I have clearly been about all things house + home lately. As I think about the core items I love as mentioned in this post, I started thinking back to my first love: Robert McArthur Studios. WHO?!?!
Robert McArthur is the man I aspired to be in junior high {err…except being the female version}. He is an architect/interior designer/landscape designer located in Bountiful, UT, my home town. I first saw his homes when I was in junior high. I was seriously obsessed – I took so many photos of the homes he designed {which I still have} with the thought that he would someday build my future home and have done MULTIPLE drive-bys of the homes he has designed. Who thinks about this stuff in junior high?!? I even took drafting classes in high school so I could be an architect some day like him. In 1997 {I was a junior} I had written in my journal my list of top 15 or so goals in my life. I kid you not – one said “Live in a Robert McArthur house.” I am pretty sure I have made Kurtis look at several of these homes too, so he could see what our future house would someday look like.
I once got the opportunity to meet him when my aunt was working at the Davis County Parade of Homes and I thought I had met the equivalent of Brad Pitt. I can still drive through Bountiful and the surrounding areas and identify those houses he has designed. He is that distinct.
Most memorable highlights of his style that I adore(d): Mediterranean design, use of little square windows, white rooms with abundance of bold black windows, plantation shutters and/or cream billowy valances and/or pull shades {love the little added numbers and letters on these} on the windows, never straight staircases, tree-lined driveways or sidewalks, ceiling beams, etc. He is very likely the reason I love design {and windows}!
So, I decided to check in on my love and found he has grown out of any price range I could likely ever afford. The Mormon church hired him to design several temples, including the Newport Beach Temple which we saw on our recent trip to Orange County. Yeah….very likely out of my price range.
I really think he was ahead of the times 15 years ago because his style has stayed continuous and yet is still current. Here are some of photos with examples {some are a little older and the decor is outdated but you can get a feel for the architectural style}:
If we ever build again, I may have to make my childhood dream come true!
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