Oasis Found

Randy and Emily Knapp lead busy lives. He’s a sales representative for a medical device company — a job that requires him to scrub in for procedures in Cleveland-area hospitals. She’s a school guidance counselor. They have two daughters both playing soccer, filling up their weekends year-round.

They don’t get to go on vacation as much as they would like. So when they started thinking about a new home, they made it a goal to bring vacation vibes to them.

“We had a crossroads point,” Randy says. “We had a nice house in Kent, but it was in a subdivision on a teeny lot. We saved enough money where we could maybe buy a vacation house somewhere, or we can sell everything and put it into one big, nice house. That led us to say, Why don’t we have a place where we feel like we’re on vacation when we’re at home?”

The result is a 3,500-square-foot modern farmhouse-style home designed by Fidei Architecture on a 1.5-acre lot in Franklin Township. The Knapps were looking for a more pastoral setting — “I was a country girl all my life,” says Emily, who grew up near Sugarcreek, in Amish Country — and built a home that allows them to get the same relaxation of being in vacation mode.

“It really does feel like I’m on vacation on Saturdays,” Emily says. “I’ll drink my coffee and open the sliding doors and listen to the birds.”

The Knapps were looking for an indoor-outdoor feel. The double glass-paned wooden front doors — dark to contrast with the white exterior and naturally-stained wood beams — open into a 961-square-foot open dining room and living area with high ceilings, a gas fireplace that stretches two stories high and clerestory windows. 

“The main entertaining space flows well and creates a lot of nice views,” says Marc Benedict, partner of Fidei Architecture. “It’s a fairly large space but doesn’t feel overwhelming.”

Double wood-framed glass back doors open into an expansive recreational area, featuring an in-ground pool with a small waterfall and a 1,064-square-foot pool house, with an additional 540 square feet of space under an attached veranda, including a woodburning fireplace.

“They really wanted an oasis,” says Terry Carter, the site superintendent for Fidei Build, “a space where they could hang out and relax.”

The relaxation extends to maintenance. The pool is bordered by artificial turf from Bob & Pete’s Floors in Canton. “We didn’t want anything around the pool that we’d have to mow and blow grass into the pool,” says Emily.

The pool house features a washer and dryer, a full bathroom and a full kitchen in addition to indoor leisure space. “It’s basically a fully functioning unit,” Randy says. “This gives us the ability to have an in-law suite if we needed it for our parents.”

Inside the main home, Emily describes the decor as eclectic, furnished with family pieces and some she found and reused. The sink in the half-bathroom by the kitchen is a repurposed Victorian-era dry sink, and a vanity in the upstairs bathroom was picked from the side of the road and repainted. 

“I really love taking something that was a treasure at one time and bringing it new life,” Emily says.

While the main living area, as well as the rest of the house, is primarily white with espresso brown accents, it gets warmed up by natural wooden beams. They and the fireplace mantels are from a barn that was taken down in Mantua. 

The home itself has a walk-out primary suite — “We wanted to open our door and skip right out to the pool,” Emily says — with a gas fireplace on espresso brown panels that provide an accent. There are his-and-hers walk-in closets (Emily’s contains a single-person sauna, which she finds therapeutic) and a bathroom with a large shower as well as a soaker tub. 

Upstairs are four more bedrooms. They left some spaces unfinished because they wanted time to decide what to do with them. But to plan ahead, they installed a waterproof system for the concrete foundation that is precast, pre-insulated and pre-studded, so when they finish the basement, they can easily mount drywall.  In the basement, the Knapps envision an area where the girls can practice soccer, but Randy would also like a spot to work on his golf game. (The basement has unusually high ceilings to accommodate a golf backswing.)

The property is big enough to have a zip line and trampoline for the kids, and Emily is thrilled to have a garden, growing a variety of vegetables, as well as bushes that she hopes will bear a variety of berries next year.

They have the resting spot they want.

“This is my zen place,” Randy says of the veranda. “I’ll put on a fire, pour myself a glass of wine and listen to the waterfall.”

Closer Look:

One of the unique facets of the Knapps’ Franklin Township home is what it doesn’t show.

Their daughters each have a hideaway walk-in closet behind a bookshelf in their bedroom, and the expansive kitchen includes a butler’s pantry — but you have to look for it.

“They didn’t want the door to the butler’s pantry to look like a door,” says Marc Benedict, partner of Fidei Architecture. “So it looks like a piece of casework.”

The butler’s pantry is a concealed room where food can be prepared and kitchen equipment can be stored. It’s becoming more popular in new builds, Benedict says, and the Knapps’ includes a refrigerator. Although the decor remains a work in progress, it comes in handy when the family entertains.

“We use it very frequently,” homeowner Randy Knapp says. “When you want to get rid of things that you don’t want to put on your kitchen table, you can hide it back here.”