When Gail and Chuck Maxwell purchased a lot on Fayetteville’s Mount Sequoyah, they knew they had found the perfect place to build their dream home. They also knew they wanted the process and structure to be environmentally responsible and innovative, including the home’s open floor plan kitchen. Luckily, they already knew the right person to help carry out this mission—LEED-accredited designer and longtime friend, Missi Walker. Working together, the trio perfected the recipe for a green kitchen.
Lakeside Living, Redefined
At Home in Arkansas: Tell us the backstory on how this family of four from Little Rock created this retreat on Greers Ferry Lake.
Scott Paterek: They were originally drawn to the land, which has a dock and a beautiful view of the lake. They built a custom home on it, and then two years later the tornadoes that went through this part of the state destroyed it and they subsequently re-built.
AHIA: How damaging was the tornado?
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Serenely Chic
At Home in Arkansas: How did the waterfront locale influence your design? It’s equal parts serene, modern and chic.
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Made to Measure
Penny Stanley’s home near Searcy has been a fixture on her family farm since it was built in the late 1930s. However, its original kitchen, which was last renovated more than 20 years ago, lacked adequate countertop space, and it was too cramped to accommodate guests while Penny prepared meals. Ready for an update, Penny enlisted the help of interior designer Beth Davis to give it the style, functionality and comfort of a modern-day kitchen. “Many people entertain more casually than they used to,” Davis says. “They want an interaction between the kitchen and dining areas.”
Davis began by knocking out the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. She then replaced a small alcove at the far end of the kitchen with a spacious eat-in bar, and extended the length of the countertops. These changes allow friends and family the freedom to mingle or eat at the bar, giving Penny additional place for prepping and serving meals as well.
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Historic Meets Happy
At Home in Arkansas: Your home manages to blur several design lines that can be challenging: it’s historic, yet feels fresh and livable, and it’s elegant while still feeling comfortable. How did you strike that balance?
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Renovated and Refreshed
Old World meets cool contemporary in an updated home that’s elegant yet comfortable for family living
At Home in Arkansas:In the years since we last featured this 1920s Hillcrest home, it has changed ownership and undergone a dramatic renovation. When did the current homeowners contact you about a design overhaul?
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Color Confident
At Home in Arkansas:
What were your main design strategies for this family home in Conway?
Becky Charton:
The homeowners love the outdoors—every room has access to the outside and there are walls of windows. Because one of the stabilizers for this family of six is orderliness, I didn’t use a lot of accessories and little things. It was more about textures, and I kept the scale large because the sky and the trees are part of the background through windows in every space.
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Festive Fare
“Cottage style translates as cozy to me,” says designer Cynthia Smiley, who used painted cabinetry, wood floors and beadboard accents to add time-tested charm to the kitchen in the newly built Fayetteville home she shares with her husband, Dennis, and their two children.
Abundant windows keep the room bright, complemented by white walls accented with clear glass tile and dark granite counters that create “a simple palette that bounces light around the room,” says Smiley. An additional benefit of this straightforward color pairing: “I can add any accent color, and it looks great,” she says. “It’s a wonderful backdrop, especially during the holidays.”
From Everyday to Holiday:
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All Together Now
At Home in Arkansas:
How did you select the lot for your home? Were there any special considerations for finding the right area?
Jennifer Herron of Herron Horton Architects:
Zoning was actually one of the biggest factors. We needed an area that was zoned for urban use and allowed us to have an office and our home together.
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Modern Makeover
At Home in Arkansas:
The adage that a picture says a thousand words definitely applies to the before-and-after photos of this kitchen. I can see that the layout of the room is the same, but the transformation from dark and traditional to light and modern is dramatic.
Designer Susan Latta:
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