Getting Real
Former Minnesotans bring a designer’s eye and casual cool to their Stillwater getaway
Kevin and Jodi Spearman bought the perfect summer home outside Houston, a stacked stone and lap-siding beauty with a huge multi-leveled deck and flagstone paths. It reminded the Spearmans, owners of the exclusive Houston interior design firm Bella Casa Design, of the kind of house people build in Minnesota, where Kevin and Jodi grew up, met, went to college, and got married. “Houses aren’t built that way down here,” says Kevin. “That’s why it stood out to us—we immediately connected with it.” But when they got a surprise offer on their Texas lake home in September 2006, their game plan suddenly changed. ¶ An inkling of an idea started to grow. A month later, they flew in to Minnesota for a single day and toured the neighborhood-oriented Liberty on the Lake development near Stillwater, a tree-lined enclave Kevin had heard good things about. “It was everything we dreamed of,” says Kevin. “We were there in the evening, and there was this crisp autumn air and a full moon over the park across the street. I don’t think the realtor could have planned it better.”
This time, the Spearmans told each other, they were going to do something completely different for their four boys, Brennan, 19, Nicholas, 13, Anthony, 10, and Nathaniel, 5. “We wanted to give them a taste of what I had as a kid,” says Kevin, who grew up in Hibbing and graduated from the University of St. Thomas.
Since then, the Spearmans have spent most holidays in Minnesota, plus another eight to 10 weeks during the summer. The boys have grown closer to both sets of grandparents, a bevy of aunts and uncles, and their eight cousins. Even though the boys spend summers far from their Texas friends, they are never bored.
“What we love about living in a neighborhood full of families on a park is that our kids spend their time doing exactly what we wanted them to do—they play kick-the-can, hide-and-seek, and stay out until dark,” says Kevin.
The Spearmans did things differently for the house, too, picking one of the smaller four-bedroom homes in the development—at just 3,400 square feet, it’s a marked contrast to their 7,000-square-foot family home outside of Houston that will be soon be replaced with another Texas-sized home the Spearmans are building. “An architect once told me that he loves doing second homes because people are really honest about them,” says Kevin. “The main house is the reflection of their status. But the second home is real; it’s just for them.”
The Minnesota home they purchased had been built in the mid-1990s, and was showing a few signs of wear and a dated sensibility—too much carpeting, stained wood, and over-heated color. But the Spearmans knew it had good bones, and they loved the modified Arts and Crafts details; the views of the park and neighborhood from spacious wrap-around windows; the wide-open, columned porch; and the four bedrooms tucked tidily together on the fourth floor, rather than in separate “wings.”
Photo by Susan Gilmore
The Spearmans began the update as they would with a client, with architectural changes, which included tearing up the first-floor’s carpeting and maple flooring and replacing them with wide plank hickory, a knotty wood used regularly in Texas for its country character. Thankfully, the kitchen was well laid out and cabinetry more than adequate, so they simply painted the base cabinets linen white, replaced countertops with honed black granite, and added silver-toned hardware and a new faucet to give the room a quick update. The culinary “must have” was a new Viking range. The owners’ bath got a head-to-toe makeover, outfitted in elegantly cool Carrara marble. They replaced carpet, hardware, and lighting as needed throughout the house, often deciding on the simplest option. Once the refurbished bones were in place, they moved on to furnishings.
“Early in the process, we found the painted twig chandelier for the dining room from a designer in North Carolina, and felt it set a tone for the home,” says Kevin. The rest of the furnishings are astutely edited, casual, friendly, and full of the kind of confident contrast only experience (or talent) allows. Antiques, such as the painted dining room cabinet and extemporaneous desk in the study with chalky, weathered finishes, sidle up to more polished pieces, such as the custom-designed modern coffee table. A crisply tailored, linen wing back chair rests next to reclaimed hollowed-out logs that hold wood and kindling. In the owners’ bedroom, simple raffia backs the head and footboard, and an old wooden country table displays coral, shells, and branches.
“We like a mix of organic and modern pieces—with an edge to the design. We didn’t want this to be ‘cute.’ We also wanted warmth, but,” Kevin emphasizes, “it doesn’t have to be in the wood or the paint colors.” By cooling off the predictably warm palette, the rooms gain a sense of calm. Texture replaces more traditional hues and adds warmth. A worn antique rug supplies instant character. Linen fabrics can wrinkle and look all the better for it. Feet can rest on the oak coffee table. No one notices. Windows are bare—except for a linen print hanging in the living room—to keep the view wide open.
“We have an open-door policy here,” says Jodi. “The home is filled with kids from morning to night and we love it that way.” While the boys skateboard off to get ice cream at the local market, Jodi and Kevin watch the world go by on the front porch, occasionally pinching themselves. More than just a home, it is the lifestyle they most enjoy. It sometimes seems to them that Andy, Opie, and Aunt Bee may round the corner at any moment.
Alecia Stevens is a Minneapolis interior designer and writer.
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