Story by Sadie Fowler
Photography by Brian Packard
Upon entering the Childers home on Broadview Way, located in one of Bowling Green’s most ideal neighborhoods, there are two things that stand out right away. First, it’s evident that the Childers’ home is one that’s filled with love and life. It’s also a home that’s filled meaningful décor, thanks to the guiding hand of Laura Childers, who in addition to being a mom is also an interior designer.
In short … it’s a home, and a cool one at that. The Childers home is the hub of a family that includes Laura Childers who stars as mother of the bunch. “What matters most in a home is that it reflects your style and interests,” Laura said. “It should welcome you every single day. As a designer, I think that it’s important that you make your home a collection of things — art, objects, furniture, pictures — that are important or special to you. That is what makes a home.”
A classic three bedroom and two bath ranch-style home that was built in the 1960s, Laura says their home is typical for what anyone would find in the neighborhood. It’s not huge, it’s not overly fancy, but it is without doubt stylish, comfortable and showcases an efficient use of space.
“Our house feels like our home,” she said. “I love everything about it. ”In addition to Laura, the Childers family is comprised of dad Kevin and children, Caroline, 10; Mary Douglas, 8; and John William, 6. Both girls play soccer and John William plays whatever sport is in season.
Needless to say, the family stays busy, especially Laura, who serves as coordinator of all activities in addition being a very busy professional woman with a passion for helping her clients make their ideal homes come together.
“I am conscious of my ‘mom’ hat and make every effort to pick them up from school and do the running around with them after school, and sometimes that means they are headed with me to job sites if I still need to check on a sub-contractor or an item at a house I’m working on,” she laughed.
Kevin’s job (he is the director of golf at Olde Stone) brought the Childers family to Bowling Green seven years ago. At the time, Laura was pregnant with their third child and opted to stay home for a couple years before jumping back into work. Her career had previously been in Georgia, where the family lived before the move, where she worked as a full-time designer for builder.
Laura shakes her head as she reflects during the family’s transition and admits she was a little worried by the challenge of continuing her career with zero connections in a new community.
“The fear of not knowing contractors or having had one connection to the Bowling Green community quickly diminished as my business quickly grew,” she said, explaining her first job in Bowling Green resulted from someone the family met at church and it took off from there.
Continuing to reflect on their move to Bowling Green seven years ago, Laura said they opted to rent for a couple months before buying a home in order to figure out where they wanted to land permanently. Since she was pregnant, she said they really wanted to find a house that was move in ready.
“House hunting is so personal, as we all have such different needs, wants and desires,” she said. “Some people love the idea of having projects, big or small, and some people need move in ready. Warren County has so many great areas of town so doing your homework and getting some of your ‘must haves’ on paper will help anyone get started in the right direction.”
Ironically, the Childers wanted something basically move in ready but since they purchased their home they’ve changed just about everything, bit by bit.
“Renovations on an old house can be challenging and often take longer than planned,” she laughed. “And things come up that require a chunk of the budget that are not fun or pretty, but necessary, like all the mechanical systems. No one sees what’s under the house or in the walls but paying attention to those parts is like changing the oil in your car.”
Laura, wearing her designer hat for a minute, emphasized the importance of planning and budgeting for home renovations.
“Planning and budgeting for a renovation can be taxing as you find things often that you didn’t plan for, but stick to the budget and know you can always come back to something,” she said. “It killed me that we couldn’t do the kitchen in the first phase of our renovations in 2015. It was two years later before we got back to it.”