Couple packs wish list into Hockley modern farmhouse
When Blake Stiles graduated from high school and enlisted in the Marine Corps, his mom, Nikki Walley, found herself unable to live in the home he once brought to life.
Her dream was that Blake, 23, would someday finish his tour in the military and return to the Houston area. When he does, she will be ready. Since he left, Nikki and her husband, Greg Walley, and their younger son, 14-year-old Grey Walley, have been creating a family compound on acreage they bought in Hockley.
While temporarily living in a small, 1,500-square-foot home on the same site, they set about building amodern farmhouse that would have everything Nikki wanted.
The coronavirus pandemic has slowed down their social lives, but that will change someday. Nikki now has the walk-in wine room she has always wanted for entertaining friends, plus a large kitchen with two islands covered in quartzite and a bling-y primary bathroom. Greg isn’t without space of his own — he has a golf simulator room to practice and play whenever he likes, rain or shine.
In late spring — not long after COVID-19 prompted a widespread lockdown — the Walleys moved into their new 4,000-square-foot home.
“Greg built our last house when I was pregnant (with Grey), and I wanted this one to be mine,” Nikki said. “This was going to bemy forever home— amodern farmhouse with clean lines.”
Their builder, William David Homes, used a black-and-white exterior palette, a combination of black-framed steel windows and doors, dark siding and brick painted white and ametal roof. A wide porous sidewalk of large concrete pads leads to a limestone porch that blends into the foyer.
Inside, the primary bedroom suite and a guest suite are off one side of the foyer; on the other is the main living area and remaining bedrooms.
The living area includes a roomy space with a slate fireplace and the two-island kitchen, one meant for prep work, the other with barstools for hanging out. The range has amosaic marble backsplash and a cast-stone hood with a faux finish.
The oversized pantry is painted a dark navy and sports brick floors. It’s where they keep kitchen overflow and a handy coffee bar.
“It definitely is a place for gathering,” said Nikki, a 47-yearold who works in technology sales. “I like that we could be anywhere in the space and not be walled off. I purposely did not create a dining room because I wanted everything in one room … so you could have eight to 10 people at the dining table and six or more at the island and more on the couch, and we’re all together.”
There’s also a dining room with an adjacent wine room, a temperature-controlled space that holds 300 bottles.
Greg, 45, might be a whiskey drinker, but Nikki is firmly entrenched in California wine country, on her permanent travel bucket list after a visit there a few years ago, she said.
Interior designer Laurin White of Cambridge Row worked with the Walleys and the builder to select finishes, steering them to natural materials.
“There’s a ‘wow factor’ to walk in the house and see it,” White said of the wine feature. “They love having people over, and the room feels bigger than it actually is because of the vaulted ceiling and the reclaimed wood beams.”
The primary bedroom makes another big impression, painted dark navy — walls and ceilings — and filled with beautiful things. Its bathroom has a large shower, a pair of sinks with glitzy sconces and a chandelier.
“Nikki may be living out in the country now, but she’s still got a little bit of fancy to her,” White said. “She appreciates shiny, beautiful things.”
Her personality comes through in the powder bathroom, where they used blue, fish-scale-shaped cement tile on the floor and drawer pulls that look like bumblebees on the vanity.
Greg’s golf simulator is in the party room, and they’re hoping it will get some use when family comes over for Christmas. The room has a bar, big-screen TV and comfortable seating and a wine refrigerator, of course. (Nikki refers to it as her “backflow.”)
Grey’s room got a creative treatment, too, with a statement wall of sho sugi ban scorched wood in his bedroom and a combination of black cabinets and others in natural white oak and a vanity made of what looks like over-sized library-card-file drawers.
For all of the fun that White and the Walleys had picking out slabs, tile and hardware, they didn’t have to buy much new furniture.
The Walleys had sold their Lake Conroe vacation home, so they brought the best with them to the new house.
One debate between the Walleys was whether to have a pool. Nikki — who prevailed — was a firm “no,” but the coronavirus pandemic forced her to change her mind.
“I didn’t want one; then COVID hit, and I’ve said we’re not living without a pool ever again,” Nikki said, motioning out the window behi nd her to the work that’s underway. “I want my son to be able to have his friends over if we’re all stuck here. It became about our lifestyle. They should be finished before Christmas, and then we’ll have to do landscaping.”