A sprinkle of hers and a dash of his finished with something new is the perfect way to describe the design philosophy of a charismatic couple combining their belongings into one grand residence after years of single living in separate homes. Newly engaged, she moved in several years ago, while he has owned the home since 1998. Since combining households, they have been hard at work removing wallpaper, stripping woodwork and rearranging each room to refresh the traditional decor. 

Describing the owner of this stunning custom residence in Creve Coeur as “hands-on” would be an understatement. Co-owner and vice president of KCI Construction, a multi-disciplined large-project contracting company, he’d always wanted to build his own home and was an enthusiastic participant in every facet of its architectural and interior design.  

In the early 1800s, a young Henry Shaw used to ride west on horseback from his fledgling hardware store on the St. Louis riverfront to the prairie that surrounded the burgeoning city. Awed by the beauty that surrounded him, he wrote home to England describing the splendor of the tall prairie flowers and grasses that engulfed him as he rode. He was, in fact, so enamored and inspired that, as his fortunes increased, he began buying the land he traversed, later transforming the property into the Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park

Local landscapers share their favorite naturalizing bulbs. You can count on these bulbs to come up year after year. 

The sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, is a rhizomatous aquatic perennial native to the rivers and ponds of Asia and northern Australia. The plant’s life cycle is steeped in symbolism, as stalks and leaves ascend from muddy soil and still waters to form a large, beautiful blossom that opens as wide as 12 inches across. The Garden’s collection of Nelumbo nucifera includes “Empress,” “Alba Plena” and “Improved Egyptian Pink” in the Japanese Garden. The plants are planted in a large enclosed bed along the banks in the southeast corner of the lake.

In St. Louis, September signals the start of autumn – both in perception and reality. In the coming weeks, trees and bushes will move from luscious green to vibrant red, yellow, rust and gold.  There’s a pronounced crispness in the breeze.  Sweaters and light jackets might make a first appearance.  That is the way September goes in the northern hemisphere.