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Here, seven-year-old Owen poses in front of his father Andy's portrait, painted when Andy was roughly Owen's age.

"There's great consistency in this house," Nate says. "Kirsten has decided what her taste is, and she's gone step by step, room by room, to create an entire environment that reflects it right back to her. She's also a master at symmetry, which calms the eye and allows her to be more experimental throughout the rest of the space. There's nothing in this home that I would change."

And not only beautiful, but comfortable for her family as well: "Things can't be perfect with a 7-year-old in the house, so I decided to stop obsessing. Now if something gets dinged, I just call it patina." Good advice for us all.

More with other O at Home contest winners...

• Creating a home in 30 days
• A taste of the tropics