From House To Home

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Cheryl Key and her husband, Kent, know a little bit about building a custom home. As the owners of Key Custom Homes in Denton, they spend most of their days and many of their nights solving design and construction issues for their clients.

When it came time for their own “dream home,” they knew exactly what they wanted. Cheryl describes it as French chateau and, true to form, there is plenty of style and elegance built into the large interiors.

“We wanted to combine practical with beautiful. Everything had to be livable and comfortable. We wanted a place people could come and not be afraid they would hurt something,” says Cheryl.

Built from brick and stone with masonry, worked iron, and bronze architectural details, the facade does resemble a chateau. The roof-line peaks skyward, while the footprint incorporates a porte cochere that unites the six-car garage with the main part of the house.

Inside, the home relies on a more rustic palette that evokes an old-world charm. In the foyer, a huge front door is framed by leaded glass panels, which throw prisms of sunlight around the room. The flooring is a crosshatch of hand-distressed oak with travertine tile inlay.

A large great room is a blend of formal and casual because it combines living room and family room duties. Twenty-two-foot coffered ceilings create a sense of grandeur, but the seating is arranged in much more intimate groupings of scale.

Cheryl wanted spaces for her guests to gather in small groups and large. Since the home was finished, the Keys have successfully hosted up to 100 people at a time. The home’s easy circulation through to an elegant summer kitchen and patio area ensures that their guests are always comfortable.

In the kitchen and breakfast area, French limestone flooring replaces the hand distressed oak hardwood, which dominates the communal spaces. Two different hues of oversized rectangles are laid in a random pattern. The kitchen also features a combination of woods and stone, true to the French style.

Countertops around the perimeter are French limestone, while the island picks up a shimmer with the travertine work surface. A faux-painted range hood features a Tuscan floral pattern. Antiqued black cabinetry and custom wood finishes on the thick molding gives the large room a blend of color and form.

Throughout the home, attention to the custom woodwork on floors, ceilings, and the walls in between give a finished elegance. Cheryl defines the strategy of not overlooking any of the critical elements and says that each is important.

In the master suite, for example, the ceiling is a huge recessed octagon, which creates a diamond pattern above. In the master bath, the ceiling forms a cupola over the arched entryway to the tub. An upstairs movie room features a barrel ceiling with tiny fiber optics that twinkle when the lights go down. And the dramatic roofline of the summer kitchen is a mirror image of the turret room, which defines the space.

Over the years, Cheryl has developed a method of completing interior palettes by relying on a well-trained eye and knowledge of her materials. After being called upon to offer design suggestions for many of their clients, she started her own company called Finishing Touch Design that helps new owners choose everything from hardwoods to accessories.

With plenty of friends and family in the Denton area, a French Chateau makes perfect sense for its double duty as elegant home and comfortable gathering place. And on the outside chance that the French ever again decide to stake their claim in Texas, they’ll probably be pleased to find the Keys have already helped civilized the place.