<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">When the Shays were a rodeo family, their home on seven acres in Singer was perfect for their lifestyle. Pepper designed it, and she and her husband, Michael, built it after Hurricane Rita. They had seven acres for horses and for event practice.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">When their daughter graduated, the couple started thinking of a new lifestyle, one with less acreage to maintain, a smaller home and no horses.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We started talking about living our golden years now,” Pepper said. “You never know what the future holds. Some people work all their lives and when they retire, they don’t get to enjoy life. We want to enjoy life while we can. We work hard and we play hard.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">After visits with friends who live on the water, the Shays started thinking about building a new home on the water. Pepper said it took a while, but they finally found the perfect property for the right price. They chose a lot in the Riviera subdivision in Westlake on the Calcasieu River.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We’ve seen an alligator and a bald eagle so far,” Pepper said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She recently caught a redfish.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The project took longer than expected. The couple lived in a fifth-wheel for over a year. Building on water meant building the bulkhead, putting in pilings and a boatslip.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“There’s 48 yards of concrete in the ground here” Pepper said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She grew up around the construction industry, and she and her husband own a municipal and public works construction business.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Pepper admits the house went over budget.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“His outside kitchen cost more than my inside kitchen,” she said, laughing good-naturedly. “He likes to have friends over on the weekends.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The house is 2,800 square feet. (The Shays were shooting for 2,000.) However, it feels much larger. The vaulted ceiling rises to 24 feet. The home is more than 12 feet off the ground. The southern-facing wall is almost all glass, including a 16-foot sliding glass door that opens to the large outside entertainment area. The view is exceptional and includes the doubled-back river, a wooded area and the iconic Lake Charles Capitol One building.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“When I first saw this lot, all I could see was that house,” Pepper said, as she points to a nearby home. “So I asked the people next door if I could stand on their porch.” The view sold her and she began to design the house with that view and the couple’s new lifestyle in mind.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Pepper kept favorite furnishings from her Singer home.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“This home is decorated differently from the first home we built,” Pepper said. I think a home should be designed and decorated according to lifestyle and setting,” Pepper said. “The last home was very rustic. I wanted this one to be coastal with a touch of rustic and industrial.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She said because of her background, she feels more confident about her self -contracting skills than her decorating skills. The house belies that opinion.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">One of the house’s many highlights is the custom cable and pipe railing which gives the house a slightly industrial vibe and does not obstruct the view.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Like anyone tasked with helping run a business and contract a new home, Pepper stayed busy running here and going there to get what she needed to give the house it’s one-of-a-kind flair. She is amazed that some of the house’s features turned out even better than expected.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I worried about the kitchen backsplash,” she said. I found the stainless sheets behind the stove and bought all that the store had because the design reminded me of water. But it wasn’t enough to do the whole kitchen. I picked out the other tile on a day when it was pouring down rain. We were worn out.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She is not as pleased with the exterior paint color as she anticipated.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“You really have to stay on top of things if you decide to self-contract a house,” Pepper said. “The painting was done a day when I wasn’t in town.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She’s already thinking about the perfect shade of blue she’ll use ten years down the road.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The master bath features a soaking tub, a large walk-in tiled shower with rain showerhead and multiple jet showerheads, his and her vessel basins at customized heights, a toe heater and his and her illuminated mirrors.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Those mirrors were expensive,” Pepper said. “I guess they were my one splurge.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Pallet board was used to face the fireplace. But the pièce de résistance that best demonstrates Pepper’s creativity and can-do attitude is the light hanging over the dining room table. It is a work of art.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Finding lighting of the right style and size for the center of the open floor plan and over the dining room table could have cost in the thousands. Pepper spent $160. She found six pendant lights at a store that sells ready-to-assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Those pendants hang from a box covered with pallet board mounted between two of the ceiling beams. Ceiling beams and posts lining the open stairway are repurposed dragline mats.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Pepper, like most people, delights in creative ideas that look expensive. She has mastered the art of spotting deals and getting them loaded in record time at Canton Trade Days. But that’s not what makes her house a home.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“It’s all stuff,” she said. Stuff I can live without. What makes a house a home are the friends and family you share it with at the end of the day.”</span><p>The 2</p>