Lexington, KY - As college sweethearts, Lori and Jarod Haggin frequently drove by the same house on Lakeshore Drive in The Island subdivision, a distinctive white brick house with a sloping backyard and reservoir view.
Admiring the house from the comfort of their car, the couple was of course unaware that the house would one day be their own. The Haggins purchased the home in 2004, and got married in that very backyard the following year.
"We always called it 'the big white house with the blue awning,'" Lori said. "After we bought it, we actually remodeled the entire house, took down the blue awning and ended up putting up another blue awning. We kind of felt like we had to."
While the exterior of the 7,000 square foot home plays homage to Big Blue colors, the interior is full of warm earth tones and other neutral colors, and is brimming with natural light.
Interior designer Shelia Hancock, of Sheila Hancock Designs, also recalls admiring the house from a distance as The Island subdivision was being developed in the mid '80s. The Haggins, entrepreneurs who own the Lexington and Louisville locations of The Melting Pot, as well as Lexington's Sunrooms & More, commissioned Hancock to help them transform their interior into a space that worked with their lifestyle, and Hancock has since modified an awkward dining area into a unique entertaining den; an upstairs sun room into an office with a nautical motif; and a large bedroom into a princess-themed haven for the Haggins' 3-year-old daughter Channing. Peruse the following pages for more details and a photographic tour.