Judy Savoy loves America and her home shows it. 

“I used to change the decorations every season,” said Savoy, who has travelled all over the U.S. and lived in France for four years. “But I don’t like climbing up and down the ladder these days.” 

The cathedral ceiling of lightly stained tongue and groove pine is 18 feet up. She helped with the staining. Her husband installed it. 

Savoy is a native of Lake Charles Traveling to all fifty states was on her late husband’s bucket list. Savoy loved traveling with him, but all the sight seeing has made her appreciate Lake Charles, the state and country she loves. For her, there’s no place like home. 

When Hurricane Rita destroyed the house she and her late husband, Don, built in Big Lake, she used it as an opportunity to move closer to the city. Familiar with the area, she chose Barbe Country Estates. 

“We got a guy to black-in the house for us and we did a lot of the finish work ourselves,” Savoy said. 

Her husband was a mechanical engineer. The couple designed the 4,400-square-foot (under roof) house together. The Big Lake House was only a couple of years old when Hurricane Rita ripped through in 2005. The couple built the Barbe Country Estates house in 2006. 

Most of the cobalt blue displayed in the house was collected when Savoy lived in France – 36 cases to be exact. However, she continues to collect pieces of blue, especially when she spots a bargain. 

Savoy’s home– in addition to being red, white and blue all the way through – features trim made of rope rather than wood, a Teddy Bear room, an out of the ordinary bathroom, a swimming pool with an exceptionally large outdoor living space that’s beautifully decorated and front lawn like no other. 

“Don used rope to trim the Big Lake House,” Savoy said. “We liked it and decided to use it here.” 

The Teddy Bear room has a bedspread and window treatments with the Teddy Bear theme and hundreds of bears. The Hard Rock Café and Ty Bears span two walls. The room also has bear figurines and wall décor. 

The bathroom features a shower with hardly any bottom ledge at its opening, which provides easier access for those with limited mobility. The tiled shower with rain showerhead is in the center of the room. Surrounding the sides and back of the shower wall is the closet with plenty of walking and hanging space. 

The backyard is completely private. The pool is pristine. The lawn is immaculate with help from a local landscape company and the decked outdoor living space is enormous and continues the red, white and blue theme. Due to the amount of windows at the back of the house, it’s a scene that can be enjoyed inside as well as out. 

In the front yard, the grass is mowed in a way that spells out the name Don on one side of the sidewalk. The name Judy is on the other. The landscaping crew doesn’t keep it as exact and meticulous as her mechanical engineering husband did, but they’re getting the knack of it. 

She likes the reminders of him, inside and out, in this unique home they built together that demonstrates her love, decorating and appreciation of being able to call America, home.