Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Custom Home,
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Sounds like a mouthful of words in the title of this home when you first say it. At least that's what we thought when we were told what inspired the design that was set before us. Our clients, Todd & Teresa brought us their plans for their Dream Home designed by their Architect, Ryan Thewes who has completed numerous Award Winning Modern Designed Homes here in the Nashville area that are unique in every way, and this design was no different.
The layout of the home, at least from a builder's perspective, is a basic rectangle footprint extending 2 stories. As we say, it cannot get any simpler than that, or at least you would think. Not with this home which presented us with several opportunities to show what we can do in terms of building unique homes. Starting with the unique downward slope of their lot with minimal road frontage, which required us to carefully plan out the location of the home. With the help of our experienced excavation team we came to realize that we were going to have to build up the foundation quite a bit. In fact, the entire footprint of the house with the exception of the garage and front courtyard sits on an 8' crawl space. Can you say Awesome Man Cave?
The 4/12 pitch gabled roof, while simple in look and design, carried a number of unique engineered aspects in the build out. For starters, the roof is an engineered truss system design as opposed to traditional stick build. This was required due to some of the cantilevered aspects on the home. For example over the front of the house, the soffit cantilevers 6' and on the right corner, it extends over 10' to rest on top of the courtyard wall. The same uniqueness in structural design extends to the right side of the house with the 2 story opening. Stained wood bead board planks were used for the soffit material as well as natural western cedar planks stained to compliment the color of the brick on the exterior siding of several areas of the home. Topping off the exterior was the use of James Hardie Color Plus Charcoal colored panels joined together with aluminum trim pieces color matched to the Hardie panels for a seamless and clean look to the home.
Up lighting around the exterior of the home as well as can lighting from the soffit above provide an exceptional illumination of the home and serves to further showcase this home at night.
Everything about the home is open and spacious. From the minute you enter into the front courtyard of the house which is accessible from the front of the garage or right side of the house, you experience the openness of the 2 story courtyard leading to the front door. Inside the front door, the foyer extends likewise up the same height and the balcony overhead is lined with a distinctive brushed nickel cable railing for a distinctive modern look. Walking down the hallway from the front door towards the Great Room, you begin to see the amazing uniqueness of this home. A floating stairway lined on the right side with 9' tall glass panels is one of the focal points of the unique and modern design of this home. It's one of the many talking points when you walk into this home that you won't find at theother homes in the neighborhood. The interior of the home rises from the first floor to the second passing up through a cantilevered ceiling that extends over the first floor hallway. Unique again in its design, it can easily be overlooked or taken for granted because it flows so naturally in the design of the floor system. The use of 24" deep floor trusses on the second floor makes it possible for this cantilevered area.
The large open area extending over 36' in width at the rear of the house extends nearly 20' upwards towards the ceiling. Maintenance Free LED can lights in the ceiling ensure our homeowners won't have to deal with changing out light bulbs anytime soon. This area comprises their Kitchen, Dining and Living Room areas. The kitchen island and their use of home furnishings help define the areas individually. Separate Laundry Room with a kid friendly laundry chute from the second floor and a Walk In Pantry with ample space add to the overall exceptional functionality of this area. The use of oversized picture windows placed at floor level, coupled with the French Doors leading to the back yard and additional windows strategically placed some 12' above the floor provide ample ambient light to the home and awesome views to the natural area at the back of the house.
A fully functional and spacious Master Bedroom Suite on the first floor provide the homeowners with their own space to wind down at bedtime. Their suite is finished off with a walk in closet with his and her closet organizers, and a private bathroom complete with his and her vanities and a walk in shower separated from the bedroom with a barn styled door.
The floors throughout the house are not your standard floors found in most homes, although they start out that way. 5" wide by 3/4" thick unfinished oak hardwood planks are laid throughout the home. There's where the "standard floor" ends. The finish for the floors is a Fuming Process by which the wood planks are turned to a grey toned texture. On top of that process is added a whitening agent that is buffed into the floor to give it a weathered look. Poly is applied to bring out a sheen in the floor and protect the finish as well. The ending result is nothing short of awesome!
On the second floor we have an overlook to the foyer below and a large picture window to the courtyard. There is an oversized area when you first enter on to the second floor that overlooks the Great Room and Kitchen below which is used as a office and computer area for the family. It's a great gathering place for everyone to play their favorite internet games, access important reference information, or shop till you drop without leaving your home. Two additional bedrooms, a full bathroom, Bonus Room with closet that can easily be used as a 4th bedroom if ever needed, and lastly a great Workout Room with rubber floor tiles to soften the blow of the free weights used every day round out the configuration of this inspiring and inviting home.
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