Custom Built

A Tupelo couple builds a new house with special touches that fit their lifestyle and showcase their art collection.

WRITTEN BY Leslie Criss  |  PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOE WORTHEM

For 13 years, Debra and Rud Robison enjoyed their home situated high on a hill in Tupelo’s Belledeer neighborhood before they decided to move. Perhaps the couple felt a bite from the building bug: After all, Rud is an architect. But there were a few practical reasons the two wanted to build a new house.

“We wanted to downsize,” Debra said.

Her husband agreed but also offered another reason.

“I wanted a place where I did not have as much yard to tend,” he said.

Tupelo developer Blake Trehern was working on a new development on North Madison Street near the heart of Highland Circle. The homes now complete in the cul-de-sac (when all are built, there will be six) were designed by Scott Emison, but Rud did a bit of tweaking to their house plans.

“I looked at the drawings,” he said. “The design was great. There was no need to reinvent the wheel, but I did make some adjustments.”

Debra, who is a musician, hoped for a special place for her grand piano, and her husband made it happen.

The house plan called for a screened porch to the right of the home’s entrance. Rud replaced the porch with a stylized stage area with a proscenium opening. Even with the house’s open plan, the Robison-designed front porch replacement provides a cozy music space for Debra. Besides, there’s a screened porch off the dining area in the back of the house.

The Robisons have lived in and appreciate old houses, and there are nods to that in their new home which has the scale of an older home along with gable shapes and high ceilings.

“They are nice features even though it’s a new house,” Rud said.

The 3,000-square-foot house has four bedrooms, which can be helpful when family visits Tupelo, especially any or all of the Robisons’ 11 grandchildren.

“The house is very conducive to our lifestyle,” Debra said. “Including the master bedroom being located downstairs along with a guest bedroom.”

Outside, the house’s curved sloping roof offers a nod to the Tudor style. But Rud, a big fan of art deco architecture, has paid homage to the style in certain details inside.

“The marble mantel is art deco,” he said. “And the large crown molding, as well. I was inspired at a very young age by a house in Tupelo that was art deco design. Sadly, the house was torn down years ago.”

The house he referred to was built in the late 1930s by R.F. “Rex” Reed for his wife, who’d seen an art deco house in Chicago during the 1933 World’s Fair. The house, painted Nelle Reed’s favorite color — pink — was built near where the Oren Dunn Museum sits today.

Art lovers and collectors, the Robisons planned well ahead where most of their art pieces would go. Their eclectic collection is as much a part of their home as the furniture. The clean, white walls throughout the house provide a perfect place to display many colorful paintings by favorite artists.

In addition to the master and one guest bedroom downstairs, the living area, kitchen and dining area are an excellent example of the house’s open floor plan.

“The thing I think we love the most is the open plan,” Rud said, as his wife nodded in agreement.

Also downstairs is a half bath or powder room wallpapered with a design Debra found and said she had to have.

The Shaw floors the Robisons chose are real hardwood in every room except the bathrooms, great for high traffic areas.

The Robisons describe the overall interior of the home as traditional with a little contemporary and modern in the mix.

Rud and Debra complement each other, which was a plus while building a house.

“She is an analytical thinker,” he said. “She needs to see it.”

“Rud is the aesthetic thinker,” Debra said. “He can just know what something will look like. I do have to see it.”

As an architect, her husband has the unique ability to help her see his vision.

“When I was trying to describe my idea for the music area, I finally went over to a corner, drew it and was able to show Debra exactly what I had in mind,” he said.

One of Rud’s favorite things at their home is outside, and it isn’t an expensive upgrade.

“Exterior lighting is important,” he said. “And it doesn’t have to cost a lot.”

He’s especially proud of three exterior lights he purchased for $20.

“And I can change the color for the holidays,” he said.