Inside the Shelton Family's Home

When Katie Shelton isn’t performing with her band The Mixtapes or working at her shop, Springfield Mercantile Co. (326 E. Commercial St., Springfield, MO, 417-831-8131), you can probably find her at home with her family. Along with her husband and band partner, Johnny, she gathers with their two daughters, Poesy (13) and Hope (22), around a table full of pancake stacks. “I love making huge breakfasts for the family,” says Katie. “My youngest daughter is a pancake master, and we love creating big, beautiful spreads to gather around!”

Life is busy for the Sheltons but they are always keeping things interesting. Katie loves to entertain, throwing parties and dinners. One of those is an annual mashed potato party. Guests bring a dish of mashed potatoes, gravy or a side, and then they eat mashed potatoes until they’re about to burst.

The Shelton family also loves the slow-down of winter and partaking in cozy activities at home, like songwriting, baking and crafting. Katie’s home is a historic gem nestled in Midtown with a large wrap-around porch and plenty of that “old home quirkiness.”

The family has embraced the home’s uniqueness over the years and has learned to create the space and storage they need based on the demands of their lives at that moment. “I have four doors in my bedroom, and not one of them is a closet,” says Katie. “We converted an extra room into a closet room, and it has been so much easier to keep things organized.” Before she acquired a craft studio outside of her home and her Commercial Street shop, the space also functioned as a crafting space.

The family also turned the study into their main living space, allowing for a music room in the original living room. “It lives in various degrees of disarray, depending on the time of year, but it is wonderful to have a dedicated space for instruments,” says Katie. “In the slower months we get more of a chance to write music, sometimes even with our 13-year-old daughter, who has quite the gift for melody and lyrics.” And that’s no surprise, knowing how talented her musical parents are.

The family also turned the study into their main living space, allowing for a music room in the original living room. “It lives in various degrees of disarray, depending on the time of year, but it is wonderful to have a dedicated space for instruments,” says Katie. “In the slower months we get more of a chance to write music, sometimes even with our 13-year-old daughter, who has quite the gift for melody and lyrics.” And that’s no surprise, knowing how talented her musical parents are.

Some of Katie’s favorite DIYs were adding fireplaces to their bedroom and what is now their living room. The unique shape of the living room and its non-functional door in the corner were challenging to work around. “We had an entertainment center sitting in front of it for a few years, but finally had the idea to build a wall in front of it and create more of a focal point with the fireplace,” says Katie. “The fireplace we added to our bedroom really brings the cozy when it’s rainy or chilly out.”

When it came to decorating their older home Katie embraced color—including using pink in her living room to evoke a comforting feeling that’s also playful. “It is no secret that I love to surround myself with color,” says Katie.

She describes her personal home style as fun and eclectic, and she always takes her time and decorating with unique items and decor that bring a sentimental element to the space. Her decorated shelves, stacks of blankets and porch full of plants all tell a story.

Dealing with an older home and its quirkiness is just part of living in the Midtown area.  “We have unique restaurants and shops on Commercial Street, as well as beautiful historic homes all around us,” says Katie.  “We love it here.”