Design Dividends - Kansas City Homes & Style

Vision, patience and planning pay off in a gorgeous renovation.

Story by Joan Bellinghausen | Photography by Matt Kocourek

Walking into the home of Jim and Denise Easley feels like stepping into a new build.

A recent renovation transformed the 25-year-old dwelling into a home that looks and acts far younger than its age. The house now features an open concept with clean lines and projects a light, bright and airy aesthetic, achieving exactly what the homeowners set out to do.

The idea for an overhaul of the space began in 2019 when the Easley’s purchased the house, which had remained unchanged for two decades.

“We knew that every single inch of this house would need to be updated,” explains Jim.

The fact that the house desperately needed a massive renovation didn’t bother the Easley’s. Rather, the house fulfilled their goal to live in this gated Leawood neighborhood.

As financial planners, the couple knew the value of long-term planning. A couple of years prior, they downsized from a larger home and moved into temporary housing while waiting for a house in this sought-after neighborhood to come on the market.

“We knew we wanted to be in this neighborhood,” says Denise. “It’s close to everything for us – shopping, restaurants, work. Plus, we wanted to be able to ‘lock and leave’ the house when we travel.”

While the Easley’s made a few minor changes as a stop gap, they held off on the major renovation, wanting to live in the house to see how they would use the space. In mid-2022, the homeowners got the ball rolling, bringing in the Renovations by Starr team with Lisa Tagtmeyer, Project Coordinator, and Tim Mika, Project Manager, and Interior Stylist Brenda Anderson with Interior Elements & Design.

“Denise really drove this process,” says Brenda. “She knew what she and Jim liked and what they didn’t like.”

As is often the case, the project scope grew as the design plans progressed. Yet, the initial vision set forth remained the same.

“We wanted the remodel to look, act and feel like a new home,” say the homeowners.

First order of business centered on removing two load bearing walls enclosing a staircase to the lower level. These walls physically and visually split the main level in half, chopping up the space and causing an awkward flow among rooms. Eliminating these walls became pivotal to achieving the desired open floor plan and creating a seamless flow from the front to the back of the house.

“Opening up this staircase and removing the walls was a challenge but we eventually figured out how to make it work,” says Lisa. “The homeowners wanted to walk into the front door and look into the kitchen and now they can.”

Elsewhere, the team reworked some underused and cumbersome space, transforming a storage room into a proper mudroom and shifting the entrance from the garage into the house. Reconfiguring the general footprint of this area also flipped the entry to a half bath and carved out a cook’s pantry.

Brenda tapped into Denise’s love of white oak as the jumping off point for the overall interior design, incorporating white oak floors and custom cabinetry. A muted color palette of blues and greens influenced furniture, furnishings and art selections.

“I liked how light oak and white cabinetry looked together and knew it was classic enough that we’d be happily with it for a long, long time,” explains Denise.

Designing the kitchen focused on the clients’ needs for cooking and entertaining and on giving Denise her dream kitchen, according to Brenda. The end result features a long island with a chef’s sink, increased storage and lots of prep space.

“We wanted to raise the ceiling in the kitchen but couldn’t do that because of the roof,” Denise explains. “So, Brenda came up with the idea of a ‘pop up’ area over the island.”

That concept hit a snag once “we discovered a steel beam where we were going to have the open ceiling tray,” according to Lisa.

So, the team added a second “faux” beam to balance out the tray. Now both beams, wrapped in white oak, look intentional.

In the living room, the renovation reconfigured the feature wall to accommodate a linear fireplace surrounded by cream stone and flanked by floating shelves. Three large pendants hanging at varying lengths as a cluster provide enough umph to be seen from the front entryway yet help the room feel cozy.

In the sunroom, a black and gold round light fixture 52 inches in diameter, anchors the vaulted ceiling, sending the message “go big or go home”.

“I like to layer in unexpected elements that provide drama,” says Brenda.

That drama included using an oversized floral wallpaper in the dining room to fill an alcove nestled between floor-to-ceiling cabinets. In addition, a stunning blue wallpaper mural beckons the eye toward the end of a hallway.

The renovation touched almost all rooms on the main level and some spaces downstairs. The main bedroom, sunroom and office underwent cosmetic changes while a full bath and Pilates studio were added downstairs. The front porch also received a facelift.

Overall, the Easley’s concur that the end result far exceeded their expectations.

“The renovation turned out better than we could have ever imagined,” they say. “This was the vision we had when we bought the house, to turn it into our dream home.”