Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/536148
ART DIRECTION MICHELLE AVIÑA. PHOTOGRAPHY JENNY ANTILL CLIFTON. PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT MAGGIE CHEATHAM. HAIR & MAKEUP TONYA RINER. ARCHITECTURE JOE MILTON, JOE MILTON ARCHITECTS. W hen it comes to play in the everyday, this couple lives with their arms wide open for fun. Wooch Graff, a personal trainer and co-owner of Timberline Fitness in Montrose, has spent much of his adult life challenging himself with adventure races and endurance events, balanced by fun costumed activities. Jill Smith, a graphic designer and head of a design studio that bears her name, is an expert at hopscotch, freeze tag and finger painting. She also acts as conductor for the quartet, which includes sons Pace (6) and Brae (3), whose perpetual state of motion can best described as a whirling dervish of merry mayhem. Steven Hempel briefly cornered the husband and wife to talk about building a family and building their dream home in the thriving neighborhood of Garden Oaks. WELCOME TO THE FAMILY GRAFF. HOME Jill: We were renting in Garden Oaks and had considered moving out of Houston a million times. But once we had our first kiddo, we realized how nice it was to be in a big city that wasn't crazy expensive, had arts and culture and diversity and an airport with such a wide reach, so here we are. My parents are also here, which is huge for us. We bought a home with the intention of remodeling, but after much debate, we changed our minds and built new. Wooch: We worked with architect Joe Milton, Milton Architects, who has a Clint Eastwood squint, a John Wayne swagger and is as easy as Cool Hand Luke. He was great for us and patient with the initial idea of renovating our 1942 home … Five bids later, we learned it would be foolish to spend that much money to renovate if we planned on staying for long. So he took what we liked most about the home and accentuated it in a new design that retains much of the character of the original. GOOD TIMES. Jill: From our first meeting with Joe, we knew that we wanted to do some really fun and different things, like putting in a fire pole from the second floor down to the first, and installing a slide on our stairs. We like playful things, and we don't like to take ourselves too seriously. What we didn't know is how hard it is to do fun and different things when building a home! But Wooch found some very nice firemen (seriously) and got some great information concerning our fire-pole installation. And we found artist Sam Jones, who built our slide, which is my In the entry, mesquite flooring by Canyon Mesquite. Custom-made 8-inch-wide Dutch door in pantry with magnetic chalkboard paint for artwork and photo display. Six-year-old Pace Graff wears a Gnome Enterprises shirt screen-printed in Brooklyn. Three-year-old Brae Graff peers from behind.