The Story of Home
From London to Leawood, a young family begins a new chapter on Lee Boulevard.
Words
Jen Moore
@misses.moore
Photos
Nate Sheets
@natesheetsphoto
Designer
Ensley Interiors
@ensleyinteriors
Contractor
Homoly Design + Build
@homolydesignbuild
he house on Lee Boulevard doesn’t look new. Its painted brick exterior, sloped rooflines, and copper gutters already deepening with patina give it the presence of a home that could have been there for decades. A round stair window punctuates the façade, while an arched front door gestures to familiar Kansas City traditions.
For Blake and Leigh Foster, who recently returned from seven years in London with their three young boys, that was the goal: to build a new house that felt rooted in history, built for modern family life, and reflected their family values. “We’re story people,” Blake says. “The question we kept asking was: what does this house communicate about who we are?”
Leigh didn’t have to look far for roots. She grew up on this very street, and her mother lives next door. Building here meant coming home in the fullest sense. But London shaped her family, too. There, in a compact house one-third the size of this one, they learned to live efficiently and treat every corner with purpose. They also absorbed native rhythms: meals that spilled outdoors at the first hint of sunshine, dinners stretched long around crowded tables.
Together, those influences became a blueprint of sorts. Local architectural details gave the house its familiar presence; London gave it efficiency and a spirit of hospitality. “We wanted a home that could gather people easily—not extravagant, not pretentious, but welcoming in a way that creates community,” Blake says.
Because they were an ocean away during the design and build process, the Fosters placed their trust in Paige Posladek of Ensley Interiors, a friend before she was their designer. Weekly calls with Paige and Homoly Design + Build created a cadence for and confidence in the project that felt surprisingly freeing to the Fosters. “If we’d been here during the build, it would’ve been more stressful,” Leigh admits. “Being overseas meant we had to trust the team—and that distance actually helped.”
For Blake, Posladek’s role was more than decorative. “We needed someone who could help us design a space that told our story. Paige wasn’t just making something pretty. She reflected us in the house.”
Posladek and her team also drew inspiration from the surrounding neighborhoods. “We wanted the house to feel like an old Kansas City home, so we studied Brookside, Ward Parkway, and Loose Park—all those arches and brick details laid in traditional patterns give the house a presence that feels older than it is.”
Inside, she resisted the common urge to create one vast open plan. “We wanted it to feel like it had been renovated over time,” Posladek explains. Distinct rooms flow together gracefully: arches are thick and substantial, not trendy; white oak floors carry warmth throughout; marble anchors fireplaces.
The office includes a dramatic steel-framed interior window fitted with “click glass” that turns opaque at the touch of a button. The staircase—continuous spindles with no newel posts or rosettes—was an engineering feat. “It took a year to figure out,” Posladek says. “But it gives the house both old-world resonance and modern clarity.”
Everyday life with three boys was a design brief of its own. The mudroom bench is covered in leather rather than fabric, ready for sports gear and muddy shoes. The bunk room holds full-size beds to carry the boys through adolescence. Behind their closet lies a secret. “The Narnia closet leads to a hidden playroom where the older boys can leave their Legos safe from the toddler,” Posladek says.
For Leigh, the floor plan gifted her a room of her own. “The little nook off the kitchen feels like a London café. It’s where I go to work or hide away. I can’t imagine the house without it.”
The family room offers another pause: walls and ceiling painted in pale blue, shelves stretching to the ceiling with something to read for everyone, a space that “feels like a cloud.”
Hospitality shows up most vividly outside. At the heart of the back patio sits a 16-seat table—less a piece of furniture than a symbol of how the Fosters live. “It felt important to us, because in London we saw how much life happens around a table—long dinners, beautiful meals, people gathered together,” Leigh says. Neighborly yet secluded, the gathering place features a wood-burning fireplace for warmth, skylights that keep the adjoining living room bright, and built-in heaters that extend Kansas City’s seasons.
Throughout the house are echoes of the Fosters’ travels, details that turn design into biography. Ironwork in the office recalls a hotel in Myanmar. Textiles from Morocco soften the primary suite. The basement carries a chalet sensibility, layered with photographs of the French Alps. Cornwall, with its wild coastlines and mythic feel, inspired art in the kitchen and family spaces.
Looking back, the Fosters say the process worked for them because they started with values, not square footage or finishes. “If you’re clear on your mission, vision, and values, you have a toolbox you can carry into every decision,” Blake says. “For us, it was about enough—defining what’s enough space to be hospitable, enough design to reflect who we are, never more than we needed.”
Posladek echoes that intention. “From the beginning, we wanted this house to feel different than a normal new build, like it already had a layered personality and soul,” she says. “Even a new home should have room to evolve. You nail the details, but you leave space for the family to add their own story.”
And for the house on Lee Boulevard, the story is just beginning.
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