When the purchased the house, the entry had been boarded in at the brick archway, and all of its woodwork was painted white. The couple used a teal background complemented with dusty shades of red, pink and gold to bring out the details. They found the antique reproduction mailbox at a shop in Leadville, Colo.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
In the spacious kitchen, Evans and Sydney-Smith painted the existing wood cabinets navy blue and outfitted them with new hardware. They are getting ready to replace the countertops. A small pass-through window connects to the adjoining dining room.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
Evans and Sydney-Smith converted a tiny, once closed off room upstairs into a chic closet and dressing room. It has a feminine feel with blush pink walls, a crystal chandelier and a collage of antique prints. Repurposing the room solved the problem of the older home’s limited closet space.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
The second floor landing and the stairway leading up to it are painted in Behr’s “Very Navy.” Evans found the globe at Ditto Family Resale shop in Warson Woods and Sydney-Smith purchased the large urn painting at South Jefferson Mid Century Modern.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
The couple created a second living room in an unused bedroom upstairs. Original tile and woodwork surrounds the fireplace. While cleaning it up, Sydney-Smith discovered the inlaid mirror above the mantle, which was painted over in white, and quickly stripped it. “It’s a little tarnished, which I think makes it look even cooler,” he says.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
The couple’s next project is working with local artist Amy Miller to create a mural that will cover the large wall behind the leather sofa in the main floor living room. They purchased small, tufted leather loveseat at South Jefferson Mid Century Modern, a local vintage resale shop.
Plants and green walls create an aesthetic in the second floor bathroom.
A detail of the chess set on display in the sitting room on the second floor inside the home of Sally Evans and Josh Sydney-Smith as photographed on Friday, Jan. 23, 2021, in the Cherokee Arts District neighborhood. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, [email protected]
Sally Evans and her husband, Josh Sydney-Smith, have spent most of their time during the pandemic slowly renovating their 1908 home in the Gravois Park neighborhood, just a few houses off bustling and vibrant Cherokee Street. It is the first house the couple has owned, and the walkable neighborhood itself is what initially drew them in.
“We loved the business section. We’re a block from Earthbound Brewery, so we walk there all the time. Each corner is a different Mexican restaurant. It’s fun to have businesses around as neighbors,” Evans says.
They had looked in various other city neighborhoods, but the housing market shifted their search to the area, and they purchased the home two years ago, seeing potential in its open floor plan, high ceilings, original details and large basement for storage.
“It’s so historic — a big old brick house from the early 1900s. It’s just classic St. Louis,” says Sydney-Smith.
Uncovering and restoring some of those original details has been the focus of much of the couple’s time over the past year. First up was the home’s unique exterior entry. Framed in curved red brick, it had been boarded in with a screen door and all of its detailed woodwork painted plain white. Wood laminate covered up original tile work on the floor, which the couple was pleased to discover when they began pulling it up.
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