Art Transforms This Arizona Farmhouse Into A Personal Homestead

Pivot. Swerve. Shift. Twist. Evolve. When building a home from scratch, these verbs inevitably come into play. But as Julia and Thomas Gessner discovered while constructing their airy, art-filled modern farmhouse in Chandler, the right design team can firmly shape every element of the work in progress into a finished abode that feels, lives and looks like its owners.

The couple were deep into collaboration with residential designer Cory Black on a dwelling they originally intended to sell when they encountered designer Denise Morrison and her team on a house tour. Inspired by the charming yet practical living spaces they saw—especially the kitchen—Julia and Thomas brought Morrison onto the project. As it was taking shape, the couple recalls, the structure started speaking to them. An emotional connection developed that prompted them to adopt the developing residence as their own, a permanent homestead for their family of six, plus two cats and two dogs. That pivot proceeded organically, as from the outset “we designed this farmhouse with their family in mind,” explains Black, who worked with general contractor Brad Leavitt. The interior architecture essentially stuck to Black’s original plan, but the team reimagined storage space into an office for Julia and enclosed a patio to create a lounge-like piano room that connects to the great room via antique doors with fantastically faceted tops.

With the home now serving their own family, Thomas and Julia were precise about their goals. First, the house needed to be beautiful but durable. “Sometimes we have 20 kids here on the weekends,” Julia says. “I didn’t want it to feel like everybody had to tiptoe around.” But as art lovers—their wide-ranging collection welcomes works by Patrick Jacobs, Michael Moebius and Brendan Murphy as well as a Mesozoic fossil found in southwestern Wyoming—they also wanted their abode to have the spirit of a living gallery. This clarity of purpose made all the difference to Morrison and senior designer Jocelyne Lander. “A lot of practicality was brought to the table,” recalls Morrison, referring to choices like hardy fabrics and furniture.

The designers embraced a palette of low-key, saturated neutrals so as not to compete with the art or the views of the grounds by landscape designer Krystal Moore. To add a sense of warmth and presence, they opted for planking and beamed ceilings in certain spaces, including the entryway, great room, kitchen and primary bedroom. Where employed, wallpapers feature subtle hues, instead focusing on pattern and texture. Always, they looked for areas to enhance the design but in kid-friendly ways. “We dressed things up in the lighting, tile and stone as well as some of the areas that weren’t going to be as impacted by day-to-day family life,” Morrison notes. Indeed, in the kitchen, they incorporated an elegantly figured marble for the stove wall and hood, then relaxed the effect with a herringbone tile backsplash. “Another defining addition was the two-tone effect on the island,” she adds, not to mention the custom metal detail along the edge.

Throughout, the lighting—one of her firm’s signature elements—catches the eye. Take the great room, where dual ring chandeliers play to the farmhouse aesthetic. And in the formal dining room just off the entry, a delicate linear chandelier makes a statement while still allowing for clear views to the Lloyd Wulf painting hanging behind. As Wulf was Julia’s stepfather’s father, the piece from her family’s collection adds another layer of meaning and connection to the space.

For Julia and Thomas, this home is more than just a shelter. It’s a place for joy and making memories. That has much to do with Morrison and her team. “Letting the reins off your designer will really help you discover things about yourself that you didn’t know that you loved,” Thomas says. Adds Julia, “It’s like a tasting menu where flavors come together that you may not have considered individually, but then you taste them combined and it’s amazing.”