Marvelous Sight: From Setback to Showpiece: A Modern Courtyard Home Born from Resilience and Love

Bert and Kelly Slone’s custom retirement home almost didn't become a reality.

In 2020, as the couple was planning to build a home in Kent, Kelly became sick with an unknown illness. By September, she was bedridden. Bert insisted she be hospitalized. A diagnosis of stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma came two days before they were scheduled to close on the Kent property deal.

“They said if I hadn’t received the chemo right away, I would have died,” Kelly says.

The couple canceled the project and devoted their time to Kelly’s treatment and recovery.

Bert remained her steadfast caregiver. But he quietly set aside his dream of designing a custom home in order to focus on Kelly's health.

“I said, We could just buy a standard house or a condo, [but] I’ll have to kill something inside me,” he recalls.

After her oncologist declared her in remission on March 19, 2021, Kelly was ready to dive back in. “I knew that building a retirement home was in Bert’s heart, and I wanted to fulfill that for him,” she says.

While Bert’s architecture career concentrated on commercial building system performance, he has enjoyed drawing house plans too. Because he designed and built the Twin Lakes home he occupied for 30 years, creating the floor plan himself felt right. Bert loved the clean, simple lines of the midcentury modern style, and retired pharmaceutical representative Kelly had dreamed of a courtyard. They both wanted minimalist decor and a downsized home where they could age in place.

An open, flowing, one-story floor plan — organized in a doughnut shape around a central courtyard with a nearly-flat roof, extra-wide passageways and tons of natural light — is the result. Their 2,845-square-foot ranch home on the edge of Mogadore, with a 702-square-foot central courtyard, was completed in December 2023.

“We fit the house to us, rather than fitting us to a house,” Bert says.

The couple’s outside-the-box ideas made it challenging to bring their unusual vision to fruition. Several homeowners’ associations turned them down, so they broadened their search to residential infill lots — vacant spaces amid older homes in established neighborhoods. Finally, one lot checked all their boxes: flat land, mature trees, city sewer and water services and an eclectic mix of 1960s and ‘70s one- and two-story neighbors.

The couple interviewed six different builders, searching for the right fit. “There’s a lot of details that aren’t complicated — just non-standard," Bert says.

The foundation, for example, includes 37 corners — whereas a typical house involves only four or eight. Plus, Bert’s midcentury modern vision required a different roof than the more common gabled, mansard and hip varieties. “Some builders looked at this house and saw something they hadn't ever built,” he says.

Enter Shultz Design & Construction. Bert remembers Darren and Drew Shultz, the second-generation owners, saying, This is exactly the kind of thing we make our reputation on!

The custom builders welcomed every unique feature, going above and beyond to find ways to bring the Slones’ vision to life — like locating a truss manufacturer in western Pennsylvania that could accommodate the quarter-inch-per-foot roof slope that is up to code for drainage but appears almost flat behind a black aluminum fascia. They also worked with Moisture-Guard Corp. — the pros who reroofed the original Akron Airdock — to install a single-ply EPDM roof, comprised of nylon-reinforced rubber that’s watertight and incredibly durable. While the exterior is typical gray vinyl siding with accents of brownish-gray manufactured stone veneer, its unique architecture draws attention — as do its wavy landscaping beds by Tom Fitting Landscape and Design.

“They made our dream come true,” Kelly says.

Bert dubbed their home “Bright Eyeland” because his nickname for Kelly is “Bright Eyes.” The home reflects the sense of escape they achieved by arranging their indoor spaces around an open-air courtyard.

“Our neighbors are wonderful, but it’s nice to go outside and not be on display,” he says, gesturing toward the courtyard. “I truly did envision that as an island.”

With stamped and colored concrete flooring, large windows and doors to the interior on three sides — plus stone veneer that matches the indoor fireplace and a Don Drumm smiling sun face on one wall — the courtyard is an alfresco extension of the couple’s living space.

The glass-enclosed 10-by-25-foot entryway, which Bert calls “the portal,” is eye-catching. Double glass doors face the stamped concrete driveway, so visitors don’t have to walk around to the front. The black fascia roofline juts out like a cantilever above two-sided wraparound cement steps. A Doric column simplified the roof’s engineering, while cladding it in light-colored wood created a bold visual statement. A traditional ceiling-mounted porch swing hangs inside, positioned toward the street.

“I said, Let’s do something a little different — make it a place you can enjoy fully protected,” Bert recalls.

“It’s relaxing,” Kelly says, noting how the swing helps her feel like part of the neighborhood. “I like waving at people as they go down the street. They honk and wave back.”

Starting in the portal, Kelly’s daily indoor walks circle the kitchen, continue down the wide hallway past the living area and oak pool table (which Bert designed), pass the guest room, home office and laundry room, and make a turn in Kelly’s boudoir — her dressing room filled with built-in shelves and a private powder room — to return in a loop. “We made sure when we were designing it that we had a walkway so I could walk every day in any weather,” Kelly notes.

Kelly’s health scare inspired the Slones to make architectural choices that could allow them to stay in the home as they advance into their 70s and beyond. Generously sized hallways and doorways could accommodate a wheelchair or walker, and luxury vinyl tile, with a look of slate that’s cohesive throughout most of the home, would be easier to navigate with a walker than carpet. The main bath features watertight ceramic gray floor and wall tiles that continue the slate look, plus a no-door, no-step shower that could easily accommodate accessible grab bars.

Kelly chose a calming, simply elegant palette of gray, black and white tones that gives their interior design a clean, uncluttered look.

“It’s serene and quiet,” says Kelly, who loves how the matte gray appliances complement the custom-built dark-gray cabinetry and swirling granite countertops in the kitchen and both bathrooms. The granite-topped kitchen island is sleek and modern, with ample space for dining. A contemporary take on a sliding barn door hides the sizable pantry behind frosted glass panels framed in black metal.

Sparse artpieces, such as metalworks by Don Drumm, provide minimalist decor throughout. A Drumm collage of stylized leaves graces the thin stone veneer above the gas fireplace in the main living space, and recognizable Drumm depictions of cats and suns adorn the guest bedroom and bath.

The main bedroom boasts another 330 connection: a 2-by-8-foot sign from Kent’s former Treno Ristorante. Bert purchased the sign from the owners as a romantic gesture when the pandemic forced the eatery to close. The couple’s first date was there.

“The house draws on the industrial aesthetic of Akron,” Bert says, “and to have some Akron pieces blends that local feel.”

Minimalist decor can come off as harsh, but the Slone home is not — thanks to Bert’s customizable LED lighting.

“I like lights you can play with,” he says. “It's like a canvas you can change every day.”

From an app on his phone, Bert toys with brightness, color and effects for cove lighting that rims the ceiling perimeter of the main living space. Neighbors notice the impact in the portal, so he can put on special shows for holidays — like a succession of red, white and blue lights last Fourth of July.

Sleek, vertical, black metal wall lights and floor lamps add accent light while dovetailing with the home’s midcentury style. Recessed LED downlights throughout the ceiling provide discreet, dimmable illumination.

Special narrow-beam spotlights above the open hallways where Kelly walks create a particularly dramatic effect on the otherwise blank slate. “They make little hot spots, like stepping stones,” Bert says.

The Slones are delighted to live in their dream retirement home — which looks and feels like a work of modern art.

“I want my house to inspire me,” Bert says. “I feel something special here.”

Closer Look

Passersby are constantly curious about the Slones’ unconventional house. Most simply slow down as they drive by or stop to snap a couple of pictures. But some have walked right up the driveway, into the courtyard and peered into the home.

“Only a very few have been so bold as to put their face against the glass,” homeowner Bert Slone notes.

When the home was finished, Bert added a security gate to the courtyard, incorporating a design that harmonized with the architecture.

About six months after their January 2024 move-in, the pair tapped Glas Ornamental Metals of Barberton to fabricate and install a stylized gate — welded from low-maintenance aluminum bar, tube and plate. Its composition of rectangular shapes and gridwork elevates both form and function.