Roger and Maureen Ross are enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they’d rather not repeat, even though it resulted in a new home.

The Rosses and their daughter Makahla, 18, were on flight layover in Houston in August 2008 when phone calls and text messages informed them their home was on fire.

Their 28-year-old son Brandon, who lives nearby, confirmed that the house – built in 1993 and located in an area of Highland Lakes – was mostly destroyed. The only remnants were the outside walls of the brick and stucco home.

Maureen’s mother, 85-year-old Genevieve Sullivan, lived with them at the time. She was sitting in the open garage that summer day and went to a neighbor’s home when the blaze began. The family cat hid in the basement and escaped unscathed.

The fire started in a study at the front of the home. What it and the intense heat did not burn or melt was instead damaged by water. Maureen tried to sort through rubble to find keepsake items, such as wedding and family pictures.

“All (Makahla’s) dance trophies were destroyed. Her CD collection was melted, too,” Maureen says. “There was nothing left.”

Fire investigators were never able to specifically determine a cause. Still, Roger’s outlook remained positive.

“It was just stuff,” he says. “I told (Maureen) to rebuild the way you want it.”

Working with a cooperative insurance company, a company that recovers and restores fire-damaged items and a builder with supportive subcontractors, Maureen, an interior designer, began planning a new layout. All the interior walls had to be removed and the roof rebuilt.

While the family lived in a rented home through the winter, work crews coordinated by then-superintendent Tom Carney, who now has his own company, followed Maureen’s instructions.

“My job was to make all the major decisions. There weren’t any,” Roger jokes.

Maureen’s touches are everywhere. She chose black and white as the color scheme, with small accent pieces in each room.

The floors are black, hand-scraped maple. Walls and carpet are white or off-white. In the foyer, a semi-circular glass block wall is an attractive offset for the half-bath hidden behind it. Maureen’s rebuilt office is off the foyer, with a wide opening to the great room and kitchen area. A set of stairs off the foyer leads to a landing. It features wrought iron shaped to resemble tree branches, which Maureen designed.

The stunning centerpiece of the kitchen is the elongated island with a difficult-to-find bedrock granite top she designed. It’s the gathering place, Maureen says, and she wanted it to accommodate “three to 20 people.” The granite’s highlight is embedded large round stones. Most such pieces have smaller stones, which she didn’t want.

The island has a black drop-in gas range while other appliances, all with stainless fronts, are in the walls or under counters in custom designed cabinets. They’re an off white with subtle color accent around the panels. Two wall cabinets have glass fronts. In one wall cabinet are convection and conventional ovens. Beside the large stainless refrigerator is an under-counter ice-maker.

The kitchen was enlarged because a laundry room was moved upstairs and the space became a cupboard. It also gained space by adding a room to expand the great room, now a large and as yet-unfurnished area with a wall-mounted television and the original fireplace. The home is wired throughout with wall-mounted controls for video, music and radio.

Off the kitchen, black upholstered chairs are awaiting a dining room table. That room will be adorned with cast Roman-themed sculptures, once white but now permanently smoke-stained, which creates an interesting look to complement the décor.

Other features are numerous and include:
• A master suite balcony with full-length windows and a door overlooking the newly landscaped wooded lot.
• A narrow glass block wall in the master bath Maureen designed.
• A black granite-enclosed jet tub with a small waterfall.
• A walk-in closet replacing a second bath, which was relocated adjacent to the new laundry room.
• French doors into the daughter’s bedroom so it overlooks the great room and a large loft over the garage.
• Maureen’s custom-designed wrought iron railing replacing a solid half wall along the loft’s edge.
• Added basement space that in one room features American-Indian décor and artifacts honoring Roger’s ancestry.
• An office in the basement’s former bedroom and another room that could be a bedroom.
• Two walkouts to a paver patio below a new three-level deck, which features a waterfall and hot tub.

Inside and out, Maureen’s choices include many circular patterns, ranging from the mirrors she placed in the master bath to circular steps in the rebuilt entry walkway. She chose accent pieces that feature faces – such as a display of plates in the great room – and hands.

Displaying a bit of irony, Maureen playfully turns to a space on the wall where the fish tank had been – the probable site of the fire’s origin – pushes a button and ignites a flue-less fireplace.

Now that the construction is done, Roger has nothing but praise for Cincinnati Insurance and the building crews that had the house ready to live in seven months after the work began.

“We’re not going to build again,” he says. “This is it.”

Even though they are proud of their new house, the Ross family sometimes still misses what came before it.

“My house is beautiful,” Maureen says, “but I still want my old house.”

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Westerville Magazine.