Renovated ranch home of interior designer features historic, recovered pieces, UK swag

Billy and Liz Toombs were living in a patio home within a condo community when they decided it was time to move on to something a bit bigger.

"We were seeing that my office needed more space," Liz told The Courier Journal. "My (interior design) business is home-based (and) I wanted to have a bigger office. The market was good … so we decided to (list our house) and look for something else."

Checking all the boxes

The couple didn’t make a physical list of everything they wanted in a new home, but Liz says that if they did, their current house would have checked all the boxes. “When we found this particular house,” she recalled, “it was a perfect find for us.”

She explains that though the focus of their home search was finding a place with more space, she loves ranch houses — and the house in Lexington’s Lansdowne neighborhood fit the bill.

“It’s a ranch (with) a walkout basement,” she added. “That walkout … provides easy access for any of my team members when they come to the office. It also makes it easier for me with deliveries — and we get a lot of deliveries.”

Another feature of the house that Liz immediately fell in love with was the grayish-beige painted brick.

“(It’s a) silly thing, but I love painted brick,” she said. “I (just) love it.”

She also liked the idea of having a formal dining space and bigger bedrooms. All of those aspects — combined with the impeccable basement area — and the Toombses were sold.

Favorite spaces

Liz and Billy have been enjoying their new digs for a few years now. Though they have yet to do any major renovations, they have changed out the flooring in the sunroom and incorporated new rugs and window treatments into the space.

“We had an older dog, and then we got a puppy — so as you can imagine, (the flooring) got a little torn up,” Liz said. They replaced it with luxury vinyl tile, which is a more durable option.

“I love the view from our sunroom,” Liz added, explaining that because it sits above the walkout basement, it feels like a second story and provides a great view of the yard. The room now holds their TV, and it’s where all three of them — including two-year-old Yorkie Poo Bartlet — spend most of their time.

“(His favorite spot) is in the back of the sofa in the sunroom,” Liz said, explaining that he sits on top of the pillows to get a good vantage point. “He can see out (of) the windows into the yard, or he can see the front door, or the kitchen. It allows to keep his eyes on everything in his house.”

Pieces of history

Liz explains that the sunroom sofa used to belong to her grandparents. She recovered it with white Crypton fabric to make it a bit more dog-friendly.

“It’s stain-repellent,” she said. “That’s a big thing in this house, with the dogs. … I (also) spill things all the time, (so) I just want durability.”

The living room — which Billy affectionately refers to as ‘the old lady room’ — holds even more pieces that have sentimental value. Liz explains that this is precisely why her husband refers to the room that way; it’s not that everything in the room is old, but a lot of the items were given to them by someone special.

“We’ve recovered pieces … and just kept them over the years,” Liz explained. “They all kind of have a history or a story behind them.”

The giant leather wingback chairs, for example, were a housewarming gift from one of Liz’s clients, gifted to the couple several houses ago.

“Those are special because she’s a very close friend,” Liz said. “I (could) go on and on about each piece in that room.”

Liz has also incorporated decor that reflects her life with Billy. “The artwork … is really a reflection of us,” she said, explaining that the house is filled with things that they’ve collected while on vacation or having other experiences together.

“During COVID,” she said, “we bought some handwritten lyric sheets from some of our favorite musicians, so we have those framed in our home.”

She adds that her personal interior design style is a little quirky. She likes to mix various styles, keeping the majority of the space neutral enough so that it feels restful — but she’ll bring in fun pops of color.

“I love our home,” she exclaimed. “It works very well for us, and I feel very fortunate to have as much office space as I do.”

Home of the Week: 'Ready for southern living': almost everything in this renovated home is Kentucky-made

Home of the Week: This 'secret' Bellemeade garden is home to vast array of plants, quiet spaces to reflect

Know a house that would make a great Home of the Week? Email writer Lennie Omalza at aloha@lennieomalza.com or Lifestyle Editor Kathryn Gregory at kgregory@gannett.com.

nuts & bolts

Owners: Billy and Liz Toombs. Billy is a fundraiser at the University of Kentucky and Liz is an interior decorator. Also in the home is the couple’s two-year-old dog, Bartlet.

Home: This is a 4-bed, 3-bath, 3,500-square-foot, ranch home in the Landsdowne neighborhood of Lexington. It was built in 1966.

Distinctive elements: Sunroom with three walls of windows offering a view of the backyard; walkout basement; artwork throughout the home that holds special meaning, including items purchased on vacations, family heirlooms, sports memorabilia, handwritten lyric sheets from favorite musicians, and Kentucky themed pieces.

Applause! Applause! PDR Interiors.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Renovated Lexington ranch features recovered, historic items, UK swag