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The Front Porch

The front porch features a Pella Architect Series-fiberglass entry door for zero maintenance and cedar v-groove paneling on the ceiling. Windows are also Pella Architect Series with Pella’s highest energy efficiency rating — wood with vinyl cladding means low maintenance; double hung windows, tilt to clean.
    
The Columns are made of Endura Cast fiberglass, so that they won’t rot, insects and rodents can’t damage. In Chippendale style, the railing is of wood construction, designed to correspond to the historical area. The Iron railing was made by local iron craftsman, Steve Williamson.

Over the front door is a custom mosaic panel of stone and glass by a Turkish artist, depicting the same Halcyon bird motif found in the medallions in the front gate stone columns.

Entry Hall
The entry hall gives a nod to the past with its size, wide openings into flanking rooms, decorative transoms and taller baseboards. The floors here and throughout are pine, finished in an oil-rubbed finish rather than polyurethane, contributing to a non-toxic work environment for the contractors and a non-toxic home in which to live. In addition, all paints used have zero VOC (volatile organic compounds).

Study/spare bedroom
This room is one example of “convertible spaces.” The house is designed for those who have been accustomed to living in large, nice homes who have decided they still want “nice,” but maybe not as large anymore. They want homes that are easier to take care of, don’t dedicate so much square footage for guest rooms that are seldom used, yet still feel spacious. You will see the room is set up for a “study-bedroom” scenario: although used daily as an office, the sideboard actually converts to a queen-size bed in about one minute. Should a home buyer need more bedrooms, this room can become a third, full-time bedroom by simply adding french doors — two closets already exist, and the space for a queen size bed is there.

Dining Room
You can see there is ample room to seat at least 8 guests, with plenty of room on the perimeter for sideboards, buffets, china cabinets, etc. The chandelier and spotlights are on dimmers, as are most of the light fixtures throughout the home, for ambience and to promote longer life of bulbs.  The coffered ceiling features mosaic mother-of-pearl.

Kitchen

The kitchen features an island top of marble in a leathered finish. The perimeter countertops are quartz, which is better to use near a cooktop. The pendant lights over the island and under-and-above the cabinets are all LED. Power strips under the upper cabinets provide an “uninterrupted” backsplash (no switch plates or electrical receptacles), and the glass backsplash wraps around to unify the groups of cabinets. Adjacencies were considered in placement of appliances and in-cabinet features: i.e., double ovens have storage for baking sheets and large baking dishes; adjacent, cooktop has utensil and spice storage adjacent; sinks have cutting board storage and trash bins adjacent, etc. The pantry is free-standing. All appliances and faucets were selected for function and energy/water efficiency. The range hood features warming lamps to keep foods hot. The ovens feature convection cooking option, which cooks faster. Bosch dishwasher is the quietest on the market. Insinkerator disposal Excel does the job and is quiet.

Powder Room
The natural edge wood countertop was made from a table; the Arabesque mosaic tile was installed with its natural edge showing as a compliment to the counter-top.

Laundry & Drop Zone
The “drop zone” is exactly that — a place to drop everything when entering from the garage until it can be properly stored. This area has ample storage cabinets and is where coats and umbrellas are hung, and shoes removed.

Both the laundry room and drop zone feature the same quartz counter-top as the kitchen. The laundry room has LED fluorescent lighting, which is very bright.

 

Garage
The garage is over-sized, with extra-large (9 ft. tall by 10 ft. wide) garage doors. Here you will see the tankless water heater, one of the energy efficient measures taken in this home. In addition, a recirculating hot water feature was installed, enabling homeowners to have nearly instant hot water, instead of having to wait several minutes for hot water.

Family/Gathering Room
In addition to seating at the island, a breakfast area provides additional informal dining, and adjacent walls have ample space for a sideboard and a tall storage piece.

The tiled fireplace wall is the backdrop for a direct vent, gas fireplace, which features a linear flame. The back of the bookcases is painted to match the glass backsplash of the kitchen. The open shelves in the kitchen are smaller versions of the stained mantle, and taller-than-usual storage cabinets below the bookcases provide additional storage for those who are down-sizing.

The large doors looking out onto the covered back porch and courtyard are 16 feet wide and disappear completely into pockets in the wall, providing great indoor/outdoor space, streamlined sight lines, and plenty of room for entertaining and relaxing. The cedar porch ceiling has three skylights so that natural light is not impeded.  Speakers are installed here, as well as in the rest of the house.

You will notice a Nest brand thermostat in this room that is part of the energy efficiency for the house. It is programmable and can be controlled from your computer or phone, allowing the homeowner to manage power and gas usage.

Bedroom Hall
Textured wallcover provides a serene and inviting entrance to the bedrooms. Notice the double doors into the bedrooms.

Guest Bedroom & Bath
Ample space for a queen bed, night tables, dresser, etc.  One (split) closet well-outfitted. Take notice of the “feel” of the interior doors — they are MDF, the best environmental choice, as they are made with wood waste product, and carry forestry stewardship certification, as well as No Formaldehyde certification — again, keeping off-gassing toxic products out of the house and improving the indoor air quality. These doors are twice as expensive as solid wood doors, and are used by some of the finest hotels in the world due to their environmental properties and especially due to their superior sound transmission ratings. These doors are used throughout the house. In the Guest Bath, porcelain tile is on the floor, Thassos marble on the wainscot backsplash and in the shower niche, and a clay tile with undulating surface and pearlized finish at the top of the backsplash. The counter top is Michelangelo marble.

Master Bedroom
This room features lots of light via large windows with transoms flanking the king-size bed, transoms over the bed, and a large bank of windows which overlook the back porch and courtyard. Plenty of space for chest and very large dresser.

The hallway leads to separate his-and-her closets, both very generously sized and outfitted with many banks of drawers and hanging space. These closets have LED fluorescent fixtures for ample light.

Just outside the master bathroom door are recessed areas with Shagreen-(sharkskin)-covered small chests for storage of bath salts, etc. Above those are floating glass shelves for bed linens, towel storage, etc. Above the door leading into the master bath is another decorative transom.

Master Bathroom
Welcome to paradise! The tile on the floors, backsplash, shower wall and floors is porcelain, with the look of marble.  The panel behind and above the free-standing tub and in the shower niche is a custom fabrication of Calacatta Marble with mirrored glass vines and leaves, a pattern that was cut with a water jet. The countertops are the same marble as the kitchen, but in a polished finish rather than leathered.

The no-curb shower is wheelchair accessible and large enough to accommodate someone in a wheelchair, as well as a caregiver with them. All the walls already have blocking in place so that grab bars can be easily added.   The accessible toilet room also has blocking already in the walls so that grab bars can be added.

“Her” side of the bathroom has a seated area for make-up and hair, and has added windows for good light. On “his” side, a door was framed into the wall during construction so that a door could easily be added to access an outdoor shower.

All towel rods, robe hooks and toilet paper holders, in this and all the bathrooms,  have blocking in the walls for sturdy installation. The tile floors are heated and have a programmable thermostat.

Other Information

• Spray foam insulation throughout—3 times more expensive than batt insulation but far more energy efficient.

• 14 seer HVAC system — higher seers are available, but not necessary when you have superior insulation.

• Even garage is insulated (with batt insulation).

• Heated and cooled crawl space, so that the interior of the house is more easily kept at a constant temperature.

• Hardie (fiber cement) siding only requires painting about every 15 years, and squirrels and carpenter bees don’t care for it like they   do wood.

• Gutters have the leaf guard type form so that gutter cleaning is rare.