Meet Brian and Emily Krob
No home tour of mid-century houses in Southern Scottsdale would be complete without including a home located in the Hy-View neighborhood near Papago Park. And there is no better representative of this area than the home of newlyweds Brian and Emily Krob.
Brian, an architect, and Emily, an artist, have converted their 1961 E.J. Farmer-designed house into a blend of colorful aesthetics that create a friendly atmosphere reflective of their personalities. This is a very happy home.
Brian and Emily met through an online dating service last year, and Emily recalled her first visit to Brian’s house: “When I walked in and looked around at what he had done with the house, I thought to myself, ‘I can connect with this guy.’”
And connect they did. Brian and Emily were married in late September, took a weeklong honeymoon in Mexico and are now getting their home ready for Sunday’s “Inspiration Home Tour.” Most of the preparations are being focused on the backyard, which includes a fire pit area that can accommodate a particularly large group of people.
The Krob’s home is a 1,700-square-foot ranch model. Unlike so many owners of smallish mid-century homes, Brian and Emily have not expanded the three-bedroom home’s floor plan. Although when Brian moved in, he said, “It was definitely a ‘fixer-upper.’ But it already had character.”
Technically, Brian only removed a small section of one wall between the front room and kitchen-dining area. The rest of the house is pretty much the same as when Brian purchased it five years ago. It even has the original natural-wood kitchen cabinets. Brian sandblasted the exterior to reveal the sparkling cinders of the block construction.
Brian is the co-owner of Aline Design Studio in Scottsdale and Emily teaches art at Tesseract School in Paradise Valley. They admit they have strong individual opinions, however, they usually find a way to agree on most aspects of design. They both grinned at one another and said they have learned to compromise — an important quality of any successful marriage.
Emily’s lively paintings are prominently displayed throughout the common area of the home, adding splashes of bright colors to an already colorfully furnished front room, kitchen and dining area. She has also painted a unique mini-mural on the end of the kitchen island.
Brian and Emily have collaborated on creating a cheerful environment in which to begin a marriage – and maybe some day raise a family.