Tour a Pennsylvania New Build That Feels Like Home

How do you make a 5,000-square foot new-construction house feel cozy and homey? Curtis and Christina McClusick cracked the code: You build it in the town where you grew up, down the street from family and friends, then you call the designer you’ve worked with for more than a decade, and you bring all your special pieces with you.

Curtis, a director of purchasing and analytics, and Christina, an attorney, both grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Penn State before moving together to Chicago. By the time their daughters, Faye, 5, and Lilian, 3, came along, they were ready to leave city life behind and head home. They found a six-acre lot surrounded by rolling hills, built their ideal house, and tapped designer Jenna Schnabel Wedemeyer to complete the project. She mixed rustic materials with contemporary touches and all of their favorite finds from past houses. “Jenna knows us so well,” says Christina. “We felt at home the moment we arrived back in Pennsylvania.” Read on to take the tour.

This is where the McClusicks spend most of their time together. The green built-in (painted Goodwin Green by Benjamin Moore) holds toys and games for the kids, and the bright canvas is from Wendover Art Group. Custom sofas on casters are easy to move around for entertaining. Curtis and Christina designed the coffee table with Jenna for their first condo. It’s painted Bracken Blue by Benjamin Moore.

"The kitchen, dining space and family room are all open, which keeps us connected," says Curtis. The family hosts a lot of holiday gatherings, so they asked the builder to design a dining space that would hold an extra-long table. They paired this 96-inch whitewashed wood pedestal table from Classic Home with citron custom host chairs and blue velvet side chairs from CB2. The large rope pendant is from Cuff Studio.

“We envisioned the kitchen as a real part of our living space, so we hid the appliances as much as possible,” says Christina. Tall cabinets that go from counter to ceiling, along with cabinets on both sides of the island, provide plenty of storage. The family brought the custom pleather counter stools with them from Chicago; the pendants are from CB2.

Christina works from home, but this space was designed with the whole family in mind. She asked the builders for a window seat so the kids would have a place to perch when they stop by; the drawers hold coloring supplies to keep them busy. The wallpaper on the ceiling is from Pierre Frey, and the rattan pendant is from Ro Sham Beaux.

This arched bed with tassel trim was in the couple’s Chicago bedroom, but here Jenna paired it with a geometric wallpaper from Stroheim. “It blends in with the bare tree branches in winter!” Christina says. The velvet loveseat from Interior Define is their daughters’ favorite hangout before bedtime.

Jenna established a modern country look with sleek gray tile, a wood vanity and a large woven light from Regina Andrew. The opal pendants over the sink are from Matteo Lighting. Christina and Curtis found the vintage art at an antiques shop in a neighboring town.

Everything started with Faye’s favorite colors: pink and yellow. The family chose dainty floral Schumacher wallpaper and a yellow checkered comforter from The Company Store to pair with the berry-colored built-in (painted Travers Red by Benjamin Moore). The bed is from West Elm, and the striped pillows were passed down from Jenna’s daughter.

The couple wanted their youngest daughter’s room to grow with her, so they chose a playful but sophisticated teal as the main color. The delicate floral stripe wallpaper is from Jean Monro. “A small repeat pattern like this acts almost like a solid,” says Jenna. Lilian’s a big fan of the table and chairs, from Amazon.