W
hen Mark Stoops took the position of head football coach at the University of Kentucky, one of the first things his wife, Chantel, had to do was add more blue to her wardrobe. Coming from Florida State University, the Stoops family were used to a lot of red. “We even had red throw cushions in our home,” jokes Chantel. “So those had to go.” Of course, the Stoops have been Wildcats before, in Arizona. But since moving to Lexington, they are officially Kentucky Wildcats and they feel like they’ve found the place they will always call home. “Mark took the job here site unseen,” says Chantel. “So when we flew into Lexington and saw how beautiful it is here, it was an amazing feeling. And it’s been so wonderful here.” One wonderful find has certainly been the sprawling, suburban house the Stoops have made their home. At around 10,000 square feet, the home sits on a large lot in the Beaumont area, but feels more like it’s hidden somewhere in the rolling hills of the Bluegrass. “I was set on this area because of the schools and I like to be in a neighborhood,” says Chantel. “The nice thing about Lexington is that it’s very small. Ten to twenty minutes and we can be anywhere.” The Stoops did plenty of research before settling on the area and looked at several houses before deciding on one built and owned by Jimmy Ball. They knew this was the house for them from the moment they saw the abundance of windows. “I love natural light and bright spaces,” says Chantel. “That’s what we loved about the house when we first saw it. It was very cheery, even on a cold Winter day.” Despite the wide-open spaces, the home had an old world quality and featured dark colors and intricately detailed decorative crown. The Stoops decided to add their own personal touch to the home with the help of builder Brian Anderson. “When we were looking at houses, I kept finding houses I liked and they were all by Anderson-Tate,” explains Chantel. “Brian said, whatever house you buy I can do whatever you want with it.”
2 2 The four-story home includes two sets of stairs, front and back, as well as a working residential grade elevator. Brazilian scraped hardwood floors and creamy white crown molding offset the original intricate design of the banister on the curved stairway to the second floor. 3 The kitchen, which was completely renovated features white ice granite countertops, custom cabinetry and a hand laid back splash. High end appliances make this a kitchen to last a lifetime and include a Wolf stove, double oven, mini fridge, ice maker and built in coffee maker. 4 Just off the entry to the home, the formal dining room is both modern and classic. Oversized, cream colored host and hostess chairs keep the space comfortable, while the atlas inspired chandelier creates interest.
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To start, the decorative crown was replaced with plain crown moldings throughout the main floor. “It was very pretty, but I feel like it aged the home and we’re a young family,” says Chantel. The original crown was left in a few places, mainly the entrance to Stoop’s home office, which also features the original wood paneling. The new crown molding gives the space a clean, open feel and compliments the neutral wall colors. In fact, every wall in the house has been repainted. “It was a lot of browns and reds, so we went with lighter colors like khaki and gray,” says Chantel. “I was set on gray when I got here,” she adds. To fill the newly refreshed space, Chantel turned to Jeremy Rice of House in Lexington. “I kept buying things for the house and bringing them home and they’d be too tiny in this space,” Chantel says. “I went in House and I hit it off with Jeremy right away. His style is much like my style, so I trusted him. He did a wonderful job.” Part of redecorating included all new furniture on the main floor. “We updated everything,” says Chantel. The look, which is called transitional, incorporates the original Brazilian scraped hardwood floors.