Haven: With a family gathering point

Kevin and Khesha Kelly's townhouse in Doylestown's Lantern Hill community has become an anchor for their busy lives.

"I feel as if I am coming home to a Norman Rockwell painting after traveling through some of the roughest cities in the Northeast," Kevin says. "I love coming back to my quiet little town."

Kevin Kelly, a salesman for a food company, travels on the job throughout the United States and Canada. Khesha Kelly, a food scientist, has just started a second career as a paralegal in central New Jersey. Their 3-year-old son, Aidan, is in preschool, and his parents alternate end-of-the-day pickups.

On a sunny day, their porch - set back from Main Street and surrounded by leafy trees - is a family gathering point, a place to greet passersby and sit with Aidan on a warm evening and wait for the other parent to arrive.

Across the street is a small park, where children play and, at times, neighbors gather for picnics.

"On a nice day, the park is always full of kids and their parents," says Khesha. "We don't have to maintain the grounds, just enjoy them."

Life in Lantern Hill is pretty much the way architect George Donovan and his staff planned it 10 years ago.

The 124 houses at Broad and Main Streets were developed by Granor Price Homes on a brownfield site near the Doylestown rail station where seat cushions once were made. Donovan and his staff were tasked with designing a community that would fit into Doylestown Borough and not look like a typical development.

"We wanted to build a community with different-colored and -sized houses from one to three bedrooms, some with garages, some without," Donovan says. "The sites go to the sidewalk, with no garages in front."

The dwellings come in three sizes, he says, and all units are intermingled without clustering by size or value. The houses are painted in earthy tones, from beige to gray-blue.

Kevin decided to buy his little bit of Lantern Hill about 10 years ago, before they were married, but while he and Khesha were dating.

"I was tired of renting, and it seemed like a good thing to do," he says. "I could always sell it."

Says Khesha: "I helped him decorate it and suggested lots of taupe or beige walls and other things."

The result? Rooms with a comfortable mixture of traditional and contemporary furniture, and walls adorned with prints and photographs that tell of the family's heritage.

This is a house that spells "young family with no time for unnecessary clutter."

The kitchen is neat and crisp, with a cozy round table and chairs and trim curtains on the window. Aidan's drawings of smiling faces and puffy animals decorate the refrigerator.

In the living room, Khesha's choice of beige for the walls harmonizes with an overstuffed sofa and chairs in brown.

Upstairs, the master bedroom is a serene retreat done in similar neutrals.

Next door, on the other hand, Aidan's smaller bedroom is vibrant and colorful, packed with a hobby horse, stuffed animals, blocks, and the other toys his loving parents and relatives have provided.

Taking pride of place in this room is a photo portrait of Khesha in a turban and holding then-6-month-old Aidan.

Khesha says she asked Denise Kline, the photographer, to copy the pose of a painting she loves that depicts a black Madonna and Child.

In the basement recreation room, Kevin is proud of a series of framed black-and-white photographs of resting workmen from around the turn of the 20th century.

"They are building skyscrapers in New York, and most of them are Irish," Kevin says, laughing. "I can't help but be proud of that."

His experiment in homebuying as a single guy has yielded a home Kevin also is proud of.

And the happy consequences do not end there. A few years ago, a neighbor asked Kevin to run for Doylestown Borough Council. He did - and won.

"I enjoy working for the community," Kevin says. "I love it here, and we have everything we need - and no reason to move."

Tell us about your haven by e-mail (and send some digital photographs) at properties@phillynews.com.EndText