Almost forty years of memories were dancing around in Stephanie Gonya’s head when she decided to undertake a significant renovation of her home. Those memories covered an expanse that began with her pre-teen years and carried all the way through to her daughter’s teenage years.
That’s because the sprawling Fairfield ranch she was planning to update had been the center of her family’s activities ever since she was 11 years old. Her parents bought the home at a sheriff’s auction in 1986 after it sat vacant for seven years. The house was showing signs of neglect, but the couple quickly got busy updating to suit their family of six. Those updates included refurbishing a built-in swimming pool and installing a state-of-the-art kitchen.
Even after the kids grew up and moved out, this was where holidays and special occasions happened. So, in 2023, when her mother was ready to downsize, Stephanie and her husband Chris didn’t hesitate before deciding to purchase her childhood home.
A new generation
But there was a bit of hesitation before reworking the place. “I am very sentimental about this home,” Stephanie says. “But I wanted to make it my home.” Before beginning remodeling plans, she asked her mother, brothers and sister if they were okay with her making significant changes. “It wasn’t going to look like their home anymore,” she says.
Fortunately, everyone was completely on board with Stephanie breathing a new energy into a place they all remembered as a bustling, happy home. Her mother told her to “make it your home. Bring it back to life.”
Starting outside
Stephanie’s mom had already begun a second pool renovation before deciding to move. The couple made a few modifications—working with Klimat Master who installed the first pool. The new gunite pool is rectangular in order to accommodate an automatic cover for safety reasons. Also, a curvilinear sun shelf adds options for those who want to lounge or get their feet wet in a few inches of water without committing to a plunge.
To create an expansive pool deck and outdoor living areas, The Klimat Master team suggested the couple contact Werbrich Custom Outdoor Living. Werbrich’s landscape architect, Josh Eastlake, designed a comprehensive outdoor space which transformed an overgrown bushy area into a pool deck, living, dining and bar areas, along with a retaining wall and lowerlevel fire pit. “Josh was incredible,” Stephanie says. “He understood exactly what we wanted. He was great at listening. Chris and I have a crush on Josh. We love him.”
As part of the Werbrich’s comprehensive approach, every client receives a complimentary furniture design consultation with Missy Werbrich, who is a seasoned interior designer with their team. While Missy began working with the Gonyas on the exterior pool area —material and color selections, furnishings, and accessories—her role quickly escalated, getting her involved in just about every aspect of the home’s interior rework.
Meet the team
When assembling the rest of the interior design and construction team, key referrals came from Stephanie’s business partner, Tara Smithson. The two women own Miller St. Boutique on Nilles Road in Fairfield. Tara had worked with Mark Dillon, owner of MDM Contracting, on her own renovation project and she had rave reviews. Plus, Tara’s cousin Tammy Abner, is a talented lead kitchen designer with JEM Designs. Architect Mike Reddell with 4 Dog Design, who’d worked with the Gonyas on a vacation home, drew plans to get the project launched.
Starting again with the kitchen
When Stephanie’s mother renovated the kitchen almost 40 years ago, her country style was in vogue. But Stephanie wanted a lighter, brighter space. “This house was dark. We have lots of trees and the only real window in the kitchen was blocked off.”
Mike drew up preliminary plans for the kitchen based on Stephanie’s input. Tammy then came on board to specify cabinetry design and finish selections and countertops for the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room. She returned with detailed 2D and 3D renderings for the kitchen as it was drawn, but then offered up another solution saying, “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty to rework the layout.”
This took Stephanie by surprise. “I had to change my brain from what I always knew the kitchen to be to an entirely new kitchen that gave us about 40 percent more space.” Much of that space was gained by closing up the second front entrance into the home and taking full advantage of what used to be a front hallway. It was brilliant.”
“In 40 years, I don’t think anyone has ever used that front door,” Stephanie says.
“The original plan was very similar to the existing kitchen,” Tammy says. “But I basically took that plan and blew it up. I flipped the floor plan by moving the appliance wall to the other side of the room. By reconfiguring walls and the functionality of the space, it turned out to be exactly what the Gonyas did not know they needed.”
Tammy also saw the opportunity to create a pantry where none existed before and designed one where space allowed. “I knew that pantry would be very important to Stephanie,” she says. Double pocket doors open to the pantry without interfering with the nearby breakfast area.
A new beginning
Interior construction began in April of 2024. The Gonyas, including their teenage daughter Sophie and a seven-year-old Doberman Bodhi, lived in a camper on the front of the property for the first month. Then they moved to their finished basement for the final six months of construction. “Fortunately, the weather was nice at that time, so we were able to use the pool area to get out from underground and get some sunlight,” Chris says.
The contractor started things off with a not exciting, but necessary step. “We had to replace every piece of electric wiring in the home,” Chris says. “We were down to studs in every room.” Structural changes included removing a load-bearing wall that spanned between the kitchen and dining/living areas. To add necessary support, instead of a post, the team built an arch that doubles as a bookcase.
With the wall gone, the kitchen is wide open to the living and dining areas. The goal was to keep the kitchen as light and bright as Tammy envisioned, but visually separate it from the adjacent rooms. “Stephanie wanted dark and moody,” Missy says. “The way you get dark and moody is by color drenching the room.” To achieve this look, the walls and ceilings were painted a deep navy (Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent) and floor-to-ceiling draperies were custom made in the same hue. Beams the same color as the floor were added to add some architectural interest, as well as bring some brightness to the space at night.
Getting attached
As the interior designer, Missy handled all material and color selections, furnishings, lighting and accessories. To help the Gonyas visualize the outcome, Missy enhanced Tammy’s elevations for the kitchen, baths and laundry rooms with her selections and provided additional 3D renderings for the living areas and sun porch.
“Missy brings it to life in a way you can’t even imagine,” Stephanie says. “That’s how she sucks you in.”
Missy became an invaluable resource for the Gonyas, putting her touch on nearly every room in the home. Nowhere is her style more prevalent than in the bold wallpaper patterns seen on the pantry wall, in the half bath, and in the primary bathroom.
“I use wallpaper on every project I do,” she says. “I always like to have a touch of it somewhere—often on accent walls or in small spaces. The right wallpaper can make a small space look bigger. Plus, it’s a way to add color, pattern and texture all at the same time.”
When it came time to accessorize, Stephanie says, “I let Missy loose in my store. She comes in, grabs what she likes and brings it to our home and stages. We keep what we like and take the rest back.”
“No one pulls off a look like Missy,” says Chris.
Bedroom wing rework
On the opposite end of the home, there was considerable space shifting. A laundry room, which had been an addition during her parents’ tenure, had incredible light and views thanks to a large bank of windows and dual skylights. So, Dillon claimed that space for an amazing primary bath and relocated a hall bath to make space for a new laundry room. To give an adjacent bedroom access to a bath, he converted a second bedroom’s private bath into a Jack and Jill style bath. That bridges between the two bedrooms—which used to belong to Stephanie and her sister.
“I’ve worked with a lot of contractors and they don’t make them like Mark Dillon anymore,” Stephanie says. “His attention to detail is amazing. When we needed something, he came that day. And we loved every subcontractor who came into the house.”
When, occasionally, Chris and Stephanie were not particularly enthusiastic about a choice they made, they would approach Dillon and he would say, “Okay what do we need to do?”
Stephanie says, “I can’t explain how safe and comfortable I felt. The dude just gets us.”
The renovation wrapped up the late fall of 2024 and already it has seen gatherings that rival celebrations of its past life. “We can fit 84 people here and it doesn’t feel all that crowded,” Chris says. “We know because that’s how many were here during the holidays.” Plans for a milestone birthday pool party in August are ramping up, and the couple are thankful this will be the center for extended family gatherings for years to come.
RESOURCES
Architect Mike Reddell, 4 Dog Design Contractor Mark Dillon, MDM Contracting Interior designer Missy Werbrich, Design With Missy Kitchen, bath and laundry room design Tammy Abner, JEM Designs Cabinetry Jem Designs Accessories Miller St. Boutique EXTERIOR Hardscape, pool deck, bar, landscaping, and landscape lighting Werbrich Custom Outdoor Living Landscape architect Josh Eastlake, RLA , Werbrich Custom Outdoor Living Outdoor furnishings, rugs, pillows, and umbrellas Missy Werbrich, Design With Missy Pool Klimat Master Pools Sunroom construction MDM Contracting Custom planters Jennifer Barlow, Outside Influence, LLC
Editor’s note
Take a peek at Stephanie’s childhood kitchen in an article featuring her mother, Darlene Miller, in a 1997 edition of Taste of Home magazine:
Article by Karen Bradner | Photos by Ross Van Pelt (unless otherwise noted)
Article originally appeared in July