From House To Home

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As impossible as it sounds to put out fires at a water park, Johnny Blevins spent part of his Thanksgiving weekend doing just that. He and his wife, Marci, own Splash Kingdom in Canton, so even their holidays are busy. As business owners, community members, parents to son Brett, and “adoptive parents” to the throngs of young employees who work for them during the hot summer months, their lives are fairly hectic. When it came time to design and build a custom home, they didn’t have time to do anything half right.

Coincidentally, they built their business and their home simultaneously, and Johnny jokes that he doesn’t recommend it. “We were crazy enough to build the water park and the house at the same time. Don’t ever do that,” he says with a laugh.

For help with both projects, they turned to builder Ralph Miles, owner of Ralph Miles Construction Inc. in Lindale, because he has 40 years of experience and had recently finished a project for Johnny’s brother. Under Miles’ direction, the home emerged just as they envisioned.

The home…includes outdoor patios that extend the roofline as well as the living space.

Using a blueprint drafted by Johnny’s sister and relying on his many talented subcontractors, Miles built a solid 3,500-square-foot, two-story brick home with custom details. The home was sited to spare many of the old trees on the property and includes outdoor patios that extend the roofline as well as the living space.

Everything from the brick-and-stone veneer to the red accent walls and ceiling in the dining room were choices the homeowners made with help from their builder and his sources. The gold and red tones of the cherry hardwood floors establish the palette and were used throughout the main level. A large master bedroom has a gas fireplace that Johnny admits is one of his favorite features. Above the great room with its intricate vaulted ceiling line, a catwalk leads to an upstairs media room that is big enough to include a home office. Two additional bedrooms round out the second-level living space.

Despite the custom detail, the primary consideration was to build a home that welcomed guests. The open circulation facilitates entertaining, and the furnishings themselves are comfortable and inviting.

Instead of hiring an interior decorator…the couples simply ran their ideas past their friends next door.

Interestingly, the Blevinses’ neighbors are also their good friends. When they purchased their land, the acreage was divided between them so that each family could build their dream house. Instead of hiring an interior decorator to make decisions on flooring, wall color, or kitchen cabinets, the couples simply ran their ideas past their friends next door. On some level, this joint effort gave them the best of both worlds: As it turns out, when they couldn’t decide between two particular finishes, their neighbors chose the opposite. So if the Blevins family ever wearies of the cherry cabinets in the kitchen, for example, they can walk next door and see what the same cabinets look like when glazed in white.

The first night the family spent in their new home was Christmas Eve several years ago. The house was just finished and not yet furnished, so the three of them snuggled into their sleeping bags and woke up on the floor of their new home. Johnny insists that this arrangement was perfectly suited for a family that doesn’t spend much time apart. He says that because they are usually in the same room anyway, they could easily have built a one-bedroom, one-bath home.

But the finished home is not just for them. It is, according to Johnny, a gift to a large group of friends who are always invited to share a place around the table.