French Country
A Wichita couple creates an Impressionist retreat.
Wichita couple Gary and Barbara Scott have vacationed in Europe for decades. When the time came to think about retirement, the Scotts put their three-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot College Hill home on the market and hoped to split the returns between a loft in Old Town and a small vacation home in France.
In 2007, they traveled overseas in search of their dream house but returned to Wichita empty-handed, unable to find a place in their price range. “We were looking forward to living under a bridge,” Gary says. “That was the standing joke.”
Instead, the Scotts found a 10-year-old, 4,400 square-foot patio home in east Wichita’s Lakepoint neighborhood, near Wichita Country Club. “It was a change,” says Barbara. “We’ve never lived in a house that’s under 50 or 80 years old.” But the Scotts saw potential. They laid new floors, put up new light fixtures and renovated the bathroom and kitchen. The final product looks something like a French château in the heart of Wichita.
Barbara, who started the Kansas Pastel Society, converted a downstairs storage space into her studio. The artistic retreat is short on natural light, but a rainbow of pastels lines a long work table. Her impressionist landscapes adorn the walls. There’s an oil painting that Barbara completed when she was 7 years old and a painting by her 12-year-old granddaughter, Alexandra.
Barbara’s work “Shadows Along the Loire,” a golden pastel of a quaint riverside manor house, hangs in the dining room, where the Scotts hold formal dinners. The pastel won the International Pastel Society’s grand prix prize in 1987 and makes a great talking piece. So does the panetiére, a decorative cupboard from the late 1700s that the French used to store bread.
In the kitchen, Barbara chose tile floors, cherry wood cabinets and granite countertops. The tray ceiling is leopard print. Barbara also selected lighted cabinets to display her china collection. The double ovens, warming tray and pot filler above the stovetop aid Barbara in entertaining.Every morning, Barbara and Gary sip coffee in the library, an eclectic room with walnut cabinets and heaps of books. “No television, no phone,” says Gary, who still works at his downtown law office. “Just a coffee pot, two cups, a little white dog, and us.”
The room showcases Barbara’s shoe collection from Turkey and Africa. “They hurt my toes,” says Barbara. “ I thought, well, what can I do with them?” Barbara made the room’s end table by placing ashtrays and keys from favorite European hotels underneath a sheet of glass. The house is peppered with antiques including a lovely French armoire and a baguette holder that Barbara converted to a table. Almost every piece has a story. Barbara’s grandfather bought the crystal chandelier in the entryway for a quarter at a yard sale.
