Tessa Vancil is intrigued by design. The 12-year-old Lawrence resident likes to consider how furniture should be arranged, how colors should be used and how to achieve clean lines in a room. That’s why Tessa, who aspires to be an architect, jumped on the opportunity to arrange her own bedroom ...

There is a room in Priscilla Howe’s house at 415 Elm St. that she says beckoned her to buy it. The room is an enclave upstairs — a small, private space to be alone. Howe works there nearly every day. The room is saturated with the natural light that pours in from seven windows. This is ...

Back in 2006 when they still had children living with them, Linda and Pat Slimmer bought a plot of land at 1751 Learnard Ave., intending to build a typical family home. In 2008, they even drew plans for a two-story house; however, because of the volatile nature of the housing market, the timing ...

Brindy Fitzpatrick prides herself on finding a house few would want and making it desirable. Before she bought her house at 2040 Ohio St., it was a heap of rotted wood, malformed gutters, trash and scurrying rodents. Despite the mess, Fitzpatrick made an offer immediately on the 1957 house in ...

Fifteen years ago, in the midst of a divorce, Kelly Scholz needed a new house to raise her two daughters, Rinny Herndon, then 8, and Ivy Herndon, 5. Serendipitously, a friend was selling a home Kelly had always admired — a two-story at 4608 Hearthside Drive that was built in 1996. Since ...

When Rene Morgan and her husband Charles Hurst began to look for a home in Lawrence, they were struck with all of the changes they would have to make–no matter which house they bought. Morgan is blind, and Hurst had a stroke in 2015 that left him with physical limitations. The everyday ...