Two years ago, Luke Caldwell and Clint Robertson of Boise Boys took on a riverfront property with a foundation so shaky they had to tear the house down and start from scratch. They couldn’t have imagined how all their hard work would pay off. “By the end of the project, I was thinking that instead of selling it, my family should move in — it would more than double our square footage,” says Luke. To warm up the contemporary exterior, Luke played with different textures; there’s ceramic tile, wood and metal.

When they decided to move in, he and his wife, Miranda, had six kids, including four they adopted with special needs (they’ve since adopted again). As teens, they’d each visited orphanages on service trips. “It was heartbreaking to see children, especially those with special needs, not have a family,” says Luke. “Once Miranda and I started our own, we knew we wanted to add to it through adoption.” Everyone felt right at home in the new place. It’s modern yet warm and inviting, thanks to good light, natural textures and vintage finds. After all, says Luke, “I’d been trying to design a really cool house — it just turned out to be for us!” Pictured here is Luke and Miranda with, clockwise from the top: Tucker, 10; Brighten, 8; Elias, 10; Darla, 8; Morris, 12; and Ezra, 11. (Not pictured: Promise, 15, who the couple recently adopted.)

The floating concrete staircase is one of Luke’s favorite features in the house — shout-out to Clint for helping make it structurally sound. It’s spruced up for the holidays with cypress garland and black-and-white bows, while wrapped presents ready to be doled out to extended family do double duty as decor.

Going for maximum airiness, Luke and Clint gave this space a 20-foot-high ceiling and two-story windows. It’s cozied up by a gas fireplace clad in smooth cedarwood, with soapstone on the hearth. Aggregate concrete floors with embedded river rocks stand up to occasional basketball dribbling. The 1960s leather sofa and the rockers are from Boise Vintage — Luke had the chairs reupholstered in buffalo check fabric from JoAnn.