trend matte black finish was used for the mirrors, sconces, and door hardware while champagne-bronze fixtures and cabinetry hardware bring a slightly more refined element to the design. “We knew we wanted a gold statement chandelier,” Katie says. “It was the perfect center point in the vaulted ceiling and really completes the space.”

Restful Retreat
“Fresh and light” are the words the designer uses to describe the master bedroom. White walls and linens lend a clean feel while wood accents relate back to the home’s natural elements—seen throughout the interior as well as the exterior. The ceiling was white washed to allow for wood texture without an overwhelmingly dark hue. Its color complements the window coverings and the room’s accent color—green.

Get Crafty
The basement of the three-level home is dedicated to the couple’s 9-year-old twin daughters. A craft room is one of the highlights. Utilitarian elements such as large tiles that give the look of concrete, a shiplap accent wall, and a light wall color allow the girls’ work to stand out.

Design Resources
Contractor Lee Scarlett, Celtic Custom Homes Interior design Katie Rees and Corrie Rusch, Katie Grace Designs Accessories, lighting, mirrors, and rugs Katie Grace Designs Appliances Metro Appliances & More Art Allison Hobbs Art Bedding Katie Grace Designs and Sheryl’s Sewing Room Cabinetry Verser’s Cabinet Shop Carpet, flooring, and tile Encore Flooring and Building Products Countertops New Century Counter Tops Fabrics Fabric Gallery Furniture Abide Furniture, Katie Grace Designs, and Howse Hardware Hearth and Home Paint Sherwin-Williams Painting (decorative) Visual Harmony Upholstery Roger Fletcher Upholstery Window coverings Baker Window Coverings and Fabric Gallery