In the foyer, Bobby Slavin of Slavin Homes build + design created a focal point by adding a wine room. Glass and steel door beams open to the wine room that has reclaimed French limestone floors from Chicago and a walnut and steel ladder fabricated in Germany.
THE BUCKS STOP HERE After a two-year renovation, the house is chic, swanky and perfect for a nationally recognized couple of ESPN sportscasters, their twin sons and Delilah, their dog. By Christy Marshall with additional reporting by Seth Schwartz / Photography by Alise O’Brien Joe Buck and Michelle Beisner-Buck’s previous house was plenty big, unquestionably lovely, and set on several rolling green acres. But it had a flaw. All of the bedrooms branched off a single hallway. As parents of then four-year-old twin boys, “that didn’t lead to a lot of, let’s say, alone time,” Joe Buck says. “So we were looking to kind of change that up.” Alerted by his sister, Julie Buck, a real estate broker, that a house in the same Ladue neighborhood was going on the market, Joe and Michelle immediately checked it out. “It took one second to drive through the driveway and we’re like, ‘Oh, my God, we could get this house on this incredible lot,’” Buck says. “It made all the sense in the world.” Aside from having the primary bedroom on the first floor and all other bedrooms tucked upstairs, the back yard abutted a golf course — and Joe Buck is an avid golfer. Michelle signed on but says, “It truly was a project. We had to do a lot of work on this house.” Two key changes the Bucks wanted were an open floor plan and they wanted to see the greens of the course. Instinctively and 20 slmag.net
immediately, they turned to their friend, neighbor, Joe’s fellow MICDS alum, and accomplished builder/designer Bobby Slavin. He headed over to the two-decade old brick European-style manor house to check it out. “I thought, ‘Yeah, there were just great opportunities here and a lot to work with,’” Slavin says. “The spaces were great — and I knew we could do what they needed done.” Owner of Slavin Homes build + design, Bobby Slavin is a man of many, many talents. Not only does he determine which walls will get whacked down and what rooms to add, Slavin personally shops in stores from the Hamptons to New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris. He picks out everything — from the oversized pot rack to all the furniture, flooring, rugs, lighting fixtures, accessories right down to the Baccarat glassware. Hardware? Made in Wilmette, Ill. Cabinets? From Minnesota. The ladder in the wine closet? Germany. The countertop on the bar? Brooklyn. He drops vendors’ names like football fanatics reel off game stats. He also knows the prices of it all because he’s actually keeping the books.