Kruse and Coates: Christmas elegance

If resident of a small place, chances are you live in someone else's house even though you own it --- unless you built it. I live in "his parents' house," for example. Friends in Chariton live in "the Crozier house," even though 50 years have passed and a few other families have owned it since the last of the Croziers, Mary, moved out. So it goes.

Which is why I don't feel too guilty about combining the Ann and Judd Kruse home and the Nancy and Carl Coates home --- or as I call them, the "old Coates house" and the "new Coates house" --- in one post. See what I mean?

Both were featured during the weekend WayCo Arts Council Christmas tour.

The Kruse home was built and occupied for 50 years or so, until about three years ago, by the Coates, who sold it upon downsizing and moving to a smaller home in Corydon, which they renovated to suit their needs and tastes.

It always has been a place of considerable elegance, and Ann and Judd are continuing that tradition while setting their own agenda. 

It is a fine example of mid-century modern, built to one of the most pleasing designs from that era I've run across. A central hall runs up the spine of the building, bisecting a generous foyer and allowing traffic to flow from the family room (a later addition) and kitchen to the north past the living and dining room entrance and into the bedroom wing.  Expanses of window in most rooms open them to views of a pond and wooded areas to the west.

The dining room of the Kruse home (top), with expanses of mirror, glass and widows, practically glittered Sunday. The wall-hanging is an example of Ann Kruse's work. Obviously, she is an accomplished fabric artist. Two other quilted holiday hangings, one in the foyer and the other in the living room, also greeted guests.

The family Christmas tree was located in the living room, walled to the west and northwest in glass and a step down from both foyer and dining room. That's Dru admiring another wall hanging --- she had not yet learned how to dodge the camera.

Spacious and beautiful bedrooms fill the south wing of the house. A guest room, featuring a holiday quilt, small tree and Christmas village, was the most extensively decorated.

But if I were choosing a room to wake up in, I think it would be the master bedroom with expansive shelving and views of the pond.

This not especially well thought out photo of the family room does give an idea of how the Kruse home relates to its surroundings.

The Coates' love of light is as evident, too, in their new home --- built during the same era as what now is the Kruse home but substantially smaller and with views of neighbors rather than nature.

The living and dining areas flow together in a light-filled L-shape and the bamboo-themed wallpaper that covers south and west walls helps to bring a touch of nature inside.

The gracious Nancy Coates (left), visiting here with Dru, is a collector and glittering display cases are featured throughout the home.

But the bedroom was my favorite room. There are no window treatments here other than blinds that vanish during the day and are lowered only when it gets dark, Nancy said, opening the room to the out of doors for as long as is practical.