Eddie Seal/Caller-Times

The master bedroom showcases Ulysia’s collection of crosses. The couple chose warm colors, including mustard and sage, in the home they built in 2000.

By Leanne Libby, Special to the Caller-Times

December 04, 2005

Eddie Seal/Caller-Times

The couple and their three children regularly share meals at this table, which features a bench from the King Ranch Saddle Shop. The area has a view of the back yard pool.

Ulysia Rutkoski and her family put their stamp on every aspect of the home they built six years ago in Bishop, right down to scratching their names in the sidewalk leading up to the front door.

La Posada De Kingsville Christmas Tour of Homes When: 2 to 5 p.m. today Cost: $5. Tickets purchased at first home and must be presented at each house. Information: (361) 522-2741 Homes: 702 South Birch Ave. (Bishop), Scott and Ulysia Rutkoski (Purchase tickets here) 1125 Cypher , Mike and Susie Warriner 623 West Henrietta Ave., Jeff and Cate Smith 218 Cecil, Randy and Belinda Hughes 2104 Margaret Lane, Travis and Alice Byers 2002 Margaret Lane, Cameron and Norma Whittington (Refreshments will be served at this location.)

Their home is the first stop on today’s La Posada de Kingsville Christmas Tour of Homes. The tour, presented by the Women’s Club of Kingsville Junior Department, is from 2 to 5 p.m. and features five Kingsville homes and the Rutkoski’s home in Bishop.

“It started as a small, Christmas tour to get everyone in the holiday spirit,” club member Cheryl Kirk said. “Everyone liked to see how other people celebrated but it kept growing and has become one of our major fund-raisers.”

Previous tours’ proceeds have benefited charities including the local library and the Ronald McDonald House.

The Rutkoskis started their 2,100-square-foot dream home by combining a ready-made floor plan with their experience as homeowners.

“We found a plan we liked and modified it,” Ulysia said. “We go to San Antonio a lot and we would get ideas there.”

Ulysia has made a practice of blending a variety of styles to create a home where her family can relax and the couple can indulge their love of entertaining.

Eddie Seal/Caller-Times

Ulysia, a former restaurant owner, chose a Dacor gas stove for her Bishop home. Scott helped design the limestone, faux chimney around the vent hood.

“I don’t have one style,” she said. “I just use what I like and make it work together.”

The original floor plan called for a formal dining room that opened into the kitchen. Their family never used their formal areas, Ulysia said, and she wanted a computer room. Ultimately, they closed off the area and created a sage-walled study decorated with several of Scott’s hunting trophies. Twelve-foot ceilings throughout the house contribute to the home’s airy atmosphere

When it came to the outside of the house, Ulysia liked limestone. And brick. And stucco. So the couple went with some of each, accenting the limestone walls with Chicago brick and selecting subtle, cream stucco for the dormer windows.

Inside, a limestone fireplace adds to the home’s cozy atmosphere, as does the limestone vent hood designed to look like a chimney in the kitchen.

Eddie Seal/Caller-Times

The Rutkoski’s home reflects Scott’s love of hunting and Ulysia’s passion for antiques. The home is the first stop on today’s La Posada De Kingsville Christmas Tour of Homes.

The kitchen was of special importance to Ulysia, who formerly owned The Mesquite Grill and Ruscotti’s restaurants, both of which were in Kingsville. She chose a Dacor gas stove and a Sub-Zero refrigerator. She tempered the look of the professional-grade equipment by choosing practical, tile-topped counters and a high, bar-style counter where friends and family can sit and visit with the cook.

Meals take place at a table featuring a bench from the King Ranch Saddle Shop. The store is one of Ulysia’s favorites, where she found a ladder chair for the family room as well as a window bench for the computer room.

In the master bedroom, a warm, mustard-color wall is adorned with crosses, another of Ulysia’s treasured collections. The spacious master bath features a garden tub and an ingenious little item that saved Ulysia from a claustrophobic, closet-style toilet area.

Eddie Seal/Caller-Times

Ulysia assembled a variety of trunks and cubbies to display several of her collections, including antique sewing spindles and oil cans.

“I found these old shutters and got Scott to put them together,” Ulysia said of a screen that provides just the right amount of privacy around the commode. In a stroke of luck antique mavens dream of, the shutters already wore trendy sage paint and a distressed finish.

The active family has plenty of exercise options at home or close to it, with a pool in the back yard and a jogging trail that circles a pond just up the street.

In the front yard, a long porch holds inviting rocking chairs with a view of the Guess Nature Trail. The trail, which Ulysia said is used primarily by bird-watchers, is dedicated to local judge and amateur photographer Lawrence Edward Guess.

Living in such an idyllic setting was worth the hard work, which included Scott helping wire the house. The couple had heard the proverbial horror stories that go with home building but Ulysia said being organized ahead of time paid off in their case. They pored over the plans and made as many design and decorating decisions as possible before the building began.

“I’d build over and over again,” she said.