03/11/2022
Home interior designer Tricia Sinn is consumed by detail. Large, small, financial,
aesthetic, Sinn pores through it all over and over again with clients as they go
through the process of renovating or building a custom home with Sinn Design
Build.
So when Tricia began designing her family's dream home at 12819 Conway Road in
Creve Coeur, treasures of all sorts were incorporated throughout.
"This one was really a labor of love," said Sinn, who owns the company with her
husband, Frank. "I always say there's a line between ostentatious and opulent. I'm
very careful never to cross that line. People can walk in and say, 'I can live here.'
That was the whole point."
The home reflects Sinn's love of Italianate design. Curved archways and wrought
iron accents are carried throughout. In the library -- with its 21-foot ceiling,
clerestory window setting and 15-foot reconditioned birch wood panels -- those
archways create entryways to a back terrace while quietly hiding bookshelves.
The fireplace in the two-story great room includes wrought iron set into the
recessed mantel and is accented with corbels discovered in a New Orleans antique
shop. A three-story spiral staircase has wrought iron spindles. The dining room,
offset by archways and pillars, is perfect for hosting large get-togethers.
The master bedroom suite includes French doors to the front balcony and a large
and mirrored dressing area accessible via archways on either side of the bed. The
master bath includes a 6-foot round Venetian-style tub, his and hers water closets
(one with a bidet), vanity areas, a two-sided shower, built-in armoire and makeup
mirror for her and French doors to the back terrace on his side.
Despite all the time and work that went into their dream house, Sinn and her
husband, Frank, who manages the construction side of the company, decided to sell
it in 2004 upon its completion. Samrina and Dr. Mohammed Haseeb, a cardiologist,
bought the home for about $1.9 million.
"This home was just so different than all the other houses, we just loved it," said
Samrina Haseeb, who said the couple looked at 50 to 60 houses before making their
decision. "The construction, the details, the locality. There are so many things in this
house that exactly fulfilled my needs."
The Old World look of the home is magnified by a stone and brick exterior with
stone balustrades. A 15-foot arched entry has eight-foot, hand-carved mahogany
double doors. A circle drive leads to the home, and a four-car garage sits discreetly
to the left.
A two-story foyer opens to Sinn's favorite feature of the home -- a three-story, 36-
stair spiral staircase that leads to four bedroom suites upstairs and the basement
landing below. Atop the staircase is a chandelier that can be lowered on an electrical
system for cleaning.
"I wanted an entry foyer that had a winding staircase so that you could see all three
stories," said Sinn, who drew inspiration from University City's City Hall. "The stairs
alone were about $50,000. Then there's the turret to put in and the windows, and it
was well over $100,000."
While Sinn Design Build uses hundreds of subcontractors largely for the
construction of the home up until the drywall stage, its own carpenters did much of
the precision work, particularly on items such as the staircase, which involved
round spaces.
The foyer opens into the great room, which has a 19-foot ceiling and a far wall with
five large, open arched windows, including three French doors that lead to the back
yard. The windows alone cost $13,000. The trimwork, which melds the windows
into one large Palladiam-style centerpiece, brought the total for the windows to
about $25,000.
The fireplace, the room's centerpiece, which extends to the ceiling, cost an estimated
at $20,000. But the noteworthy wrought iron, which also is incorporated into the
room's wet bar, cost $2,000 at most, said Sinn, and the corbels from New Orleans
were not costly. "In custom building, a lot of the ideas are not expensive. It just takes
a lot of coordinating to make it look right."
It was that fireplace's intricate detail that helped catch Samrina Haseeb's attention
when she and her husband saw the home. "I love this room. The fireplace attracted
me a lot," Haseeb said. "It's just so beautiful and different. It anchors the house."
The fireplace stack is shared by the fireplace in the two-story library, which Sinn
configured a bit differently than many of the libraries she designs. The windows
atop the two-story-high far wall provide natural lighting as well as privacy for Dr.
Haseeb, who also works out of the home.
"There were literally hundreds of hours put into designing this room," said Sinn,
who estimates the room's detailing exceeded $50,000. "Some of these pieces
actually came from Europe. We had to order things from all over the place, antique
shops, online."
To the left of the foyer is the dining room, which the Haseebs use to entertain groups
as large as 100 people.
Beyond that awaits the kitchen, which Sinn said cost $175,000. Appliances include a
Sub-Zero refrigerator, two Fisher & Paykel dishwashing drawers incorporated into
the kitchen island and a Viking warming drawer built into cabinetry next to a Viking
range. The range has six burners, a griddle area and standard and convection ovens
below.
Crown molding atop the 10-foot walls is accented with small corbels, adding a
European touch above the custom cabinetry. A bay window contains a breakfast
dining area that overlooks the back yard and a neighboring lake, while a sun-lit
hearth room to the right is made cozy with couches and a fireplace.
"A lot of money is put into kitchens and baths in custom homes, and this one does
follow that pattern. About 10 percent of the house's costs are spent on the kitchen,"
said Sinn, who noted that the bath area of the master bedroom cost $100,000.
Another detail that's easily missed but no less important is the lighting. In the
kitchen area, more than a dozen recessed lights dot the ceiling. Nearly every room of
the house has at least two forms of lighting. "You don't want to skimp on lighting,"
said Sinn, who usually incorporates a mixture of recessed and overhead lighting and
chandeliers.
The only major changes the Haseebs requested were to the garage walls and doors.
They also changed the carpet in the dining room to a hardwood floor and plan to
finish the 3,500-square-foot basement.
Sinn's work isn't quite done yet at the home as she is now helping the Haseebs with
the interior design, which she does in about 80 percent of the homes the company
works on. For the Haseebs, that will include furniture arrangement and curtains
from Samrina's native Pakistan.
LISTED AT $1,998,000.00 SHOWINGS BEGIN SATURDAY 3/12/2022 BY APPOINTMENT ONLY !!
