...from an article in Design KC :

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Winter 2024/2025

Words by Savannah Rieke Newson  |  Photos by Josie Benefield

If these walls could talk, they’d share some truly fantastic tales. Some span generations, others cross continents, capturing stories from distant lands and foreign cultures. As comforting as it is captivating, this ornate, heirloom-adorned archive also speaks of cozy beginnings—ones rooted in a close-knit family’s treasured memories, growing plans for the future and their love for the rolling acreage they call home.

Like many classical libraries, the distinctive design behind Chris and Ellen Connell’s two-story literary haven was years in the making. When the opportunity arose to build a new home on the property next door to Chris’s parents, they didn’t have any set plans in mind—just a dream and a daring idea or two.

They contacted Bruce Rieke of B.L. Rieke Custom Homes, who had also built Chris’ parents’ home. 

“He was asking us if we have plans, do we have this [and that], and we’re like, ‘No, we have nothing,’” Ellen recalls, chuckling.

To jumpstart the creative process, Rieke introduced them to Architect Tom McDonough (Licensed Architect & owner of KC Architecture), who worked with the couple over two years to shape and refine their vision for their new home.

Ellen recalls one of the first things that Tom asked was, "What is the craziest thing you’ve ever wanted in a house?’”

“And we both said, ‘A library,’” Chris and Ellen responded in unison.

Thus, the vision for their Victorian-era turret library was born, laying the foundation for the rest of their home’s design and details.

From that point, the couple partnered with B.L. Rieke’s interior designer Beth Weir, working together on everything from interior trim work and exterior paint colors to seamlessly incorporating the family’s cherished trinkets into the home’s mix of moody, modern and nostalgic aesthetics.

“Chris and Ellen were so fun to work with,” Weir says. “They had been collecting items for their dream home for years and had several things like light fixtures, bricks and other accessories that they wanted incorporated into their build.”

Today, the fairytale-esque library—dressed in shades of deep navy blue—stands bold against a rustic backdrop of vegetable gardens, chicken coops and beehives. Creamy white latticework on the two-story exterior windows adds a touch of quaint Victorian style. The space’s moody interior—painted in contrast with the rest of the home’s light and bright palette—embraces all who walk through its French doors with a deep, comforting ambiance, creating a peaceful alcove for reading, working or seeking respite.

The vast, circular-shelved walls are brimming with intriguing details, nods to tradition and other features of fancy, such as souvenirs from the couple’s annual trips overseas, KC heritage pieces and mementos from Chris’ military service. Upstairs, a custom-made roundabout metal catwalk separates the library floors, enhancing the “European castle” effect with its medieval intricacies and letter “C” engravings (short for “Connell”) on the support brackets. The main floor even features callbacks to local history within the faux fireplace. The bricks, now over 100 years old, were taken from the original Holy Family Catholic Church walkway in Eudora, Kansas. The keystone, meanwhile, comes from the 1860s-built farm home that originally sat on the Connells’ current property.

A defining feature of the library—the family’s flourishing book collection—is organized using the Dewey Decimal System alongside other personalized methods. Its ever-expanding shelves, filled with cherished novels and memories, tell the beautifully evolving story of Chris, Ellen and their two young daughters.

“The library reflects our family and our kids as they grow,” Ellen says. “It’s a scrapbook of our life that’s constantly being built upon.”

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