A Paradise in the Outdoors

The Shermer family’s dream home is on eight acres with woods, a creek and beautiful views. The inside is a warm and rustic French country style.

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Photo by Edward Biamonte The Shermers’ eight-and-a-half-acre lot wasn’t their first choice. They found it the day they were supposed to break ground in a different neighborhood.

The most stressful part of building the Ozark home of Bob and Deana Shermer came before the ground was broken on their lot. “The day the dozer was to start digging, they called and told me they found a different lot,” said builder Galin Campbell of Campbell Homes. “My dozer guy had no cell phone, so I had to track him down and tell him the news,” Campbell laughs.

“Our good friends had just moved into The Bluffs subdivision,” says Deana Shermer. “And we found the lot that our home currently sits on while driving through one afternoon.” The Shermers had already purchased a lot in River Mist and had “101 excuses as to why we shouldn’t even consider another lot,” Deana says. “We kept telling ourselves that it is too far out, the roads are bad, on and on. But in the end, we really wanted to live out here. So we sold our original lot in three weeks and broke ground.”

If the Shermers’ home-building experience started with a bit of a jolt, happily the rest of the year-and-a-half-long process went smoothly on their 5,500-square-foot home. The French country brick house featured in the 2007 Parade of Homes sits on eight and a half acres. Their yard backs into a creek and woods.

Their sons Jake, a junior at Ozark High School; and Zack, a sophomore at the University of Kansas, take full advantage of the generous acreage by driving their four wheelers on the property. Both sons are football players, as was husband Bob who played linebacker for Missouri State from 1980-84. The family fishes in the creek and practices their shooting on deer and turkey decoys that lie in the brush beyond the yard and are visible from the kitchen table.

The original plan for the home was two years in the making. The Shermers worked with designer Ron Hill of Euro World Design to design their “dream home,” says Deana. “We have been married for 22 years,” she says, “and we started in a 1,200-square-foot home, then a 2,800-square-foot home, and now this.”

Working with interior designer Pam Thornsberry of Putting It All Together, the Shermers chose a palette of browns and taupes and put a “big emphasis on French country,” says Deana. “I didn’t want anything contemporary in the home,” she says. “I wanted it warm and inviting and not fancy.”

The open kitchen shares space with a comfortable hearth room and a large table overlooking the yard. Wide plank hickory floors in a rustic style are carried throughout. Custom cherry cabinets from Hatfield complement the granite countertops with flecks of gold and brown. Throughout the home, the Shermers used textured taupe walls to unify the rooms. “I went through 100,000 homes and defined what I wanted on the walls,” says Deana.

Kitchenaid ovens and a Viking cooktop in stainless bring modern elements into this Old World space. A bar area with a mini refrigerator near the hearth room adds convenience and cuts down on traffic in the main kitchen for this busy household. Tucked to the side of the fireplace is a flat panel television that pulls out for viewing. “I wanted a painting above the fireplace, so we put the TV to the side,” says Deana. Bringing the outdoors in, the Shermer’s decided against using window treatments on the windows. “I have no window coverings,” Deana says. “I just love the light.”

The living room, separated by the fireplace, shares the browns, golds and taupes of the rest of the home. Deana has brought elements of her previous Fremont Hills home to this space by staging family antiques, including a chest of drawers, in the corner. “The chest is my great grandmother’s,” Deana says. “I was in the process of taking off the varnish when my decorator suggested we leave it as-is and put it in the corner.” Many accessories and paintings from Boomland in Ozark complete the décor.
A hall filled with family photos leads to the master suite, which has a charming screened-in porch just beyond French doors. “I could just live out here,” says Deana. Wicker furniture and candles provide the perfect way to enjoy the outdoors and remain protected from the elements. “It is so great to sit out here and read,” says Deana. “It is nice and cool in the evenings.”