Comfort Zone
Emergency room Dr. Karl Wodrich and his wife, Jennifer, wanted to simplify their lives. Their last home in Cuyahoga Falls was traditional and had rooms their family of five never went in, including a formal dining room. They were ready to find a more comfortable and usable space.
“We definitely wanted more of an informal home that’s livable,” 51-year-old Karl says.
They worked with Old World Classics, a Canton custom home design firm, to create a casual, more open floor plan by looking at a model home plan as inspiration and tailoring it for their active family.
In December 2018, the Wodriches moved into a 3,500-square-foot custom home they had built on a 2 1/2 -acre plot in the new Estates of Bath development. It was downsizing a bit from their former 4,200-square-foot home, but the open spaces make it feel big and airy.
A contemporary, minimalist aesthetic contributes to the home’s unfussy feel. Clean lines on modern furniture and smooth white crown molding let statement lighting fixtures shine through. Ceramic tiles with the look of marble in the foyer pair seamlessly with dark wood floors in the living areas, anchoring a relaxing palette of charcoal gray and off-white that carries through the entire two-story house. The result is a neutral space that doesn’t feel cold.
“All the walls are curved edges,” says 48-year-old Jennifer. “It’s calming.”
The home’s mostly open floor plan features 10-foot ceilings over back-to-back living areas, one with glass sliding doors to access the outdoor brick patio, the other structured around a working fireplace. The living room, hearth room, dining area and kitchen all lead into each other through artistically curved archways that Karl says add “real character.” Contrasting furniture sets, in leather, medium gray upholstery and light gray upholstery, delineate those spaces as separate without clutter, allowing the close-knit family to be together while engaging in different activities.
“The kids do their homework in different areas here,” Jennifer says. “We like having them with us.”
Natural light fills the home with warmth, thanks to large windows on almost every wall, including two-story windows in the stairwell and over the kitchen sink — where a section of the ceiling also soars to the full two-story height. Choosing smaller areas for tall ceilings was an important lesson the Wodriches learned from their previous home.
“In our living room, we had tall ceilings like this, but we also had a lot of echoing,” Karl says. “This is a nice compromise to still get that light but not have those issues.”
A large island topped with light gray quartz dominates the spacious kitchen, surrounded by five weighty padded barstools. An 8-foot light-wood dining table with leaves to extend it to 12 feet sits next to the island, but the kids generally prefer perching at the island for laid-back family meals.
“If I’m making something, they’ll start eating right here, and then we’ll move over [to the table],” Jennifer says.
Neither of the Wodriches is a gourmet cook, so they made substantial changes to the traditional kitchen design from Old World and swapped out the standard industrial oven.
“I wanted a double oven because I have a cookie bake every Christmas,” Jennifer says.
The answer to adding them was to tuck two high-capacity wall ovens into an adjacent galley-sized back kitchen, with extra shelves and cabinets for pantry storage. They kept the Thermadore stovetop in the kitchen and switched in charcoal gray drawers with simple chrome pulls beneath it where the oven would have gone, lending the room a cleaner look.
The couple’s teenage daughter gets a mini suite for her bedroom thanks to the addition of the back kitchen, which expanded the second-floor footprint enough for her own full bath above it.
“The downstairs is similar to the model, but up here we completely redid it,” Karl says of altering the second-story floor plan that eliminates a guest room and tailors the remaining rooms to their family.
The teenage boys have a Jack-and-Jill setup with double sinks in a shared bathroom adjoining their separate bedrooms. “Their names are Josh and Jacob, so it’s perfect,” Karl says.
Connecting their bedrooms to the bathroom, barn doors that match those on the first-floor laundry room save space while allowing privacy and continuing the home’s simplistic design approach. “These barn doors were perfect because I didn’t want pocket doors,” Jennifer says.
The large master suite features extra insulation for soundproofing and automated room-darkening shades on the windows to accommodate times when Karl works night shifts in the emergency room and has to sleep during the day. “People don’t have to worry about being quiet,” he says.
The light and spacious master bath includes a separate water closet with door for the toilet, an adjacent walk-in closet, a full tub and a shower stall.
“I love baths,” Jennifer says, citing her evening ritual with bubbles and candles.
While Karl isn’t a bath guy, his oasis is the gym in their comfy carpeted basement filled with ample light from high windows. There, the health-conscious doctor and his sporty family stay fit using the rowing machine, mirrored wall, stationary bike and free weights.
“Exercise is very important to us. This is more convenient,” says Jennifer, noting she and Karl both work out about four or five times a week. The gym sits in an open area off a rec room, set up for the kids with cushy sofas and a big-screen TV.
This connectedness is the simplicity the Wodriches were seeking. They looked at existing homes, but none had everything they needed, and none felt like home.
“Doing it exactly how we wanted it,” says Jennifer,
“it’s a better fit.”
Closer Look:
In the first-floor laundry room off the home’s foyer, Karl and Jennifer Wodrich included a special feature for their black and yellow Labrador retrievers, Hunter and Sanibel.
“One of my favorite aspects of this home is the dog shower,” Jennifer says. After letting the 3-year-old dogs romp around the 2 1/2-acre property, Jennifer can swing open the shower’s hip-height glass door and walk them right in for a bath that keeps all the water and suds contained.
The entire laundry-slash-dog-spa can be closed off with two sliding barn doors or left open to allow even more natural light into the foyer and open living area.