After a lifetime of living in the suburbs, Mark and Kelly McCullough dreamed of something different. Someplace with plenty of elbow room, and maybe a rambling front porch, where the whole family would want to gather. “With four grown sons, you’d think we’d be going into a smaller home, but we really wanted our boys to want to come out here,” Kelly says. With that in mind, they worked with builder Jordon Labocki to create their own coastal-themed destination, right here in Pickerington.
After finding this 7.5-acre property—just 10 minutes from their previous home, the couple turned their attention to design. For entertaining purposes, a walkout basement was a priority, yet the site lacked the necessary elevation change. Labocki’s solution? Create a pond and use the dirt to raise the grade of the home site. While initially a means to an end, the pond became an anchor for the property’s waterfront feel, inspiring walls of windows across the back of the house and solidifying the fresh aesthetic Kelly was seeking.
“The home has a clean but historical look, seen in classic New England coastal homes,” Labocki explains.
The transitional design is rooted in crisp white, balanced by natural materials, modern details and farmhouse inspiration.
White shiplap adorns the sunroom while board-and-batten paneling and whitewashed oak flooring are used in a hallway leading to the pool.
The all-white kitchen—which was a welcome departure from the dark woodwork in the couple’s previous home—incorporates elements that can lean historic or modern, such as satin nickel drawer pulls, white subway tile and flat-panel inset cabinet doors that complement the room’s traditional wainscot paneling.
Like many a Cape cottage, the airy feel of this home is warmed by materials with natural texture, such as woven wood shades, rattan and bent-bamboo seating and 5-inch white oak flooring, hand-scraped for historic appeal. But in this open floor plan, 150-year-old oak beams from a local barn play the starring role—framing the doorways, capping the hearth and accenting the great room ceiling.
While the McCulloughs knew the look they wanted—taking less than 45 days to design the home, compared to the typical three to six months—achieving it required careful consideration of the details. A cooktop accent wall, for example, is a defining feature of the kitchen, yet may not have delivered the same impact if the 3/4-inch-deep limestone tiles at the center weren’t quite as thick, curved or matte.
When the team couldn’t find just the right materials, they created them. In the great room, shelving made from reclaimed barn siding was planed using a hit-skip process to retain some of its patina, Labocki says, and then was installed without brackets to produce a modern, floating effect. Creating the perfect finish for the brick fireplace required a bit more of a process. Labocki tried numerous techniques before determining that watering down the paint delivered the most authentic aged look.
But deliberations over the home’s design didn’t end when the couple moved in.
At its heart, this home is designed for relaxing and entertaining. If the McCulloughs’ grandchildren, ages 3 and 5, aren’t in the pool, they’re playing on the regulation basketball court or full-size sand volleyball court, or perhaps fishing at the pond with Grandpa.
“The whole point of the house was for it to be a destination point for their family and friends,” Labocki says.
The sunroom originally was more of a hearth room, with windows only on the side walls. After more than a year in the home, the couple still hadn’t gotten around to installing a TV on the back wall. In addition, guests tended to congregate in the adjoining open kitchen and dining room, rather than in the entertainment-themed lower level, which offers billiard and theater spaces.
Rather than fight human nature, they allowed the design of the home to evolve. By installing additional windows, they opened the entire first-floor gathering space to views of the pool and back yard, building on the resort-like ambiance that’s a world away from the ‘burbs.
“Mark always says when he comes home, he feels like he’s on vacation,” Kelly says.
Resources: Builder: Jordon Labocki, Labocki Homes, Inc.; Residential designer: David Labocki, Labocki Design Group; Kitchen design and cabinetry: Schlabach Wood Design; Landscape designer: Ciminello’s Landscaping; Lighting: Northern Lighting; Windows: Jeld Wen, Northern Window & Door; Window treatments: “Enlightened” woven natural wood shades by Hunter Douglas from Budget Blinds of Pickerington; Doors: Capital City Millwork; Fireplace: Heat-N-Glo, North Central Insulation; Kitchen countertops: Solazzo Marble & Granite; Kitchen backsplash: Tile Shop; Appliances: KitchenAid