Before Charlie and Marcie Vantine purchased a sprawling midcentury modern house in the summer of 2020, it sat on the market for close to two years. Its décor felt traditional. The paint was a yellowish cream that matched the carpet. Overall, the structure was a prime candidate for a design overhaul, not to mention extensive maintenance and repairs.
Friends of the couple had walked through the house and, intimidated by the prospect of taking on a 10,301-square-foot historic home, turned away. Others suggested that the project might be just right for the Vantines, two lawyers with a passion for design.
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“We wanted midcentury, and we’re good at seeing the potential,” Marcie says. “I immediately blocked out everything [on the] inside.”
“It had things we wanted, like a ton of natural light, big windows, and a yard that is daunting but still incredible,” Charlie adds.
Located on more than 3 acres and surrounded by a landscape of mature trees, the house would provide the Vantines with the space they needed for their family of four that includes two active boys, now ages 12 and 15. The couple previously lived in a home renovated by the late renowned modern architect Phil Durham. “But we knew we needed to eventually move, because the layout of the house wasn’t going to work for us long term,” Marcie says.
Being stuck at home during the height of the pandemic lockdown only made this reality clearer to them, and the couple took a leap of faith. “It was an uncertain time, with COVID-19, and we just went for it,” Marcie says.
Built in 1949, the house was designed by architect Kenneth E. Wischmeyer, a graduate of Washington University and the designer of The Muny building. Among the home’s stunning original features are a sweeping terrazzo staircase and foyer floor, enormous plate-glass windows, built-in shelving, hardwood floors, and a stone fireplace.
The Vantines spent the first year of the project completing basic updates, painting most of the rooms white, replacing carpet in the bedrooms, and installing modern light fixtures in places where they knew that future renovation wouldn’t disturb them. Charlie and his mom stripped layers of paint from a pair of sliding closet doors in the entryway, and their work eventually paid off, revealing the original wood grain.
Over the years, the couple has slowly amassed a collection of midcentury modern and other designer furniture that fit nicely into the new home once it was brightened. Whereas Charlie’s taste runs minimalist and sleek, Marcie prefers the warmer side of the midcentury aesthetic—but they seem to have found a happy medium.
“I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, so I didn’t have a lot of exposure to midcentury design or elements of design,” Marcie says.
She grew to appreciate the style as she began traveling more and visiting other people’s homes, but “it comes with a price,” she says. “As we started making money and could afford that kind of aesthetic, it was something we could agree on that we both really liked.”
Among Marcie’s favorite pieces are a classic Eames lounge chair and ottoman, a Broyhill Brasilia credenza, and newer designer pieces, purchased at such local shops as MoModerne, Cool Stuff Period, and Centro Modern Furnishings. She says, “My design is what I like and what makes me happy. I just get a feeling about something, like the art or the color or pattern. I have no idea if it’s right or wrong or if it goes against design rules. I love to mix unique pieces.”
When the Vantines were ready for the major renovation, they connected with Kirkwood-based Studio Lark, a full-service modern architecture and design firm specializing in midcentury modern renovations, founded by husband-and-wife principals Aaron and Jessica Senne.
“We told them we weren’t afraid of something quirky or unique. We love design,” Marcie says.
The project encompassed key areas of the main floor: the kitchen, mudroom, foyer, and his-and-hers primary bathrooms. Built like a tank of concrete and steel, the house provided structural challenges and parameters.
“It felt like a series of chopped-up spaces,” Jessica Senne says. “We endeavored to analyze what we could do, given the concrete structure. We couldn’t open everything up entirely.”
The Sennes focused, instead, on subtractive moves. They widened the openings between the dining room and kitchen and the kitchen and mudroom to create better flow. They removed a defunct koi pond in the entry and replaced it with new hardwood floors and an inlaid planter, designed by Studio Lark, set in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, blurring the line between interior and outdoors.
An awkward wall of glass panels divided the entry by the front door from the larger foyer, where the staircase lands. Studio Lark removed the wall and redesigned the space with a warm walnut screen and built-in bench fabricated by frequent collaborator Barron Construction.
Another wall of rich walnut paneling created by Barron adds warmth to the modern kitchen, which features an expansive waterfall-edge island topped in honed gray Pietra marble, veined in white. A bank of subtle white cabinetry is balanced by rich merlot lower cabinets, a unique palette that Marcie instantly embraced.
Barron Construction created a custom banquette for everyday dining, upholstered in Knoll’s Andissa fabric. “I came across this textile, and I knew it was bold, but it’s a pretty contemporary floral, because it’s pixelated and sort of abstracted and tempered with that stripe,” Jessica Senne says of the choice.
Hues from the fabric were matched in custom upholstered Moroso’s Mathilda dining chairs and stools, designed by Patricia Urquiola and sourced through Centro Modern Furnishings. The kitchen’s pièce de résistance is the leather Flos Belt linear light fixture above the island, designed by brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and sourced through Centro. At the time of its installation, it was the only one in the world being used in a residential application.
Another unique design element is a patterned tile wall behind the freestanding tub in Marcie’s new bathroom. Studio Lark selected a soft-green rectangular tile that comes in six different textures. The tile itself is elegantly understated, but Studio Lark’s idea for laying out the pattern sets it apart.
“We started working with the patterning and eventually arrived at a system of working it in accordance with Benford’s Law,” Senne says. The idea came to them after viewing a mini-documentary about the law, a mathematical principle holding that in any data set, the number 1 occurs as the leading digit about 30 percent of the time; larger numbers occur as the leading digit with decreasing frequency.
“What we did was take that curve and use those textured tiles in those percentages,” Senne says. “I think because they’re not all the same percentages, the design is stronger.”
Senne credits Marcie and Charlie with the home’s striking look. The couple’s openness to taking risks and willingness to employ Studio Lark’s exploratory approach, she says, strengthened the design.
“It’s fun because it’s their point of view but our point of view,” Marcie says. “That’s why I like renovating. It’s exactly what you want.”
