When Keith and Taya Muncy moved from one Dilworth home to another, they were serious about starting over. They moved just down the street, but everything except for the neighborhood was new. When the couple moved with their two sons from one block of McDonald Avenue to the next, they took just two things with them – a leather chair and an ottoman. Both found a place in the flex space above the detached, three-car garage they built out after moving in. Tom Holley of Crazy Jane’s gave them the fresh start and updated, modern look they wanted. Their new 5,000-square-foot home is a showplace. Literally. It was on the Dilworth Home Tour last year. Its brickand-shingle exterior is in keeping with the historic neighborhood’s vibe, but the facade is unmistakably modern. It harmonizes with its surroundings without pretending to be original to the neighborhood.
The Muncys worked with Ram Construction to build a home that lives the way they do. One of the most interesting features, Holley says, is that the home doesn’t have a dining room. Most people say they never use that room, anyway, so the Muncys got rid of it altogether. Instead, they have a banquette upholstered in vibrant teal that’s located just off the monochromatic kitchen, which comfortably seats ten people. Out with formality, in with functionality. The couple worked easily with Holley. “They made every furniture, accessory, and fabric choice with me, and the house is so them,” Holley says. They had just one edict: They did not want clutter. They wanted modern, clean lines, and nothing frou-frou to detract from the home’s good design and some furniture pieces Holley calls “works of art themselves.” “Notice the long console table in the foyer,” he says. “It only has a painting above it. There’s nothing on the table itself. You don’t need anything else when your furniture makes that much of a statement.”
The overall effect of such an orderly space is tranquility-inducing. Holley says the Muncys were ideal clients. “We’re on the same page,” he says. He, too, is a fan of modern, clean lines. But that doesn’t mean everything in the home is straight and angular. There are plenty of curvilinear forms here, too. Holley likes to mix modern and organic, so there are some undulating curves mixed with the right angles. A piece like the showstopping console table in the foyer is full of movement. Its resin material and shine are upto-the-minute contemporary, but its shape is like something you’d expect in a mountain cabin. “It’s meant to mimic roots coming out of the ground,” Holley explains. There’s another one-of-a-kind console upstairs. It’s made from a reclaimed gear. There’s the sense of movement again. The lamp on the glass top table mimics the shape. Holley is big on texture – rich velvets, animal hide rugs, seagrass, reclaimed wood, buttery leathers. “The Barcelona chairs are made of cigar leather, so they have that old, crackled look,” he says. “Same with the Eames chair in the office.” Holley also likes bringing the best of nature indoors. Stone, petrified wood, and agate are just a few of the materials used in the furnishings he found for the Muncy home.
Yet an antique is not out of place in this otherwise thoroughly modern home. Antique overdyed Turkish rugs are among the distinctive floor coverings Holley helped choose. The house has multiple levels and a few surprises in a home that looks straightforward. For instance, half a flight of steps up from the main level on a mezzanine level is the boys’ play room. The Muncys didn’t abandon their modern aesthetic there. Even the blue-and-orange play room has clean lines and a sense of structure. There’s also a spiral staircase that leads from the basement family room and bar to a first-floor outdoor area – just one of the al fresco spaces the family gets to enjoy. The Muncy home proves that you don’t have to go far to make a big change. And you don’t need a bunch of extraneous stuff when your furniture speaks for itself.