photo by: Mike Yoder

The front entrance and hallway offers an artful and colorful introduction to Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

A rural-born husband and city-raised wife say they struck the perfect balance with their self-designed home, located just eight miles south of downtown Lawrence.

The home, located on North 1000 Road, has the benefits of country living — a big lot and beautiful scenery — paired with a close proximity to the city. The couple say that by taking backroads, they can be downtown in about 15 minutes.

Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith moved into the home on their 5-acre lot in 2008. Eric, who is an architect, designed it with input from Pat, who said she “trusted Eric completely.” Eric is now mostly retired but still does some work for Terracon, where he worked for about 23 years. He grew up in Hugoton. Pat spent her career at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, eventually becoming the chief operating officer. She grew up in Chicago.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith designed their home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

Their home is a combination of styles, Eric said, but he noted that it is a Craftsman style “to some degree.” Among the features that distinguish the home, Eric said, are its large eaves.

“The eaves are designed as passive solar components,” Eric said. A passive solar design is an aspect of a building that uses the sun’s energy to heat and cool living spaces.

“It’s just designed to allow light in in the wintertime and to keep it out — keep the sun from directly shining on the glass — in the summer,” Eric said. The eaves include some skylights, located directly in front of corresponding exterior windows, to allow more light in the home.

photo by: Mike Yoder

The exterior is pictured at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

In the entrance of the home is an eye-catching black and white tile floor. The majority of the rest of the main floor of the home is bamboo. Pat said the couple didn’t want to include too many floor transitions.

On a snowy winter day, Eric and Pat said they like to pass the time in their living room, using their wood-burning fireplace. The couple have a lot of wood because of the 2019 tornado, which passed right over their home but fortunately only resulted in the destruction of some of their trees.

photo by: Mike Yoder

The living room is pictured at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

As one walks around the main floor of the home — which includes the living room, front entrance, family room, kitchen and dining room — it’s easy to catch glimpses of the next room.

Eric said that in designing the home, he “tried to set up axes,” so that “you could have views when you came around a corner.”

“Every time you turn you see something,” Pat said.

The main hallway, for example, has a little niche on one end that holds the bust of the Buddha and various rocks the couple have collected. On the other end of the hallway is the family room, and through the window of the family room a Japanese lantern can be seen in the distance, on the couple’s property. Eric joked that the Buddha can look out and see the lantern.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A recessed display area at the end of a hallway provides a focal point with a lit display of a Buddha sculpture and other artwork in Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

Two stained-glass transoms provide colorful transitions between parts of the house. One, between the family room and the kitchen, includes recycled glass from a former dance hall in Colorado where Eric’s parents used to go.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A view from a family room into the kitchen features another of the several decorative transom windows in Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

A second stained glass transom is above the door frame that leads to the downstairs stairwell. But the transom likely isn’t the first thing people notice about the stairwell.

“We wanted to do something crazy,” Pat said. At first, they were thinking about a “wild” carpet. But then, they settled on something else: bright orange walls. The paint color, Pat noted, was called “navel,” so the painter thought it was going to be blue. When he opened the paint can, he couldn’t believe it, Pat noted.

photo by: Mike Yoder

French doors, at right, and a stained-glass transom window, above, provide an entrance to a colorful stairway to the basement at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

The orange walls match nicely with the transom, which has orange accents. Eric had purchased the circle part of the stained glass from the Phoenix Gallery about 25 years ago and then hired the same artist to take that circle and turn it into a larger piece to fill the space for the transom.

The basement includes two guest bedrooms, a storage space and an office area that doubles as a cacti display. Eric and Pat call it the “plant room.” Why cacti? Eric likes them, and they don’t require much upkeep.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A large collection of cacti is maintained in the basement of Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

Inside the storage room one can view the house’s ground source heat pumps. This method of transferring heat from the ground to the home is one of multiple ways Eric and Pat try to keep their house energy efficient. They also have drainable stucco walls, used some recycled materials and used “green” wood, such as bamboo and eucalyptus.

Another one of the couple’s favorite aspects of the home is its variety of outdoor spaces. They have some type of outdoor area on every side of their home, and they have a different name for each space.

The house has a veranda that extends from the front of the house to another side. They also have two outdoor patios, a deck, a balcony and a screened-in porch.

The balcony is small and located off the master bedroom, which is also located on the main floor. The balcony fits one chair, but the unique aspect of the space is the guardrail, which was originally part of the former courthouse in Stevens County, where Eric grew up. The original courthouse, Eric said, was built in 1887, and Eric’s grandfather purchased it in the 1950s after a new courthouse had been built.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A small exterior balcony off the owners’ master bedroom incorporates a piece of decorative metal gate, originally part of the former courthouse in Stevens County, Kansas.

The screened-in porch, called “the breezeway,” includes some recycled pieces. One, an old stove from around 1885, is used as an end table.

“That was a stove that my great-grandparents brought out to western Kansas when they homesteaded, and they lived in a dugout sod house for some period of time,” Eric said.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A screened-in porch includes a contemporary couch adjacent to an antique stove at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

The breezeway also includes what the couple call their post office. The old post office table, with its mail sorting shelves, was also from the original Hugoton courthouse in Stevens County.

photo by: Mike Yoder

An old post office table with mail sorting shelves now holds various collected items on the screened-in porch at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

Eric and Pat agree on their favorite aspects of the home. They like the lighting, the scenery and the energy efficiency. And during quarantine, having outdoor spaces has meant they can host people safely and comfortably.

This 34-year couple has found their sweet spot between rural and city living.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A small but space-efficient kitchen is often a popular gathering spot at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

photo by: Mike Yoder

The front door and entrance is pictured at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Colorful walls, a large window with cacti and artwork accent the stairway from the first floor to the basement at Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.

photo by: Mike Yoder

One of several transom windows is located above the wide entrance to the dining room of Eric Smith and Pat Roach Smith’s home on North 1000 Road in rural Douglas County.