For the Anderson family, work and play are one and the same in St. Francisville
Kalyn and Luke Anderson are experts at embracing mayhem. Between running a busy café, having little ones underfoot, and tackling home projects, they’ve learned how to roll with life’s surprises. Naturally, when their life in Baton Rouge was upended, they saw possibility in the pandemonium. One path ended, and a new one headed north was just beginning.
Off Menu
How the Andersons arrived in St. Francisville when they did was something of an accident. They had discussed moving there before, but the idea was more of an abstract eventuality than it was a plan. They had spent years renovating their Southdowns home, and their café, Basel’s Market, had become a beloved luncheonette on Highland Road. It wasn’t until the unexpected closure of their business that they reconsidered life in Baton Rouge.
“Basel’s was closed for about six months after the building I was renting was sold. I looked all around Baton Rouge for a new spot, but nothing quite filled that void,” says Kalyn. “One day, a buddy called us about this cute little house in St. Francisville and asked us if we would like to put Basel’s there. We drove up that day, and I could see the vision of what I could do with the place. It was perfect.”
Initially, the building was only perfect in concept. The two-room cottage had to be reimagined to function well, becoming a dining area with an open kitchen and market space. Kalyn took design inspiration from the restaurant’s cradle on Highland Road, complete with basket pendant lights, shiplap and antique plate walls. Her original menu made the journey safely to the new location, with classic sandwiches, salads and breakfasts served alongside award-worthy baked goods and seasonal specials. Of course, the cooler stays stocked with her pimento cheese and her father Calvin Lindsly’s famous chicken salad.
While the new restaurant was everything they hoped it would be, the commute from Baton Rouge was less than ideal, and Kalyn began to imagine another version of daily life. Basel’s Market serendipitously found its new home in St. Francisville. Why couldn’t the Andersons?
On the House
One morning, during a mani-pedi, Kalyn passed the time with some online house shopping. It’s an innocent-enough hobby: imagining how she might decorate a space and what it would be like living there. This time, though, she found a house she could picture herself in a little too clearly.
“I called Luke to tell him I was heading to see a house after my appointment. He asked me not to, but I had already texted the realtor,” Kalyn says with a laugh. “You know how you can walk into a house and feel like there should be a warm pot of chili on the stove? That’s what I felt. It was so homey. We put in an offer right then and there.”
Like Basel’s Market, the Andersons’ new home was more perfect in potential than in its original form. Luckily for Kalyn, her husband had the desire and know-how to make her architectural dreams a reality.
“She’ll explain her vision to me, and I’ll take out a little piece of paper and figure out structurally how to make it work,’” says Luke, owner of Ansten Construction and foreman of Kalyn’s construction projects. “It’s her playground. I just help make her ideas happen.”
And Kalyn had big ideas. For someone who believes the kitchen is the heart of the home, an open-concept layout that allowed her to cook while staying connected with guests and her children was essential. Removing load-bearing walls required ingenuity on Luke’s part, with pine beams supporting the second story and interior windows in the laundry room, maintaining an open feel. A nook for extra seating was built beneath the stairs.
“We were limited on space, and I knew we could do something with it,” Kalyn says. “I love a sitting area, and I thought it would be so sweet for our little angels to be able to be right there with me while I was cooking dinner.”
A dormer window in the oldest children’s bedroom necessitated the couple’s whimsical shrewdness. While it offered daughters Ollie and Andie a cozy reading loft, the height posed a safety risk, and storage was limited. Raised beds with built-in bookcases solved both challenges.
“We were trying to break the elevation change. It can be dangerous for little ones,” says Kalyn. “We figured out how to put it all together in a way that matched the flow of the room, and I’m so glad we did. It gives them so much more room for activities.”
Kalyn’s interior design flair comes to her as naturally as her culinary intuition. Bright, bold wallpapers have become somewhat of a signature of her spaces, paired with timeworn antiques and soft pastels that keep the look uniquely hers. Some of her favorite pieces come from secondhand sales and roadside rubbish piles. When she can’t find what she’s looking for, she makes it, like a cowboy painting she envisioned for her daughter Lucie’s bedroom. Luke contributes too, combing Habitat ReStores for architectural gems like doors and corbels.
“Everything she does, I love,” says Luke. “I may not always get it at first, but when she puts it all together, it’s perfect.”
There may always be another project on the horizon at the Andersons’ home—as well as at Basel’s Market, where the couple is renovating a historic house at the center of St. Francisville to serve as the restaurant’s new location opening this summer—but the motivation behind the work they do remains the same. Every new design and improvement stems from a commitment to enjoying everyday moments as they come.
“The season of life I’m in, I’m just in love with it,” says Kalyn. “Our passions, our family and our businesses all fit together. As our little ones grow and experience things for the first time, we’re all about being engaged and being present with them. Whatever we’re doing, we want to keep the fun in it.”
