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The Heart of the Home
An El Dorado family builds their much-anticipated home full of warmth and meaningful details
BY
Allison Cook
PHOTOGRAPHY
Nancy Nolan
STYLED BY
Mandy Keener



Leah McDaniel hunted for her perfect home for years. “I already owned the land, but I couldn’t find the right floor plan,” she says. “I collected book after book and tons of magazines, but nothing was really what I wanted.” Purchased on a whim in 2005, a book of house plans Leah found on the way to a lake vacation held her answer. “I was flipping through the book in the car, and it fell open to this wonderful floor plan. I turned to my husband Ryker and said, ‘This is our house!’”

Leah and Ryker decided to wait another year until they could work with builder Barry Owens of Owens Construction. “We knew Barry was great and worth waiting for,” Leah says. “He was wonderful throughout the entire process, and more than willing to tweak a few things in the plans to match our family’s lifestyle.” As the drywall was being put up, Leah knew it was time to think about the interior, and contacted interior designer Andrea Brooks. “I designed Leah’s parents’ home, as well as both of her sisters’ homes,” Andrea says. “Her father often jokes with me that I’m basically on staff with their entire family, and have been working for at least one of them consistently for the last three years.”

The overall bones of the home afford a rustic feel due to the beautiful wood and stone throughout. “I already had the flooring picked out,” Leah says. “I had looked for the right wood for more than a year, and basically knew what I wanted.” Leah and Ryker stumbled upon the walnut for the planked ceiling at a small lumberyard, and the distressed wood paneling on the walls of the study originally came from a dairy barn in Quebec, Canada, dating back to the 1800s. With all these natural elements, Andrea worked to incorporate punches of color and several unexpected elements to keep the design fresh. “The floor plan is very open,” she says. “There are high ceilings and walls of windows, which provide an abundance of natural light. My overall design goal was to meld Leah’s fun and funky side with Ryker’s more rustic style.”

The McDaniels entertain friends and family often, and the kitchen is often the hub of activity. “Leah loves to cook, so having a state-of-the-art kitchen that opens up to the family den was very important to her,” Andrea says. “Her kitchen is definitely the heart of the home.” In the dining room and living room Andrea chose a mix of fabrics for the Parsons chairs and a similar mix in the living room. “Andrea and I like a lot of the same things,” Leah says. “She’s very good with variety, and she understood how we wanted to blend the warmth of a rustic home with touches of fun color.”

In three-year-old Maggie’s room, bright pinks and greens pop against the white furniture. “When we moved in, Maggie was two years old, and I didn’t want to do a baby room again,” Leah says. “Andrea and I worked to create a girly room that wasn’t too young, but also not entirely grown up.”  Throughout the home, visitors find family-oriented touches, such as the wall of framed family photographs in the den. “You automatically feel at home when you walk into this house,” Andrea says. “I chose child-friendly fabrics that are both fun and functional, and I really enjoyed working with the McDaniels, who I already knew so well.”