Eric Stonestreet and his fiancée Lindsay Schweitzer prioritized building their dream home in Kansas City, Kan., before they tie the knot.
However, their dream home won’t include the rooms that some homeowners may expect, including a dining room and an office.
In a recent conversation with PEOPLE, Stonestreet, 53, spoke about his new partnership with Kidde’s new collection of Smart Smoke and Combination Alarms (Smoke + CO) with the Ring app and incorporating the safety features into his new home. The two-time Emmy winner, 53, revealed that he’s “always wanted to” build his dream home and that he and Schweitzer “absolutely integrated” the new technology into the home.
The new product monitors and alerts residents of carbon monoxide levels, and the Ring technology allows users to know wherever they are. “What I really love about it is that if I’m away and Lindsay’s home, I’ll get the notification that the levels have reached a level we need to address,” the Modern Family star said.
Although the couple had a long-distance relationship as Stonestreet concluded Modern Family in Los Angeles, he told PEOPLE he was ready to head back to his hometown of Kansas City after years on the West Coast. “Then this piece of property came available, and we started conceiving of what we wanted because, we knew we’re going to do this one time, and so we really were thoughtful about it,” he explained.
“We don’t have a dining room. I have a dining room in L.A., and I can’t tell you how many meals I’ve had in my dining room,” he confessed. “So I was like, ‘No dining room.’” He mentioned that he also “didn’t need a home office,” explaining his cellphone is his home office. “I don’t need to sit down at the desk and type,” the actor continued.
The Secret Life of Pets actor also wanted to include a window in his shower because his favorite garden apartment in Chicago had that feature. “There was nothing better than the cold Lake Michigan air hitting in through that window, and me being in a warm, hot shower like that’s a sensational feeling.”
“And I was like, ‘I want a window in my shower.’ I’ve never been able to design my own house, and I’m designing it. ‘I want a window in our shower,’” he said before noting that he and Schweitzer were in sync when building the home.
Although he confessed there may be things they are not on the same page about, but they “find compromise.”
“There are definitely things that I don’t care about that she absolutely cares about,” Stonestreet explained. “So we each are really good with each other, finding those things and just talking about and doing the way we each want to do it and finding joy and beauty in those things.”
Stonestreet also confirmed they ensured that they “really appointed spaces for ourselves.”
“I knew that I wanted my own space to watch TV,” he said before remarking that of course other people are invited into that space. “Lindsay has a little area where she can read and have a cup of coffee.”
He said Schweitzer’s twin boys “have their space where they can play and wrestle around,” adding, “We’re not bothering each other, but we can all be together when we want to be together.”
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They took into account hosting their friends and family, as well as Stonestreet’s onscreen family.
“We wanted to create spaces that we could invite Jesse Tyler Ferguson home,” Stonestreet told PEOPLE. “We wanted to create spaces where, if Sofía [Vergara] is coming through Kansas City, that we have a great place for her.”
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