Everyday Glam

Winter 2024/2025

December 18, 2024

Words by Susan Cannon | Photos by Laurie Kilgore

Hollywood Regency style lightens and enlivens a young family’s Fairway home.

hen Liz and Quinn Ottwell bought their home in Fairway, they had two little toddlers in tow. Their new house had enough space to grow their family as planned and to fulfill all their lifestyle wants and needs. Yet the interiors called for contemporary updates not only to brighten their environment but to suit the way they would live for many years to come.

Liz hired ML Designs’ Maureen Lindstrom and Heather Gormsen to recreate an entirely new design aesthetic and to collaborate with Mark Eddy of Gahagan-Eddy Building Company to execute the interior renovation.

“Liz was a dream to work with,” Lindstrom says. “She has great style, and we had so much fun working with her to design the family’s dream home.”

The formidable makeover required a strong first impression. ML Designs started by creating an entryway with eclectic glamour and a dose of glitz, setting the tone for what would lay ahead: smart style, bespoke craftsmanship and an abundance of jewel-box moments. Nearly 50 striking light fixtures were installed, and all of the elements merged with a thoughtful blending of brass accents and contemporary furnishings—even in the utilitarian rooms and kids’ spaces.

“We always say ‘design is in the details,’ and all the details in this home have been very carefully thought-out,” Lindstrom says.

The open living room and kitchen areas required significant attention. The combined spaces felt outdated and unnecessarily dark, despite the amount of natural light and the living room’s cathedral ceiling.

A few surface refinements offered an instant mood lift. The team freshly painted the living room walls and ceiling, whitewashed the stone fireplace and added classic, floor-to-ceiling wainscoting. They refinished the hardwood floors and re-cladded the beams to match, maintaining a cohesive flow throughout the house.

Click to Watch MyKC Live Interview from the Winter Issue of designKC

Publisher Keith Sauro joins Maureen Lindstrom and Heather Gormsen from ML Designs to chat about their gorgeous home featured in designKC Magazine’s winter issue.

A masterfully transformed primary bathroom utilizes functional space in high style. A wider vanity replaces the former bathtub. Elegant marble tiles and brass fixtures are highlights of the room. Within the walk-in closet is a customized chest with prehnite gemstone pulls by Modern Matter. The closet wraps around, replacing a former guest bath that was once accessible from the living room.

Brass hardware, fixtures, lighting and other accents play a central role in the character of the fully customized open kitchen. In de rigueur style is an adjacent wet bar with prominent brass features, such as a hammered brass bar sink and brass mesh-front upper cabinets undoubtedly concealing the spirits. A lower beverage fridge for the littles tops it off.

The kitchen opens up to the sunny dining nook with banquette seating lining the bay window. Its pretty window treatment is Les Touches by Brunschwig & Fils. A striking alabaster and hand-rubbed brass Ian K.Fowler chandelier elevates the space further.

The lofted living room, once heavy with a closed-in feeling, is now a calming space, bringing breathable expanse to the home. A white traditional sectional with navy piping would otherwise be a dangerous call for a home with busy toddlers, if not for the stain-resistant Sunbrella fabric. An oil painting with gold leaf detailing by Kansas City artist Tara Andris hangs above an extra-long custom-made credenza.

More dramatically, they took the kitchen and dining space down to the studs and redesigned it with custom workmanship, then made it pop with shiny brass hardware, surface trim and mesh door fronts that stand out against the white backdrop. Marble surfaces and elegant light fixtures elevate the space.

Consistent high style was a key component in appointing the home’s spaces—as is the ML Designs ethos.

Extra glimmer never hurts, so ML Designs laid it on thick in the primary suite and handsome home office. Their proclivity toward Old Hollywood style became the paramount direction, with them incorporating metallic touches, dripping crystals and patterned marble to evoke that glam vibe.

The project team also gave a few spaces new purposes. Just off the kitchen, a screened-in porch was transformed into a finished sunroom with backyard access for the littles. And Gormsen brought bright ideas on how to carve out better use of a formerly banal laundry room.

Through a more elevated version of a barn door is a sweet playroom claimed from untouched attic space. Charming brass star-shaped light fixtures are by Alexa Hampton for Visual Comfort.

The wow-factor of the baby boy’s room lies in the oversized gingham wallpaper by Schumacher. The handsome glimmer of a drum light follows the sophisticated mood of the rest of the home. The perfectly modern crib is from RH.

Through a more elevated version of a barn door is a sweet playroom claimed from untouched attic space. Charming brass star-shaped light fixtures are by Alexa Hampton for Visual Comfort.

The first-floor hallway that leads from the kitchen to the pantry, guest bath, laundry and mud rooms features an oil and gold leaf painting by Tara Andris, setting the decorative tone into the home’s most practical spaces. The ceiling is lined with Aerin beaded light fixtures by Visual Comfort. A woven wool runner is custom, and wood shutters are by One Stop Decorating. A Hollywood Regency style door leads to the garage. The pillowed checkerboard tiles were sourced from International Materials of Design.

What was once a screened-in porch just beyond the kitchen and dining area is now a relaxing sunroom where Liz can be inside with her baby and watch the boys play in the backyard at the same time.

At the bottom of the basement stairs is a modern, glassed-in wine room. Marble backdrop walls hold the wine collection in a temperature-controlled setting.

The downstairs bar, appointed with a geometrically textural gold tiled wall from IMD, along with sleek brass-and-glass shelves by Palmer Industries, are a significant nod to early 20th-century glam style. Kelly Wearstler’s subtle natural brass LED ceiling lights are perfect for this space, and the Julie Neill sconces add that extra appeal. A bespoke built-in cabinet with mirrored doors and Modern Matter brass pulls cleverly disguises the sump pump.

An imaginative mudroom doubles as the doggy quarters. A clever space-saving and aesthetically cool built-in dog kennel has open-weave brass mesh cabinet doors that complement the brass mesh-front coat closets and shoe bins. The happy room is replete with a cute dog portrait.

Even when doing the laundry in two sets of stackable washers and dryers, no less, there’s a bit of cheery bling by way of a bejeweled Kate Spade light fixture by Visual Comfort.

The home office, just off the entry, is decidedly masculine with its navy, textural hemp and gold-studded wallpaper by Phillip Jeffries, a Ralph Lauren drum chandelier and handsome furnishings, including a patchwork cowhide rug from Designer’s Library.

“We noticed a sizable amount of square footage that could be gained by closing an unused staircase from the garage to the basement,” she explains. “Working with Gahagan-Eddy, we were able to create a much more spacious back entry that includes a mudroom with a built-in kennel for the family’s dog, a laundry room with two washers and dryers for all the little boys’ play clothes, a powder room and a spacious back kitchen and pantry.”

The results are highly useful rooms just as alluring as the rest of the redesigned home.

With a new baby joining his brothers—and many years of growing and evolving in their spaces ahead—the designers were challenged to achieve a well-balanced tone of practicality, fun and sophistication to create a timeless feel upstairs.

Additionally, they considerably updated the basement, covering all the bases of convenience and comfort. For the adults: a modern, glassed-in wine cave and a fabulous bar with 3D brass tile. For the kiddos: a charming separate playroom. For everyone: a roomy, cozy den with a big screen and a textural tiled fireplace to bring everyone together—in posh style, of course.

It’s truly a home executed with customized workmanship and bespoke glamour.

Interior Designer: ML Designs, @mldesignskc

Contractor: Gahagan-Eddy Building Company, @gahaganeddy

Resources:

Furniture, Rugs, Draperies, Wallpaper and Decor: ML Designs
General Contractor: Gahagan-Eddy Building Company
Cabinets: Parks Cabinets
Countertops: Dimensional Stoneworks

Shutters and Shades: One Stop Decorating
Hardware: Locks and Pulls
Original Art: Tara Andris
Lighting: Relative Lighting
Appliances: Ferguson