The Call of the Wild

Taking inspiration from the Wild West and the Ozarks’ country charm, California transplants Ruthann and Gary Winans designed their dream home with a view of the rural countryside.

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Photo Edward Biamonte

A crisp apple dipped in caramel, gospel music, autumn leaves, the genuine kitsch of Silver Dollar City and the song of cicadas on Missouri summer nights drew the Winans family to the Ozarks the way the moon’s gravitational force pulls out the tide and then brings it back in. The first time Ruthann and Gary Winans spent time in southwest Missouri, it was when they took their children there for a visit in 1993, back when the Missouri and Mississippi rivers had experienced significant flooding. They were living in California, and they started their Missouri vacation in recently flooded St. Louis before trekking down to Silver Dollar City for the rest of the trip. Ruthann says that the serene combination of music, food and autumnal beauty at the park made them wish they’d skipped the St. Louis leg of the trip altogether and spent more time at SDC, and she knew from that moment that she’d live in the Ozarks someday.

They did live here from 1995 to 1998 when they owned the Wild West Theatre in Branson. But then they moved back to the suburbs of San Diego and spent the next eight years near their families in their native state with their four children: Dusty (who is married to Kimmy), Ashley (who is married to Glen), J.J. and Summer Rose.

On summer nights in California there was something missing for Ruthann: The all-encompassing surround sound of cicadas chirping in the trees. Those little guys don’t live in California, and it was something she longed for when they left Missouri. “We left our hearts here in Branson,” Ruthann says. “We came back every Fourth of July and thought, ‘Why aren’t we living here?’”

The family found its way back to southwest Missouri last summer, this time for a more permanent stay. Gary and Ruthann have bought a gorgeous 400-acre plot of land along an Ozarks mountain ridge in Reeds Spring (with Branson schools), and they are working on developing Hickory Ridge Estates. Keeping it all in the family, their business partners are Linda Lee (Gary’s sister) and her husband, Jon, who moved here from California as well. So far, the custom-built Winans home is the only finished one on the property. The views are unbelievable, and it all came complete with the cicadas that had been calling their names.
 

Photo Edward Biamonte   The home holds a mix of new and old pieces, and the bench in the entryway was a pew recovered from an old church.

Requirement No. 1 for the home, Ruthann says, was a big front porch with rocking chairs, so the family can sit outside and enjoy the sounds of summer. (And when it’s the wrong time of year to hear cicadas, she can just turn on the porch’s flickering lanterns that play woodsy sound effects.)

The Winans family designed their home to fit all their preferences (such as a gigantic California-style master bedroom), and Ruthann decorated the house in what she calls a “farmhouse lodge” style with a bit of a Western touch. Every detail in every nook and cranny in the house fits the country lodge bill, and there’s a mix of old, recovered pieces and new details that meld perfectly into a look that’s both reminiscent of a simpler time and indicative of right-now architectural elements. In the kitchen, a walk-in pantry (whose open shelves remind Ruthann of a tiny country general store) with an old farmhouse screen door opens up onto a deep and wide marble counter that serves as the top of Ruthann’s baking center. She can pass ingredients from the pantry directly onto the baking center counter, which has cabinets underneath to hold all her baking supplies. The extra-deep counter is perfect for rolling out dough for pie crust.

Across from the pantry is a hall with windows that look out into the entry (complete with valences and shutters) and a half-bathroom with a washtub sink that Ruthann had custom-made by the trim carpenter who made all her ideas come to life in the home. Inside the sink is a washboard, and it’s all set on a custom-made wooden base.