Outside Shepherdstown, a colorful home with hand-made tile nestles in the woods. Beside the house, two gigantic boulders, one perched precariously on top of the other. It is the home of Doug and Karen Kinnett.

Artist Doug and Karen, a CPA with a mean golf swing, built a home to house their passions. Doug’s brightly-colored abstract floral paintings share space with Karen’s many golf trophies.
The hallmark of their home is flexibility. The halogen spotlights on cables above the great room can be rearranged to focus on the Kinnetts’ ever-changing art collection; furniture can be easily moved to accommodate intimate dinner parties or large gatherings. The great room opens onto what the construction crew affectionately called the “big ass deck,” a 30 by 20-foot deck made of recycled plastic that practically screams “party!”

Doug is a retired Shepherd University art professor. In his lower level studios, he paints canvases, and paints and fires one-of-a-kind tiles. The powder room is awash in color, with the floor tiled in Doug’s unique floral designs. His canvases are displayed throughout the home.

The front door opens to a foyer with seating to accommodate Karen’s clients, who sometimes visit her at home. Double doors to the great room can be closed to create a private living space away from the foyer. “Now I don’t have to straighten up the great room during tax season, when clients are in and out of the house,” says Karen.

Karen is a knowledgeable, passionate art lover, sharing Doug’s affection for modern art. Their penchant for modern art is reflected in a bright purple guestroom—a tribute to Andy Warhol where sconces shaped like giant mouths share the walls with Warhol prints, including one of his classic Campbell Soup prints. The second guest room pays homage to Karen’s Iowa upbringing with country prints, traditional furniture, and a homey quilt. It’s about as far removed from Warhol as any space can be, yet the two rooms are side by side.

The kitchen is itself like a painting influenced by the art and sensibilities of early twentieth century Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, a shared favorite of Karen and Doug. Mondrian is best known for his grids dividing black, white, red, yellow, and blue rectangles. Doug and Karen replicated a Mondrian grid in the floor tile of their kitchen. Even appliances are Mondrian. “We probably placed the strangest order Spicer’s ever had—white stove, stainless steel fridge, and red dishwasher,” says Karen.

And what about those boulders stacked in the yard? During construction and blasting, one of the excavators placed a huge rock on top of another. His boss was angry, but Karen and Doug liked them and asked they be left as they were. It reminded them of Jefferson Rock in Harpers Ferry, where Doug proposed to Karen. “We call it Kinnett Rock,” said Karen.