Downsized Space, Enhanced Life

After living for years in a 3,600-square-foot home in Lawrence with almost an acre of land, Lisa and Brent Flanders were planning to move to another expansive new house with a large yard overlooking a golf course. After a year and a half designing their home, but before they broke ground, second thoughts about tending to landscaping and wasted space made them change their minds.  

The soon-to-be empty nesters instead chose a downtown Lawrence loft one block off Massachusetts Street, a popular district with unique shops, bars and restaurants.

“We now have 2,500 square feet, and even though space is a premium, I have never felt like I've lost anything — I feel like I've gained a lot,” Lisa says. “When you go downstairs and walk out the door, the life of Lawrence is right there in front of you.”

The move was an easy choice for the couple. When they toured the Hobbs Taylor Lofts, the raw concrete space drew them in. Though it was filled with construction materials, Lisa and Brent immediately conjured a vision of the final look: that of a Colorado lodge.

“What my husband and I wanted was for it to look like an old building that we came into and added a modern tweak to,” says Lisa, who was the general contractor on the project. “We wanted it to feel warm and cozy, a place where you could put your feet up on the coffee table.”

Because they desired an aged look, they used rustic materials such as knotty alder wood, reclaimed wood on the beams and columns, Kansas limestone, salvaged  windows in one of the bedrooms and  aged-looking brick. (It turns out old brick is difficult to find, very pricey and hard to get in large lots.)

The floors are stained concrete scored to appear as large tiles and the ceilings exposed, except in areas like the bedroom, where Lisa didn't want to “look up at someone else's PVC pipe” while lying in bed.

“We didn't want the bones of the unit to be new looking. We wanted them to look like they had been used and loved and were things you didn't want to part with,” Lisa describes.

One thing she definitely didn't want to relinquish was the cutting table her mother and father had used during the almost 25 years they owned a donut shop. Lisa and Brent integrated the 60-inch-long by 40-inch-deep piece into the kitchen by designing custom cabinetry.

Reusing materials was a theme. Lisa chose local, used materials to reduce the environmental footprint of long transport. The reclaimed wood came from the floor joists of the former Jones Store in downtown Kansas City, and the stone, cabinets and doors are all from Kansas. She also used local vendors for the lighting and fixtures.

While most everything but the light    fixtures looks old, the kitchen and home theater are filled with the latest in technology. “The high-tech features are there to balance the old feel and make it livable for people in 2009,” Lisa says.

Livability is key. While the loft has less square footage, the Flanderses don't regret downsizing. In their old house, they hardly used the guest bedroom, library or dining room more than once a year. They did spend a lot of time in their home theater, but it was in the basement, and Lisa was removed from all of the action while preparing food upstairs in the kitchen.

“We had rooms that we never went into,” she says. “Here we have a dining room, hearth room and library that we use all of the time. ...We use every space in the loft.”