H+G: A Home with Heart and Art

“We bought the house because of the swing.” Standing in what is now a gracious, open, art-filled home, it seems unimaginable that 12 years ago, a swing was the propertyʼs major selling point. But when you look into the backyard and see it – that old wood swing hanging from the huge, high branch of a huge, high elm tree – you can feel it. The swing says, “Children have lived here! This house has known laughter and family and love!”

Relocating from Lubbock, Texas, with her husband, Todd, and their four boys in 2005, Angela Hegstrom wanted to be close to beautiful places and opportunities for outdoor adventure. She wanted to find a house in a centrally located neighborhood where she could raise her family. She found all of this in a Tudor-style house in Grand Junction’s historic Hillcrest Manor neighborhood. 

“People leave footprints in places they touch with their hearts,” says Hegstrom. This was evident in the house at 115 Hillcrest Avenue, built in the 1930s. What was also evident, to Hegstrom, was that she wanted to “bring the house back to what it was meant to be, to make it fresh and lively and current without taking away its bones, its heritage!” 

After an extensive renovation and restoration that involved – among many other things – moving a staircase, removing walls, installing a load-bearing beam in the central living area, and raising ceilings and floors, it is safe to say that she has achieved her goal. The work spanned nine of the 12 years that she and her family have lived there, but the house is now a home. 

Working with architectural interior designer Amy Lentz, now of Fixture Studio; Steve Renstrom of Benchmark Construction Management; and Kyle Berger of Timeless Millworks, the Hegstroms revealed the homeʼs bones and added grace and character to every corner. 

Hegstromʼs desire that the home be balanced but whimsical is achieved through the use of natural materials, unique light fixtures, and surprising textiles and pieces of art. Marble and granite grace the kitchen counters and bathroom vanities; oak and slate floors span the home; beautiful wood crown moldings look like they are original (theyʼre not); and a calming grey is repeated on walls and cabinets around the home, adding a subtle note of continuity. 

A confident mix of fabrics, colors, and patterns combine to make each space unique and comfortable. Industrial-style fixtures enliven the halls and bathrooms; gold peacock lamps watch over the living room; and red lamps serve as reading lights in a sonʼs bedroom – Hegstrom likes some orange or red in every room for a bit of pop. All of these elements work together to create an environment that manages to be stimulating and relaxing at the same time. 

Lending to the treasure-hunt feel of the home is an eclectic collection of art, thoughtfully placed in every room. Some are paintings by local artists, purchased at auctions (and, in one instance, plucked from the stairway wall of a local medical group). Others are original abstract landscape paintings found on Ebay. Prints by Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat, collected during a visit to the Tate Modern in London, add playfulness to bedrooms and an upstairs powder room. The boys, Hegstrom recalls, were at times scared of the Basquiat hanging in their little bathroom.

Now the boys are grown. After countless family dinners, first dates, prom photos, study goups, late night powwows, graduations, and back-porch jam sessions, the Hegstrom family is preparing to leave their beautiful home. “Living in this house, on this street, itʼs like weʼve been part of a slice of Americana,” says Hegstrom. “The house has been a part of the family, and we can go on knowing that weʼve saved it.” 

All of those years ago, as they prepared their family to leave Lubbock, Todd and Angela Hegstrom gathered their four sons in their arms and said, “Home is what fits in your arms. This house has been wonderful and we have made memories here, but this, our family, this is our home.” Today, after launching three sons into the world, preparing another to leave soon, and overseeing the construction of a new house where they will make new memories, the Hegstroms feel the same way: Our family is our home.

Photo credit to Kaylan Robinson.