While many people could recite all the projects they started and finished during the pandemic, few could say that they gutted, designed, and furnished a house in Mission Hills.
While 1,623 miles away. When ordering anything from overseas was dicey as cargo ships were stuck in port. When shortages from toilet paper to computer chips caused us all to go from Plan A to Plan G within seconds (Goodbye La Cornue range; hello, Bertazzoni).
But Beth Zollars found a way. A professor of policy and urban planning at the University of Southern California and a local entrepreneur and designer, she was teaching her winter college classes. Husband Bill, retired CEO of YRC Worldwide, had his new work cut out for him after being appointed to the United States Postal Service Board of Governors.
“We downsized from our house in Leawood as empty nesters of four grown children,” Beth Zollars says. “We wanted an easier way to live in Kansas, but with a California vibe.”
While riding out the pandemic on the West Coast, she began planning. A mood board detailed how she wanted the exterior (white painted brick, black window frames and doors) and interior (quiet neutral) to look and feel.
Contractor Jarret Apperson of McApperson Properties made her vision become a reality, with other local help from Hardwood Floor Company, Carthage Stoneworks, Metro Drapery and Blind, and her friend Ann Egan.
Now, as you walk in the front door, you would never know this is the way the house came together. Quarter-sawn white oak floors feel almost soft underfoot. Vintage Turkish Oushak rugs, pale walls, and lined Belgian linen draperies all whisper “quiet neutral.” Modern Italian lighting and articulating brass sconces cast light on antiques and family pieces, mixing new with old.
“I wanted everything to be comfortable,” says Zollars. That means everything from the fleecy armchair that pulls up next to the living room fireplace with its soapstone surround, where she loves to have her morning coffee, to the vintage curved sofa from a great aunt, which is now reupholstered in a comfy flannel gray. Or the spot—any spot—where the family’s dog, Shelly, a bird-dog mix, wishes to curl up.
The couple removed a wall and opened the space to the dining room to provide a view of the outdoors and let in more light. Again, sleek walnut dining chairs feel great to the touch and invite their dinner guests to linger around the table.
The family room also looks out to the outdoors with sleek cabinetry on one end by Parks Cabinetry and a dynamic chandelier overhead. Plenty of space to sit, put your feet up on the black-stained circular coffee table, and just hang out.
The couple loves to entertain. “In our old house,” says Zollars, “people were always gathered around the island, so we wanted to have more places to stand and sit.” Now, the family room melds into the kitchen with cabinets painted a subdued gray, graphic Calacatta Macchia Vecchia stone countertops (with an etch-proofing finish), and a creamy-hued Bertazzoni range. Open shelving and warm wood accents continue the open and friendly feel. Waterworks sink faucets and unlacquered brass hardware invite the patina acquired over time.
In the “snug” or bar, with its vintage opaline-glass chandelier, Bill can mix up a pitcher of old fashioneds or pour a vintage wine in his favorite room. “On Christmas Eve, we had 15 people squeezed into this little space,” Zollars says with a laugh. “It was like a clown car.”
Here and there, objects tell stories of their family. A 19th-century brass weathervane reminds her of upstate New York, where she grew up. A framed pencil drawing was a gift from her father at her college graduation. Art found, admired, and brought home from travels and favorite places finds their spots to be seen and remembered.
Upstairs in the primary bedroom, a large walnut canopy bed is dressed in crisp linens and a comfy blanket tucked in for a tailored appearance. On one wall, the sculpted lines of an antique American highboy from Sotheby’s contrast with the simple forms of bed and side tables with Victoria Morris lamps.
Still working out how and where they want to live, the couple is contemplating another move. Will it mean a Kansas or a California pied-a-terre?
“Like the sea,” says Zollars, “change is inevitable, sometimes just touching at the surface, other times knocking you over with a sledgehammer.”
“But when you surround yourself with the things you love, you always feel at home,” she says.
The It List
Contractor
McApperson Property and Design
913-669-7299
Floors
The Hardwood Floor Company
Flowers
The Little Flower Shop