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A couple’s collections over the years showcase their diverse personalities.
The moment you step inside the Stonehenge townhome of Steve Parker and Chris Slusher you feel at home. Their love of comfortable pairs well with their tastes of both the classic and the salvaged.
Together for 38 years, married for three, Steve and Chris’ diverse styles blend beautifully throughout their home. And their collections, which date back as far as artwork Steve created while in high school, perfect their design.
The Homeowner Designers
Steve and Chris moved from Asheville, North Carolina in 2016 so Steve could take a job in design services with Reid’s Fine Furnishings. Both avid collectors of art, antiques, and architectural salvage, they use their home as the perfect canvas for their artistic expressions.
Steve has worked in the design field almost since college when he started with Stark Carpet consulting on historic reproductions. Chris’ background includes historic preservation architecture and he currently sells vintage and antique wares at Hanker and Itch in the Charlotte’s Web antique malls, with locations in Salem and Christiansburg.
Steve says that if something brings pleasure to the eye, it makes sense to bring it into the home.
“I like an eclectic style,” he says, “but now that I’m of an age, I’m going into the eccentric. The benefit of getting older is the freedom of expression. And as far as design goes, that’s very freeing.”
Chris is more classically oriented. His love of history and historic architecture bring balance and symmetry to their home. “I believe in the value of things created by hand,” he says. “It’s a nod to the people before us. There’s a beauty in the hands that have touched this.”
Chris collects red English Staffordshire transferware and loves antique lamps and creates lamps from salvaged materials. One of his lamp creations is used in the master bedroom.
The Challenge
The couple fell in love with the heavily-wooded grounds of the Stonehenge neighborhood and chose an end unit for their home. Then, when they heard the unit next door was also available, they purchased it for Chris’ parents.
“They first came to me to consult on the townhouse next door,” says Terri Langford, owner of Cabinetry with TLC in Roanoke. “Then, when Archie’s health declined (Chris’ father), their priorities shifted.”
The couple decided to put the renovation of the end unit on hold and aggressively remodel the second unit to accommodate the four of them.
“The challenge,” says Terri, “was to get the space ready for aging in place and as a future rental, for when that time comes.”
To meet this requirement, Langford included cabinetry that not only made a nice backdrop for the couple’s design elements, but also would withstand the high use.
Josh Sparks of Blue Ridge Residential, oversaw the entire remodeling job.
Aging in Place
“Collaborating with both Terri and Josh, we were able to infuse as many aging in place features as practical,” says Steve.
Those features include pre-wiring the staircases to accommodate custom chairlifts (if needed), insetting cabinets in the small bathrooms to enlarge the space and prevent bumping heads, and narrowing the doorway between the foyer and living room.
“The original opening from the foyer to the step-down living room was much wider,” Steve says. “We decided to tighten the opening and install custom grab bars on either side to make egress easier and safer.”
They aren’t just your typical chrome-plated institutional style grab bar, either. Fashioned by an Asheville artist from a heavy rebar-like rod with a twisted texture, they made the bars exaggerated in length and painted them dark red.
“Less senior in appearance,” says Steve, “but bright to be obvious.”
The Design
Chris’ and Steve’s love for architectural salvage lent perfectly to the farmhouse design style which they started with a supply of old barn wood purchased from Black Dog Salvage. They primed and painted the wood a rich white and used it to panel walls throughout their home.
“We wanted to feel as if we were in an older home when the renovation was completed,” says Steve.
The couple uses a collection of 12 matching corbels Steve purchased in the 1970s, and has been hauling around ever since, throughout the home. Three support a shelf in the master bedroom, two more hold a shelf over the couch in the living room, another stands alone between two doorways in the upstairs hall.
They replaced all the doors with antique ones, used an 1860s fireplace mantel from a home in Salem to surround the living room fireplace, and repurposed antique furniture throughout.
“Make things functional,” says Steve.
Which they’ve done with an antique primitive bottom to an old store counter which serves as both TV stand and storage for Chris’ mother’s quilts.
Tom Dorathy, owner of Ghent Hill Design and Furniture Restoration, transformed the piece with an authentic-looking layered finish. Dorathy also refinished another piece used as a functioning bar and beverage storage in the sunroom.
The Collections
No farmhouse style home is complete without the copious display of collections. Steve’s and Chris’ include tole-painted trays on the foyer wall, old dustpans hung inside the pane sections of an old window frame, and croquet sets.
“Split up collections and use them in different locations,” says Steve.
That’s exactly what they did with the croquet sets. They gracefully arranged the mallets in oversized glass jars, akin to floral arrangements, flanking either side of the living room mantle. The balls fill a basket in the master bedroom’s deep windowsill.
Too Much to Mention
Chris and Steve’s home is an eclectic adventure with much to ooh and aah over. In the bedrooms, you’ll find headboards created from old doors. On the porch is a discarded shelf clad with old tin roofing shingles and bottle caps.
And an old two-hole outhouse seat hangs on the powder room wall for no reason but to spark conversation. (We’re assured it’s been thoroughly cleaned and refinished.)
At every turn, you’ll find recycled light fixtures, vintage artwork and repurposed windows and doors.
“I tend to be drawn to the Charlie Brown of anything,” says Steve, “as I feel they need to have a home.”
Steve and Chris’ Design Tips
- Hang accessories on the wall to leave surfaces for beverages or books.
- Split up a collection and use it in different locations. They have croquet mallets arranged like flowers on the living room mantle and the balls in a basket in the master bedroom.
- Make things functional. They use an old country store counter as a TV stand and quilt storage.
- Elevate wall hangings. Rather than hanging an old mantle where it would be surrounding a fireplace, they hung it higher to bring height to the room.
- Embrace the variety of human inventiveness. “Perfection is overrated,” says Chris.
Principle Players
- General contractor: Josh Sparks, Blue Ridge Residential
- Cabinetry design: Terri Langford, Cabinetry with TLC
- Furniture refinishing: Tom Dorathy, Ghent Hill Design and Furniture Restoration
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