From House To Home

Five years ago, Matt and Julie Fowler were ready to build. So ready, in fact, that they purchased property off Dug Hill Road, bought several house plans, and interviewed a builder. With two teenagers, two dogs, and a cat, they needed more space.

Then they got a call from a Realtor friend. Did they know that a home with the same floor plan they liked had just come on the market?

After one visit to this home in southeast Huntsville, the Fowlers quickly reconsidered their plans. Of the 20 features they wanted—including a screened porch and master suite—the home had all but two. It was closer to their daughters’ school, and they could move in two months instead of waiting a year and a half or more to build.

The thrill of finding what they wanted was tempered only slightly by an unexpected realization: The steep driveway to this hillside home is not for wimps. "I liked the house so much that I ignored the driveway," Matt recalls.

They knew it was steep, but they didn’t realize how steep. Before they moved in, for instance, painting crews would sometimes get their trucks stuck on a hump in the middle of the driveway. The only solution was to rent an excavator for two weeks and remove a chunk of boulder from under the driveway.

After one early mishap—the construction crew didn’t realize that Julie’s car was blocked in, so they had to piece the driveway back together—the driveway project later served as an impetus to make numerous landscaping improvements, which included a parking pad, an outdoor kitchen, and a backyard waterfall and pond.

The backyard is now one of Julie’s favorite features, and it’s easy to see why: It has a sandstone fireplace, a pergola-covered dining area, and lots of separate seating areas. The easy flow of outdoor living areas helps balance the home’s traditional, structured layout.

"I would spend all day, every day out in the yard, given the opportunity," says Julie, an avid gardener.

Another major project was the master suite. With help from interior designer Beverly Farrington, who owns Accents of the South, Julie took out an upstairs study and small bathroom to create a more hotel-like living area off the master bedroom. It now features a den and coffee bar set off from the bedroom with arched pocket doors. The master den is now one of Matt’s favorite spots to read or work on his Internet-based business.

The master bathroom features heated marble floors, granite counters, a freestanding soaking tub, and custom leaded glass. "I wanted the master suite to be spa-like…calming, relaxing—more like a retreat," Julie says.

For the rest of the home, she used what she calls her "decorating-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method" to create a feel of casual elegance. She’ll buy rugs, art, and other accessories as she happens upon them, such as the painting of the Fowlers’ favorite vacation spot, St. Barths, which happened to complement the pale blue and gold hues in the living room.

A plan to change the plain white kitchen sink turned into a full-blown renovation with a new range hood, tile work, unusual blue-green/brown granite countertops, and, yes, a travertine sink. "I wanted something a lot warmer and European-looking through paint color and different textures," says Julie.

By all accounts, Julie’s on-the-fly approach has created a warm and inviting home. But it sometimes leads to occasional last-minute doubts. She picked colors for the home in about an hour and a week later worried so much about her choices that she returned to the decorating store. Lying on the store’s counter was a color scheme she instantly knew that she liked better. There were gold hues with pale blues, greens, and earth tones.

Did she change colors?

No. She soon realized that it was her own palette sitting on the counter.