The complete package
Family packs full checklist into dream house
Ideas for Matt Morgan’s Richmond home have been in his head most of his adult life, adapting to his changing tastes and interests. He and his wife, Erin, have been married 10 years, but he was already telling her about his dream house on their third date.
So it’s chock-full of extras from his ever-growing checklist and reflects the couple’s fun and easygoing nature. Erin has her own spalike retreat, and Matt has a 1,200-square-foot “manplex” separate from their 7,500-squarefoot home. Their two kids — 5year-old Madison and 9-year-old Ethan — have a playroom that includes an indoor curlicue slide, and their pool and hot tub seemingly wrap around the home for fun nearly all year long.
All of that has made this coronavirus work-from-home, studyfrom-home and stay-at-home pandemic a lot easier for the
Morgan family.
“Outside of the guest bedroom, every room has something special. We really wanted to build a forever home, and that’s what we did,” Matt said. “Of course, after living in the house, I’ve come up with other things I wish we did. Maybe we’ll go back and do them later.”
“During this pandemic, it’s been nice to have all this space,” he continued. “Before we even knew what COVID-19 was, I remember when the house was almost done, I said, ‘As long as I have Amazon Prime, I never have to leave my house.’ ”
Matt, now 47, was living in a four-story townhome that he built in Montrose when he and Erin, now 45, met and married. After their first child, they knew they needed more than a tiny patch of grass for play space.
Tax Day and Memorial Day floods slowed construction, but two weeks after Hurricane Harvey,
the Morgans finally moved into their home in Lakes of Williams Ranch in Fort Bend County.
Special features
From the home’s entrance, it’s easy to see the thoughtful details. A curved wall is fitted with a large slab of onyx with lighting installed behind it. A pair of chandeliers over the stairs have opaque globes, and at night the foyer oozes a warm amber glow that you can see from outside.
The Mediterranean-style home has split-faced stone as accents
throughout, and dramatic marble and onyx help amp up style, too.
The large family room is a pivot point for all kinds of views — the pool, hot tub and manplex in one direction and a grassy, green side yard in the other.
A stone hearth runs up a wall with a fireplace and large TV — one of 22 in the home — flanked by a series of art niches with an evolving collection of pottery and other mementos collected on the Morgans’ travels. Erin, an elementary school teacher before she decided to stay home with their kids, is from Colombia, so some of the pieces are Colombian art and artifacts.
Thick beams made of reclaimed wood decorate the ceiling, and you can still see the holes where beams and boards would have joined — indentations made 200 years ago in their first life as a Midwestern barn.
Matt’s work revolves around the restaurant industry — he owns the Food and Beverage Industry Insurance Agency — but he loves to cook and entertain, so having plenty of room to host parties, holiday dinners and other events was important to him. He was meticulous about planning for pantry and other storage place, both in the kitchen and in his manplex.
Lower cabinets have plenty of drawers, and upper cabinets go all the way to the tall ceilings, so they have plenty of room for cutting boards, serving plates and catering goods. Their oversized pantry has a second Subzero refrigerator and a dishwasher, too.
For their kitchen counters, interior designer Pamela O’Brien of Pamela Hope Designs chose a quartzite with the kind of dramatic veining and pattern you’re used to seeing in onyx.
Instead of formal and informal eating areas, the Morgans — like other young families — opted for one dining area that sits between their kitchen and an indoor bar with a wine room. The dining area’s arched walls and the bar are covered in the same split rock that’s in the rest of the house.
“I love to cook,” Matt said. “We host Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I do all the cooking for 30 or more people.”
Luxury and Legos
The Morgans splurged on their bedroom suite, especially their bathroom. At the end of their bed, they installed a TV that retracts into a custom console, but the most unusual thing about it is that after it emerges, it can rotate 360 degrees so they can watch it from the patio that’s outside the bedroom.
They stay cool out there even in the hottest months from outdoor air conditioning they installed with an air curtain to keep the coolant in their seating area.
In keeping with the Mediterranean style and earthy stone elsewhere, the Morgans used hammered copper sinks and a copper-clad freestanding tub in their bathroom. A curved, stone-covered wall behind the tub is a pretty way to disguise what essentially is a towel closet.
Their huge shower is large enough to call a wet room, with a big curved wall with a built-in bench and dual shower systems mounted for rain-shower and body-spray effect.
Erin’s mother, Beatriz Rozo, lives with the Morgans and has her own mother-in-law suite on the second floor.
“I love my mother-in law. She gives us so much freedom to go on dates or go out of town and not worry about the kids,” Matt said. “I’m a little jealous of the relationship they get to have with their grandparents. My own didn’t live here.”
The kids’ rooms are a special treat, too, with Madison getting the princess effect with chandeliers and plenty of pink and Ethan getting the full-on Lego treatment.
O’Brien designed his bedroom with both full-size and queen-size beds elevated loft style, and underneath is a desk where he can do homework. All of it is covered in the bright primary colors of Lego toys with steps up to the beds and cabinet doors specially made to look like the exterior of Legos.
She and her staff practiced with actual Legos, testing colors and combinations and then matching them to Sherwin-Williams paint colors.
“It’s one of the highlights of the house. When we were all kids, we all played with Legos. What kid wouldn’t want a room made out of Legos?” Matt said.
The theme carries over into his bathroom, where his vanity drawers and an in-wall medicine cabinet also get the Lego treatment. Because Ethan loves the building blocks so much, O’Brien designed a wall of shelving where he can display his creations, which include a Star Wars diorama.
And if Ethan ever wants to just kick back and relax, he’s got a sports theme here, too, with leather chairs made to look like a baseball mitt — with football- and baseball-shaped ottomans.
Madison and Ethan are likely the envy of all their friends because of the two-story play area their parents created for them. Part of the attic was finished off to be a secret playroom, and it’s where they can jump on a curlicue slide that takes them to their real playroom on the second floor near their bedrooms.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the playroom has been where they do their schoolwork, but the Morgan kids have enjoyed playing in it, too.
“The slide sounded like a good idea when we started, but when you have eight kids up there playing, it can sound like chaos,” Matt said. “In practice, I don’t know that it was such a good idea.”
Time for fun
Erin had plenty to say about what went in the home, but it was clearly Matt’s baby. And the proof is in his two-story manplex, where he has a bar/entertaining space downstairs and an upstairs home office that looks down into the backyard pool and hot tub.
There’s even a waterfall that starts from his office balcony, spilling down past an outdoor seating area and into the pool.
Matt’s an avid scuba diver, so a 400-gallon saltwater fish tank is the decorative installation behind the manplex’s bar. In their previous home, he had a freshwater tank, so the saltwater tank and its live coral reef were a longtime dream.
In all, the Morgans’ home has 22 TVs, five of them clustered on a wall of the manplex so Matt can watch a variety of games all at once. He even has an electronic ticker that runs on game days, logging the progress of various sporting events.
“I’m a giant sports fan, so it has been hell for me during the coronavirus shutdown,” said Matt, who’s active in fantasy football, too.
Erin’s private space is a spalike retreat at the far end of the second floor, out of everyone’s way. There’s a built-in sectional for lounging and an infrared sauna for a true spa experience.
“I use my mancave every day. If have a tough day at the office, I can sneak in there and the kids don’t even know I’m home,” he said. “Erin does same in her retreat. Whenever I can’t find her, I know just where to look.”