Hollywood Regency combined with New Orleans whimsy—that’s how Meghan Michelic describes the decorating style she used to furnish her classic Fairacres home, given the moniker “Mayfair” by its original owners. The nearly 6,000-square-foot brick-front Tudor, with its gabled roof, decorative timber, and stone embellishments, has five bedrooms and six baths, all of them styled with Michelic’s indelible design touch.
The residence, on the National Register of Historic Places, features heavy, often ornate furniture, glam fixtures and tile work, and eclectic art and memorabilia, which honor the things the Michelics love most—dogs, horses, music, the Crescent City, and family. The result is a home with seemingly effortless casual elegance.
In truth, achieving the distinctive look took some pains.
Built in 1929-30 for Mabel and C.C. Criss, founder of Mutual of Omaha, and designed by architect Leo A. Daly, Mayfair was the first home built on Fairacres Road in the new high-society neighborhood of the same name. Photos of the residence are on display in the Durham Museum, and the Michelics have a binder of photos and articles that chronicle the home’s construction and history as an entertaining venue, hosting many of Omaha’s elite class in the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s.
A nonprofit attorney, with no formal training in interior design, Michelic said decorating has always come naturally. “I started redoing houses for myself…I just kind of grew into it.” She now offers her design services for hire under the name MSM Home.
Michelic purchased the storybook home with husband, Alex, an IT professional with Kiewit Construction, in July 2021. The Omaha natives—along with their four young children, Mary Margaret Eleanore, Ophelia, Winnifred, and Emiliana, and two giant Irish Wolfhounds, Louisa May and Bram (yes, they’re named after authors)—moved in with minimal remodeling plans: Add a shower and a second sink to the primary bathroom.
“But the week before we moved in, pipes started breaking, water started pouring though this beautiful ceiling,” Michelic said of the living room’s ornate plaster detail. The ordeal forced the family to move out just three months later and launched a major home renovation; new electrical and plumbing, a reorganization of the home’s second story, and finishing space on the third level, formerly the help’s quarters. The project was completed late 2022.
“With hindsight, it’s really nice to know it’s all been fixed, it’s safe,” Michelic said. “The biggest challenge was finding contractors that can work on these old houses and really know what they’re doing. Keeping the integrity of the house is so important to me, and so even if we replace tile and fixtures, my hope is they could be mistaken for the original.”
Walking through the home, Michelic narrated their renovation story, noting preserved details and design choices along the way. “Peter Kiewit and Sons Masonry did the [original] foundation work here,” she said of the two-story foyer. “We had a very talented local painter, Joe Eby, come in and paint over the cement to look like marble stone.” The Mayfair crest is featured in stone above a doorway.
The living room features an original stone fireplace, vintage dark-wood furniture, and a secret liquor cabinet from Prohibition days. “My husband keeps a bottle hidden in there just for fun,” she added. The restored decorative ceiling, now seamless and clean of heavy tobacco soot left behind by smokers, is a soft white. “Joe did that as well.”
Adjacent sits the office, a cozy room with comfy seating, tons of natural light, and “a great energy,” according to Michelic. “Everyone hangs out in here. No room is off limits (to the kids). I’m living in their world!” she joked. The former dining room, now a hearth room, features bookcases, more seating, and a New Orleans streetscape artwork. “I went to college there…spent a lot of time there, and still do,” said Michelic affectionately.
The family typically enjoys meals in the kitchen, which received new fixtures, countertops, backsplash, and a dining nook. They expand a formal dining table in the living room when entertaining guests.
Special efforts were made to preserve, and sometimes conceal, outdated features, including abandoned radiators. “I have a stained glass gal—Valerie Spellman with Painted Light in Hot Shops—that created covers for all those,” Michelic said. More stained glass disguises a broken dumb waiter and old laundry chute in the upstairs hallway.
The couple converted a sleeping patio and closed off a doorway to expand their primary suite, which also houses Michelic’s home office. An eclectic mix of casual art hangs on the wall. “We’re big hippies, my husband and I. My favorite band is the Grateful Dead. Bobby Weir’s right there,” she said, pointing to a framed print, then another. “You see a lot of music influences. I’m big on numbers, too. I would never hang two butterfly prints, always four since I have four kids.” The expanded primary bath features colorful tile—black, pink, purple, and teal—and another Crescent City portrait, as well as vintage restoration light fixtures, sink, and tub.
The girls’ spaces include three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a library for hanging out. The younger girls share a room on the second floor. “The big girls have their own [rooms], all the way on the third level,” Michelic said. “We call it ‘up in the clouds.’ It’s a dreamy little space.”
All four kids helped with design choices, Michelic said. “The rainbow bathroom was a big thing for our third daughter. Since she could talk, she’s had a thing for rainbows.” In efforts to preserve the home’s original color language, Michelic tapped Artaic for the creation of custom mosaics for the bathrooms reminiscent of the original tilework. In the primary bathroom, the fixtures featured shades of pink, purple, and black, which Meghan recreated and reflected in the updated space. Using Glazed Porcelain tile in 1″, 2″ and 2″x4″ geometries, Artaic created several bold mosaics that add a pop of color and eclectic sophistication to the showers and bathroom floors of this residence.
Ribbons from horse dressage competitions line the mirrors, and small guitars hang on the wall. (All four take weekly lessons). Floral garland and chandeliers add girly touches. “I got smart and put a laundry in every closet,” she added.
The basement laundry room is now the dogs’ lair.
The family also made changes outside, adding gas lanterns out front and back (another homage to New Orleans’ southern charm) and to the oversized backyard—a rarity in the neighborhood. They removed a formal English garden with pea gravel and mulched areas in favor of grass for more room for both kids and dogs to play, and filled a reflecting pond, which posed a hazard for the young girls. “It’s really just a big fairy garden and dog paddock now,” Michelic joked.
Michelic said they have more remodeling plans, but those things will come in time. The Mayfair is her family’s forever home, she asserted. “Someday we’re going to have a couple weddings here, I hope. That’s our dream.”
For more information, visit msmhomeomaha.com. Artaic is a Boston-based mosaic designer and manufacturer. For more information, visit artaic.com.
This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of Omaha Home Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
