Steel Going Strong

March 12, 2025

A custom home with one-of-a-kind fabrication details is riveting.

Words by Andrea Darr | Photos by Amy Farnum

hen Amy Farnum relocated to Kansas City from Denver five years ago, the designer was looking forward to forging new relationships with subs and builders. She found exactly that when a steel-fabricator client approached her about his family’s industrial-style custom new build in Independence, Missouri.

“It was an opportunity to come up with something creative,” Farnum says. “Everything I do is highly custom, and this was so out of the box and fun.”

Farnum was called in to bring warmth, light and a sense of cohesiveness to the project. The owner/builder brought plenty of ideas to the table, too, starting—obviously—with a steel-beam structure.

“The house is not going to budge,” she says.

But the client’s unique contributions to the house need a closer look: The custom cabinets are outfitted with steel hinges, the baseboards are riveted to the wall, and, most noticeably, a four-chamber gas fireplace makes for one heckuva conversation piece. Its doors crank open individually and can heat the whole house. Laid on a bed of river rock, it makes a true centerpiece in the home.

The floor plan is open, with living space on one side and the kitchen on the other. A pool is right outside, with a garage slider that completely opens up the space.

Large-format porcelain tile floor throughout was needed to make cleaning up super easy and low-maintenance.

“They do a lot of hosting and gathering, so we needed the least amount of grout lines as possible,” Amy says. “It’s a hub for a lot of family activity, indoors and out.”

In the kitchen, the cobalt-blue appliances were one of the first selections made by the homeowners.

An industrial welding vent hood hangs over a 10-burner gas stove whose arm can be moved any which way.

“Some of the selections are way above residential grade,” Farnum notes.

A linear pantry behind the half wall of the kitchen is where the family enters the house and has a drop zone for the kids. A second sink—a hammered copper whopper—is 4 feet wide.

“That kind of scale is not insignificant,” Farnum says.

The wife is a fan of the industrial style. “Her big thing was that the house should feel warm and light,” Farnum says.

That is most evident in the couple’s bathroom.

A beam was needed to brace the partition wall in order to support the weight of the stone tile. Wood veneered on the outside, the beam’s chevron pattern inside forges a shapely shadow from the overhead lights in what Farnum calls one of the project’s “pleasant surprises.”

Sturdy oak cabinets that required a specially made tool to hand-hewn the wood make a grounded statement, topped with Dekton counters and sinks. Travertine tiles along the walls were placed organically in a cascading effect.

“The entire house, while industrial, still plays on the indoor/outdoor vibe that the whole family enjoys,” Farnum notes. “They are active outside, whether it’s grilling, being by the pool with the kids or down at their lakehouse; the draw to nature was present in many details throughout.”