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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/06-apr-may 3/52HOME BY DESIGN|APRIL MAY 2006 1

MOMENTS

“Strive not to be a success, but

to be of value. “

~Wins t on Church i l l

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

~Frank L loyd Wrigh t

“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an

unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”

~Albe r t E in s t e in

Success

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THEME ROOMS

14 A Finishing Touch

18 Hot Enough for You?

22 The Well-Read Family Room

24 A Sensual Indulgence

28 Let There Be Light

30 Changing Channels on theTraditional Media Room

SPECIAL SECTION

34 The Ultimate Dream HomeLuxe Living in Las Vegas

FEATURES

Contents APRIL|MAY|2006

444 Reading RoomThe New Modern House

6 CookingFor Those About to Bake

10 GardeningGarden Rooms

42 GalleryNature Becomes Art

44 DestinationAdventures in Alaska

DEPARTMENTS

6 30

34

42

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APRIL|MAY|2006

PUBLISHER TWENTY-TWO FIVE PUBLISHING, INC.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER BRANDON LEE

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER STEVE SWAYNE

EDITOR MEGHAN LEE

CREATIVE TEAM HEATH ANYAN, JOYCE BOSS, PAT MONTGOMERY,

MADDIE O’BRIEN, BECKHAM RYAN, LAURA SWAYNE

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS JILLIAN BLUME, JANE COLOCCIA, KIM A.

FUQUA, ASHLEY GRIFFIN, ROXANNE JONES, MARTIN MIDDLEWOOD,

DEBBIE L. SKLAR, RONDA SWANEY, MARTY WINGATE, PHIL WOOD

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS ALASKA RAILROAD, STEVE

BUCKLEY, WYN DAVIES, FINLANDIA SAUNA, KATHI INGLESBY, MAYER

BOWDEN PHOTOGRAPHY, SCOTT MOORE, PARISH CONSERVATORIES,

JOEL REINER, ANDREW ROSS, STEVE VIERRA, PHIL WOOD

OFFICE MANAGERPAT MONTGOMERY

PROGRAMMING BILL BAKER, TODD NEUMILLER, ROD ANDERSON

DESIGN NICOLA AUGUSTSON

COPY EDITOR AMBER LINDROS

PROOFREADER GAIL DARNELL

ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICE

11626 N.Tracey Road, Hayden, ID 83835208-772-8060, FAX 208-772-8061Advertising inquiries: [email protected] inquiries or feedback: [email protected]/editorial.html

Real-estate agents, mortgage lenders, or anyone interested in usingHome By Design in marketing plans should contact our sales office at877-423-4567 or visit our Web site at www.homebydesign.com.

Home By Design is a complete custom publisher with many options to helpyou promote your business. If you are interested in more information aboutyour own customized magazine or marketing program please contact us atour sales office.

Copyright 2006 Twenty-Two Five Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Recipients of Home By Design magazine receive their subscription as a freegift of a real-estate professional, mortgage lender, or other professionalservice provider. The Home By Design magazine program is an exclusivemarketing program created by Twenty-Two Five Publishing Inc.Twenty-TwoFive Publishing Inc. has contracted with its professional clients to providethis free subscription to you.Twenty-Two Five Publishing Inc. has contracted

with these professionals that Twenty-Two Five Publishing Inc. will not usethe supplied mailing list for any other purposes other than to mail copies of Home By Design magazine and other Home By Design communicationproducts.Your name and address information will never be leased,sold, traded,or used for any other purposes.

For more information on our mailing list policy or for more information onTwenty-Two Five Publishing Inc. and our Home By Design custom publish-ing program please contact us at 208-772-8060.

Home By Design Magazine is for entertainment purposes only.This magazine isnot intended to solicit other broker’s listings. If you are currently working withor in contract with another broker, please disregard this information.

HOME BY DESIGN|APRIL MAY 2006 3

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Many of us are traditional-minded when it comes toconceptualizing housing designs. We think homesshould evoke ranch or Street of Dreams styles.Will

Jones’ book The New Modern House (Princeton Architectural Press,2005, 176 pages, $35) retunes our notions of aesthetic housing.

Jones provides readers with 40 case studies and 300 picturesof novel homes to explain the design variety in housing archi-tecture today. These case studies come from sites around the

world and include groundbreaking single-family, multifamily,and vacation homes.Through his selection, Jones tries to showthe breadth of design opportunities that new materials andtechnologies are making possible. Each of the book’s uniquehomes tackles key architectural considerations—building con-ditions, materials, the environment, budget, or aesthetics.

Because housing affordability is a universal issue, he pro-vides readers with some designs attacking economics of housing.The East Asian Fin-Topped House and the Ethiopian GrowingHouse show the high- and low-tech approaches to affordability,respectively. The ultramodern Fin-Topped House lessens

materials by stretching a thin aluminum skin over stiff ribbingto pre-stress it.The result offers a techno-cocoon-like feel in areasonably priced home. At the other end of the scale is theEthiopian home. It attacks affordability from a “keep it local”perspective and is built using only nearby natural and environ-mentally appropriate materials to create an inexpensive dwellingwith a rustic, open feeling.

Sometimes the houses Jones shows might appear out of place if built anywhere else. In no other country could theEdge Design Institute build a long and narrow timber-cladSuitcase House overlooking China’s enduring Great Wall in the

Nanguo Valley near Beijing. The long narrow structure (144feet by 16 feet) crosses two elevations of land.

A few of the homes presented are less site-specific.Rebelling against the United Kingdom’s construction controlsand planning constraints, Tim Pyne designed the m-house, akind of “mobile home” that adapts the principles of prefabricatedtechnology to create a living space that skirts many of theUnited Kingdom’s building restrictions. Jones also shows

other examples of architects taking similar advantage of themobile and prefabricated technology in design for affordabilityor efficient land use.

Some of the homes designed with a strong aesthetic emphasisshow the client’s whimsy. San Francisco’s Pixel House echoesnearby Silicon Valley’s technology obsession with humor byusing a computer screen pixelization theme. Beige Designused a pixel pattern throughout the house with “pixel cutouts”in a solid medium-density fiberboard façade and backing itwith a layer of translucent fiber.

The cube-shaped Piano House in The Hamptons, New

York, seems interesting but self-indulgent.This “guest house”created by Rafael Viñoly sits peacefully at the back groundsof his home yet holds a roomy, acoustically tuned 25-seatauditorium for piano recitals.Visiting guests stay in basementliving space.

Some might say Jones’ book shows off only the collabora-tion between the right client and the right architect. Instead,the case studies in the book invite residential architects,home builders, and home owners to open their eyes to theopportunities possible for new materials and ideas that breakfrom the traditional.

READING ROOM

The NewModern House

AUTHOR: WILL JONES

REVIEW WRITTEN BY MARTIN MIDDLEWOOD

The m-houseArchitect: Tim Pyne

Photographer: Wyn Davies

4 HOME BY DESIGN|APRIL MAY 2006

Publisher:Princeton Architectural Press

Price:$35

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E


Every year we do a “Theme Room” issue, and it always ends up being one of

my favorites. I like to see how other people personalize their homes with their own styleand their own hobbies. Some people are really into movies, and so they create phenomenalmovie theaters right in their homes. Others like to read and create a library refuge wherethey can enjoy a good book and escape the cares of the world.

Each issue we find more and more unique theme rooms for this issue. We always findwonderful wine cellars. It seems to me that, like my husband and me, more and more peopleare starting to appreciate wine. Or maybe it’s just our stage in life that is causing us finallyto join the wine enthusiast club.We are currently in the design stage of converting an oversized

closet in our basement into a wine cellar. It is really a fun project for us to do together.In this issue, I was drawn to the British-style conservatories. As a transplant Californianliving in North Idaho, there are winter days when I miss the sun and think this type of roomwould be a great complement to our home. I like the elegance and personal touch that is built with each conservatory and that it is specially designed to look as if it is an originalroom of the home. I would find it a relaxing place to sit and enjoy a little sun and warmthon a cold winter day.

I hope you enjoy this issue. Maybe you can use the rooms enclosed to find a great ideafor your next home remodel. Or maybe you finally will find the inspiration you need totackle your next home or design project.As always, please remember to thank the specialperson who has sent you your subscription to Home By Design. They appreciate you and

would love to hear from you.

Enjoy!

Greetings! letter from the editor

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to Bake NEW RENDITIONS OF CLASSIC BREAD AND MUFFIN RECIPES

RECIPES BY LAURA SWAYNE|WRITTEN BY KIM A. FUQUA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATHI INGLESBY

for those about


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ICOOKING


STACIE’S BANANA BREADSwayne is always looking for a better banana

bread recipe; this one may mark the end of her

search.It’s easy to make and is moist and deli-

cious.Any type of soft fruit can be used. Pictured

are banana muffins and shredded apple bread

loaves made from the same basic recipe.

(SERVINGS:Two regular loaves, or 12 large muffinsplus two small loaves)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 45-60 minutes for loaves,

20-25 minutes for muffins

1 cup vegetable oil2 cups sugar3 eggs3 teaspoons vanilla3 cups flour1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking soda3 teaspoons cinnamon1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon baking powder4 cups mashed or shredded fruit1 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips

(optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease bread or muffinpans. Beat together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla

until light in color and fluffy. Mix dry ingre-dients together, and then mix into the egg mix-ture until well-blended.Gently fold in fruit andnuts or chocolate chips, if desired. Pour intoprepared pans. Bake until firm to the touch,about 45-60 minutes for loaves, 20-25 minutesfor muffins.

CHEF’S HINT: Swayne prefers to make muffinswithout paper liners, but she says the linerswork well with any of these muffins-and theycut down on the clean-up process quite a bit!

JOYCIE’S LEMON BREADThis is Swayne’s mother-in-law’s signature recipe.

Swayne says that all who know her look forward to

a loaf of her famous bread when they visit.

Substitute buttermilk for the milk in this recipe for

a tangier bread.

(SERVINGS:Two loaves)


Bake Time: 1 hour

FOR CRUST1 cup butter, softened2 cups sugar4 eggs, slightly beaten1 teaspoon vanilla21 ⁄ 4 cups flour1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon baking powder1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon salt1 cup milk or buttermilk3 teaspoons grated lemon rind1 ⁄ 2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

GLAZE1 ⁄ 4 cup sugar1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flourpans. Cream together butter and sugar. Addeggs and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients togeth-er, and alternate adding dry ingredients andmilk or buttermilk to wet ingredients, mix-ing after each addition. Stir in lemon rindand walnuts, if desired. Pour into pans. Bakeone hour, or until firm to the touch.Prepareglaze by whisking sugar and lemon juicetogether. Glaze immediately and cool in pans.

It’s a secret long held by the savviestof real-estate agents. Increase your

chances of getting that home sold by…baking a loaf of bread. Nothing beats the smell of baking bread ormuffins for adding to the warm and cozyfactor of any home. The olfactory hitturns home into homey just like that!

Who can resist the pleasant aroma of fresh-baked, still-warm muffins rightout of the oven? For those who love to bake and are always looking for new ren-ditions of classic bread and muffin

recipes, Laura Swayne has provided asampling of her favorites. Whether youfavor fruit,bran,or pumpkin or are fond of bread or muffins, Swayne has you covered.

Whether it’s a healthy bran or bananamuffin to start the day, a slice of flavor-ful pumpkin or lemon bread for a lightevening dessert, or a batch of freshpeach muffins with streusel topping to bring to a party, these recipes are sure tocarry you deliciously through yourchoice baking days.

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PEACH MUFFINS WITHSTREUSEL TOPPINGFresh peaches are best for these muffins,but frozen

work great, too!

(SERVINGS: One dozen large muffins)


Bake Time: 20-25 minutes

TOPPING11 ⁄ 2 cups chopped walnuts1 ⁄ 3 cup flour1 ⁄ 3 cup brown sugar1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon cinnamon3 tablespoons butter, softened

Mix together first four ingredients in amedium bowl. Blend in butter with fingers

or a fork. Set aside.

BATTER2 cups flour1 cup sugar1 teaspoon baking powder1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon baking soda2 teaspoons cinnamon1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon cloves or nutmeg1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon salt3 eggs3 tablespoons butter, melted11 ⁄ 2 cups sour cream1 tablespoon vanilla11 ⁄ 2 cups peeled, pitted, and

chopped peaches

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease large muffintins. Mix together dry ingredients in a large

bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisktogether eggs, butter, sour cream,and vanilla.Fold into dry ingredients just until mixed.Add peaches. Spoon batter into muffin tinsto about three-quarters full. Lightly pressreserved streusel onto tops of muffins. Bakeuntil tops spring back slightly when touched,about 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

CHEF’S HINT: Be careful not to overmix the batter when making muffins!

OLD-FASHIONED BRAN MUFFINSSwayne says that baking these muffins conjures great

memories of spending time with her grandparents

when she was little.Her grandmother would make a

batch of the batter and store it in jars in her refrig-erator for up to six weeks.Swayne and her cousin

would spend the night and wake up excited to have

“Mamma” bake muffins from the jar just for them!

(SERVINGS:Three dozen regular muffins)


Bake Time: 15-20 minutes

1 cup shortening3 cups sugar4 eggs, beaten2 cups Nabisco 100% Bran cereal

(or other bran flake cereal)soaked in

1 quart (4 cups) buttermilk5 cups flour5 teaspoons baking soda1 teaspoon salt1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon cinnamon4 cups Kellogg’s All-Bran cereal

(soaked in 2 cups boiling water)

2 cups raisins (optional)

Cream together shortening and sugar.Beat in eggs. Stir in Nabisco cereal that has

been soaked in buttermilk. Mix together dryingredients and add to above. Stir in soaked

All-Bran. Add raisins, if desired. Pour intogreased muffin tins and bake until not moistor shiny on top, about 15-20 minutes.

CHEF’S HINT: The batter can be stored in anairtight container in the refrigerator for upto six weeks.

PUMPKIN BREADSwayne loves anything with pumpkin, and this bread

is her favorite.The orange juice gives a nice hint of

citrus.The streusel from the peach muffin recipe is a

delicious topping for this bread, too.

(SERVINGS:Three loaves)


Bake Time: 1 hour

1 ⁄ 2 cup butter, softened3 tablespoons molasses2 cups sugar4 eggs2 ⁄ 3 cup orange juice1 29-ounce can of pumpkin31 ⁄ 3 cups flour1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon cinnamon1 teaspoon cloves1 cup chopped nuts or raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease pans.Cream butter, molasses, and sugar together until lightand fluffy.Add eggs and beat well.Add orange

juice and pumpkin. Mix well. Mix togetherdry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture.Stir just until moistened.Fold in nuts or raisins,if desired.Top with streusel, if desired. Fill

pans two-thirds full. Bake about an hour, oruntil toothpick inserted in middle comes outclean.Allow to rest in pans for five minutes,then turn out on racks to cool.

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Pumpkin Bread

Old-Fashioned Bran Muffins J o y c i e

’ s L e m o n

B r e a d

P e a c h M

u f f i n sw i t h S t r eu s e l T o p p i n g

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MMy garden in Seattle, on a small city lot, has a number of

spaces.A sitting room lies just outside the back door, completewith cozy chairs. From there, a path leads to other spaces,much like a hallway in a home does, lined on both sides withplants instead of paintings. An arbor shelters a bench halfwayalong the path that continues on to an open terrace. Last yearI added one more room in a corner where I never previouslyknew what to do. An octagonal pavilion shelters a table andchairs, seating eight for dinner, and it is now a favorite familydining space. Several more nooks and crannies in the garden

are scaled for small children and also serve as access paths totend plants, which in my collector’s garden are packed in verytightly.Then there is the compost/nursery/flotsam-and-jetsamarea essential to every garden tucked out of site by the alley.

When you divide your garden, you have a choice of materialsfor the walls of your rooms. Spaces can be separated from eachother with fences or open trellises, which can support climbingplants that add texture and color in the vertical dimension.Summer flowering clematis is a good candidate for a vine,adding vibrant bloom. Plants on their own also can serve asdividers and can be formal hedges or informally arranged

plants. They don’t have to be very tall, just eye-level; shrubs,tall grass, or even 5-foot perennials will do the job. Featherreed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora “Karl Foerster”) with itsslender profile will make a screen in a narrow space.

Consider adding a ceiling to set a space apart. An overheadarbor creates a sense of intimacy and is one more place togrow a plant.Add a wisteria to drip flowers into your retreat,or consider a grapevine for edible treats over a dining area.

Creating smaller spaces within your garden will allow youto have different themes as well as functions.You paint yourrooms different colors, so why not your garden? How about

white flowers for a room where you linger as the sky darkens?Imagine the White Wings Rose with big single flowers glowingin the dark, Casa Blanca lilies floating their scent in the air, andan Artemisia Powis Castle shining with its silver leaves.

Rooms also imply furniture. I think nothing is more invitingin the garden than a simple pair of chairs. Even if no one eversits in them, they suggest friendship and conversation.To providefor larger gatherings, a carefully chosen table and seatingmakes for an instant party. Have fun choosing your furniture,and, just as you would inside, play with echoing the style of it

with the other furnishings, which in your outdoor room can be the plants.Tropical prints or colors can be reflected in theexotic leaves of a canna lily. Rustic Adirondack chairs can bereinforced by plants native to your area.Victorian-style chairsinsist on the accompaniment of ferns and hostas.

Add the warmth of a fire to your outdoor living area.Fireplaces with a hearth and a chimney can rival those insidein construction and materials. Fire pits can be rustic and rem-iniscent of a campfire. Outdoor kitchens also are an elementthat is moving outside into the garden.

Accessorize outdoor rooms as you would interior ones.

Pots filled with water or plants or standing on their own addcolor and style. Garden sculpture adds whimsy or drama,depending on your choice. Lighting becomes important as youmove outdoors at night. Low-voltage lights are easy to add toany landscape.A variety of fixtures are available that will bringlight just where you want it. Even simpler and softer inappearance are candles in sconces or lanterns.

The best reason for creating garden rooms is that your out-door spaces can be as expressive as those indoors. Plants andaccessories outside can be as effective as art and furnishingsinside in reflecting your personality and interests.

Just as your home is divided into rooms, so can your garden be made into spaces of varying use and theme.

Even a small garden will seem larger when you create mystery and intrigue with new discoveries around

each corner. One of the hottest trends in gardening is to make the outside of the house as livable as the

inside, and that is what garden rooms are all about.

Garden Rooms WRITTEN BY PHIL WOOD

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GARDENING

P h i l W o o d

Clockwise from top left:

Garden sculpture provides a focal point in a garden.

Two chairs set on a circle of lawn create an intimate spacewithin a large garden.

A partial view of the author’s garden showing the layout ofpaths and terraces.

A simple shelter with open sides defines a sitting spacesurrounded by flowering plants.

An outdoor fireplace adds warmth to any space.

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Theme rooms have become a more importantelement in new homes and remodeled homes. New home builders have found that

adding a special sanctuary or a special room for a favorite hobby has helped new homesales.Additionally, more manufacturers have created products to cater to the residentialmarket that traditionally have been created only for resorts and restaurants. Adding atheme room also adds a special-interest factor to a house and can turn a run-of-the-millhome into a great place for entertaining. Please enjoy these special rooms!

A Room toPersonalizeyour HOME

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I

Imagine a room 12 feet by 7 feet encased by thick,10-feet-highconcrete walls in a cold basement.What exactly would you dowith this seemingly hopeless space?

For one ambitious couple in Hayden, Idaho, the answer wasfairly simple—turn the drab space into a classy wine cellar.They realized the basement’s concrete walls provided the idealinsulation for wines, enough that the room wouldn’t need any

structural alterations such as a humidifier or temperature controlto cool the couple’s growing wine collection.

Though the idea seemed fairly simple, it took seven years of debating about the potential wine cellar’s logistics for theirdream to become a reality. At the start, they focused on thefunctional details of the room and put its aesthetics on hold,following the traditional method of many remodels. “I wasdefinitely looking at both aspects [of design], but it had to befunctional first,” the homeowner says. “If it wasn’t functional,then we’re not going to use it.The aesthetics had to be second, but it was very simple to pull off both.”

The first task was coming up with a series of measurements tohelp determine the width, heights, and families of wine racksthey should order.These numbers also facilitated their ability tofit multiple wine racks into the closet-sized room. During thisstage of the design, they also decided to use radius corners for thewine racks.These racks allowed them to stack bottles in everycorner of the room and utilize every inch of the small space.

“It’s not a very big room, but we wanted to maximize thecapacity of what we had,” she says. “It can hold about 1,500 bottles. That was our goal. We didn’t even know how many bottles we would collect, but we wanted to see how many we

could get in there.”

Soon after she completed the measurements, the home-owner found herself knee-deep in redwood rack assembly kitsfrom a wine distributing company. With the help of herteenage son, she tackled the most difficult part of the assembly,configuring the corner racks with only screws, woodworkingtools, and the number for the company help desk.

Though the racks were intended to stand away from the wall,

the homeowner made the cautious decision (as one might dowhen a large wine collection is concerned) of hiring a finishingcontractor to mount them to the walls.This move also stabilizedthe half-racks of wine she loaded on top of the full-size baseracks. For a finishing touch, the contractor polished the racks’rough edges, which added a gleam to the room that started togive it character.

“The wine racks themselves add so much warmth to the roomthat in themselves they add a lot of interest,” says the homeown-er, though she freely admits they aren’t the most captivatingpieces in the room.

Though the rows of racks are visually stunning, the most strikingand characteristic elements of the tiny room are the mosaic barand the warm lighting. Each aspect of the design scheme wasgleaned from her years of visiting Napa Valley wineries.

“I visited Napa once a year and paid attention to what thingsinterested me the most and what things I could do,” says thehomeowner. “When I was in any place that had a wine roomor wine cellar, I just really looked to see how they looked andwhat I liked best.”

Working from the memory of her trips, the homeownerdecided on some basic designs for the cellar. “For the color

scheme, I knew I wanted to use a natural stone like the slate,14 HOME BY DESIGN |APRIL MAY 2006

A Finishing TouchWRITTEN BY ASHLEY GRIFFIN|PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL REINER

A couple transforms a dark, cold basement into a wine cellarthat completes their home.

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so that was a start. I knew I wanted to give it a Tuscan or a Napafeel,” she says. “I wanted it to be contemporary but not hard or

cold, and I wanted it to have a little bit of warmness in it.”She started working on this scheme by picking a dark mossygreen for the walls. Painting the tall walls was one of the moregrueling tasks of the remodel, and after three coats, she calledit quits and turned her focus to the lighting. She realized thatthe right lighting would accent the wines and minimize thewalls and their potential flaws.

“I wanted something that would spotlight the walls whereall the wine was. So we found this light fixture that highlightsthe walls but doesn’t give any light to the ceiling. It almostlooks like the ceiling goes on forever,” she explains.

The ceiling in this room remains an invisible mystery, whilethe floor is one of the most eye-catching aspects of the room.

The homeowner started with 12-inch-square slate tiles andthen complemented the base shade with green- and metallic-toned tiles to move forward with a contemporary design.Though the work was tedious, she cut and laid the tiles herself.

The homeowner also used similar slate and porcelain tilesfor the mosaic bar that sits in the middle of the room.

The homeowner had thought the mosaic on the central barwould be a quick task. But, as intricate projects often do, mix-ing the mortar and cutting and laying the tiles took far longerthan she expected. “It wasn’t a huge surface area, and I thoughtI could get it done quickly. I got started at 9 o’clock [p.m.],

16 HOME BY DESIGN |APRIL MAY 2006

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and by 4 or 5 in the morning, I was still working,” she says of the stunning mosaic she created out of dark cabernet- and

merlot-colored tiles.At the end of the late night, she left her project to dry, andupon returning later in the morning she discovered that thedust from her work had been dispersed throughout the roomon the newly arranged wine bottles. She was about to dusteach bottle when she realized the potential of her little accident.The new contemporary cellar looked as if it had agedovernight. “I thought that couldn’t be more perfect. It gave itso much character,” she says. “Instead of being this brand-newcellar it had a bit of a vintage look to it.”

This mix of contemporary and old in the cellar has been a

topic of conversation at the couple’s dinner parties, as thespace often fulfills the role of a wine-tasting room.“If anything

else, I hope our room inspires people to do it themselves,” shesays. “Cutting tile is very simple, as is assembling the racks.Going through the process is just a matter of putting a littletime and effort in it. It’s rewarding to take friends into it nowand see the reaction you create.”

For this couple, the room has provided a place to housetheir hobby and was the project that completed their home.“Iwould say this room gave us a finished look,” she says. “It wasthe last unfinished portion of the house….It has been on mywritten to-do list since we moved into the house, and I finallygot to cross it off.”

“The wine racks themselves add so

much warmth to the

room that in themselves they add alot of interest.”

HOME BY DESIGN |APRIL MAY 2006 17

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IImagine living in a land of long, cold winters, a place where

more than a third of the land area lies north of the Arctic

Circle. Imagine winter temperatures that fall as low as 22degrees below zero. Imagine being very, very cold, for a very,very long time.

No wonder the people of Finland had to invent the sauna.According to The Finnish Sauna Society, a cultural associa-

tion founded in 1937, the people of Finland have been enjoy-ing the benefits of sauna for more than 2,000 years. Althoughother cultures have their own versions of the sweat bath-including the Roman balneae and thermae, the Turkish ham-mam, the Native American sweat lodge, the Mexican andGuatemalan temascal , the Japanese hot water baths sentoo and o-

furo, and the Russian bania—the Finns have made enjoymentof the sauna ritual a way of life.

What exactly is sauna? The word itself (the only Finnishword found in the English dictionary) means “bath” or “bathhouse.” The modern Finnish sauna consists of an insulatedroom built of softwood. A special heater warms the room toabout 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and stones placed around theheater and covering the heating element get hot enough toproduce steam when water is poured over them.A sauna is notthe same thing as a steam room or a steam bath. Unlike the100 percent humidity of the steam room, the environment in

a sauna is relatively dry, maintaining about 20 to 25 percenthumidity depending on how much water is used.

The traditional sauna, as recommended by The FinnishSauna Society, is a relaxed 11 ⁄ 2-hour ritual, although mostAmericans typically spend only 20 minutes. The society rec-ommends starting with a shower to moisten the skin, thenentering the already-warm sauna. Saunas traditionally areenjoyed in the nude. The air initially may be dry, but a fewladles of water over the hot sauna stones produces steam.Afterten or twenty minutes, one then exits the sauna to take a coolshower or a swim. After cooling off, one re-enters the saunafor another hot round.This is when the Finns traditionally useshort bundles of birch branches called “vihtas,” tapping or

beating them against their skin until it tingles. After a stay inthe sauna, it is time for another cool shower.This round of hotand cold may be repeated as often as one wishes. Finally, thewhole process is finished off with a shower. Proponents of sauna emphasize that the final shower should be a thoroughcleansing in order to wash away toxins that have been sweatout through the pores.

In addition to relaxation, what are the advantages of sauna?Many health benefits are attributed to sauna, including soothingtired muscles, relief from stress, increased circulation andmetabolic rate, improved resistance to illness, and the elimination

Hot Enough for You?WRITTEN BY DARCY RICE|PHOTOGRAPHY BY FINLANDIA SAUNA


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Steam is produced whenwater is poured over thehot sauna stones.

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of toxins from the body. Perhaps the best testimony to the benefits of regular sauna comes from the Finnish people: Thelife expectancy of a Finn is among the highest in the world.

When Finns first came to the United States, they brought

the sauna with them. But sauna remained largely limited tothose of Finnish heritage until the 1960s.That was when ReinoTarkiainen, a young Finn who had come to the United Statesat age 15, decided that he would introduce the benefits of authentic Finnish Sauna to the American public.

Together with his wife, Marilyn, Reino Tarkiainen beganeducating Americans about sauna. Located in Portland,Oregon, the newly founded Finlandia Sauna got off to a slowstart; only six saunas were sold in the first year. For the firstthree years the young couple held other full-time jobs while building their business.

Over time, Finlandia Sauna prospered. Originally housed ina small metal building next to the Tarkiainens’ home, Finlandiais now the largest privately owned sauna manufacturing facilityin the United States and occupies 55,000 square feet of office-warehouse space.

Finlandia has built thousands of custom saunas for customersranging from luxury hotels, such as the Grand Hyatt Wailea inMaui and the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, tomilitary installations, such as West Point and even the Pentagon.But the heart of Finlandia’s business is the home sauna.

The growing popularity of home saunas in the United States

comes as no surprise to Finns such as Reino. After all, there isone sauna for every four people in Finland. “That’s moresaunas than cars,” points out Reino. He also notes that manyFinns have two saunas: one in their homes and another in their

lakeside summer cabins.Many of today’s American homeowners, inspired by thelush spas they have visited in luxury hotels, desire to bring thesame level of comfort to their own homes. Companies such asFinlandia Sauna exist to make that possible.

There are several options when adding a sauna to yourhome. Finlandia offers precut sauna packages that are intend-ed for use in any size space that is framed and insulated. AllFinlandia material packages are made to order, and, accordingto the company, anyone with general carpentry experience can build a sauna out of the FPC parts.

Another option is a modular prefab sauna.These are com-plete free-standing self-contained units that can be installedanywhere you have an open space. These saunas can even betaken apart and moved to a new location. Finlandia offersthese in sizes from 4 feet by 4 feet to 12 feet by 12 feet.

Even after 42 years in the business, the Tarkiainens are stillinvolved full-time with Finlandia, as are their children and otherfamily members, and they remain enthusiastic boosters of thesauna experience. Reino says his dreams are the same as whenhe started the business in 1964: “My goal is to educate and helpAmericans enjoy the benefits of the sauna as much as I do.”

Perhaps the best testimony to the benefits of regular sauna comes from the Finnish people:The life expectancy

of a Finn is among the highest in the world.


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A traditional saunaexperience includesalternating betweenthe warmth ofthe sauna and acool shower.

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The Well-Read Family RoomWRITTEN BY RONDA SWANEY |PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW ROSS

This room serves double duty as a family room and a home library.

O

“One of the most difficult things about this space wasdesigning it around all the criteria the clients set out for me,”says Jean Akerman of Jean Akerman Interior Design. But it wasa challenge that she enjoyed.The family—a couple with fourchildren—moved into this home and planned to renovate.

Their previous home had housed a two-story library, presentingAkerman with the challenges of finding room in the smallerhome for the family’s extensive book collection and using anexisting sectional and ottoman from the previous home, allwhile incorporating the other functions normally associatedwith a family room.

Akerman begins any design process by asking questions toget to know the family. “I try to get a handle on who these peo-ple are, what they enjoy doing, how they spend their leisuretime, and their daily movements,” she says. “I want to knowhow they want to use this room.” She also encourages the family

members to show her pictures of rooms they like. Akermansays that after this process, she has a better idea of their needsfor the room.“I know a little bit about them, a little about howthey live, a little bit about how they entertain, a little bit abouttheir personal needs for each specific place and their tastes,”she explains.“From there, I develop a concept and a floor plan.Sometimes there’s more than one possibility, so I’ll show themthat by drawing it out and discussing it.”

Family rooms offer an informal place to gather.The familymembers knew they wanted to house their books in the room, but they also wanted an area where they could simply sit and

enjoy each other’s company. Additionally, they wanted theoption to view television in the room, even though it wouldnot be one of the room’s prime functions. Once Akermanknew these details, she set about solving the problem of hous-ing all of their books and making the sectional look as if it had

been designed for the room.Sectionals present a special challenge. By their nature, they

tend to take up at least two walls of a room. Akerman solvedthis problem by making one of the walls behind the sectional alibrary wall. “I think it worked out well because these are books that aren’t always used,”Akerman says. “You don’t needto have daily access to them,so the shelving forms a nice backdropfor the furniture, and yet you can get behind the sofa to accessthe library shelves if you wish.”

The tall wall units are designed to accommodate the manyoversized law books and leather-bound collections the family

owns.The wall unit in front of the sectional houses more booksas well as a television. The doors in the unit allow for extrastorage and keep the room looking neat and tidy.The reddishcherry stain of the shelving contrasts nicely with the deep walnutcoloring of the oak floors.The rich tones provide a warm contrastto the distressed deep-blue leather of the sectional.

The family was quite happy with Akerman’s design, whichnaturally makes her happy. “I leave when the job is done, butthey live there,” she says.“They have to love it when I leave.My job is to show them what’s possible and help them make goodchoices.To do that, you really need to know who your client is.”


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The library wall provides an interesting backdrop for the distressed,deep-blue leather of the sectional. Custom shelving holds the atypicallyshaped books in the family’s collection.

...they wanted an area where they

could simply sit and

enjoy each other’s company.

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LLife in Cape Cod has a saltwater fragrance. It is painted with

textures of sand and driftwood and accompanied by the rhythmic

chant of the sea. In one of the houses perched on a hill abovethe ocean, a porch full of possibility was being squandered asa storage room. The owners commissioned Rita Pacheco, adesigner and avid gardener, to turn storage into living space.When she arrived on the scene, she took in the waves,the sun-flooded gardens, and the rustic wood of the overlooked porch,and saw a room with a view where the family could bask in the beauty of the landscape.

“My vision was an English gardening room and a transitionplace between the outdoors and the interior of the house,”Pacheco explains. “The porch was unattached from the main

house, yet still connected by a covered walkway. If you had beenworking in the garden and you weren’t quite ready to go inside,the porch would be a shady place to sit and catch your breath.You could put your gardening tools down, or maybe make aflower arrangement, or sit down with a book and relax.”

The dark pine of the room’s structure had a rugged quality,providing the foundation for the emerging design. She began by redoing the floor. Working with freelance artist JamesTobey, they repainted it to resemble birch by superimposing afaux birch-tree finish over the original wood. She then dividedthe room into four sections: an entrance space, a living space,

a dining area, and a working garden space with a potting bench.Pacheco placed a rustic twig bench made of birch and

cypress branches in the entrance space where a weary gardeneror a sunburned child could pause and listen to the gentle musicof the wind chimes. “It was not a lie-down bench, but it wasvery comfortable, and it created a garden feeling,” she says.The twig bench was painted green and then distressed to looklike a family heirloom.

Large clay pots filled with smaller pots and topped with roundglass became tables.While the lines of the bench are long andlow, the ivy topiaries dotted with tiny clay pots and tall plants drawthe eye up to an old birdcage, which both add the impressionof a conservatory.She placed a bird nest on the windowsill and

a book on the bench, as if someone had just left the room.The working area contained an unusual potting bench. “Ihad James Tobey make it from different pieces of reclaimedwood because I wanted it to have some history,” she explains.The back piece was made from an old headboard, and theshelves display the patina of mossy clay pots.The green BritishWellies, the straw hat on the wall, the basket of dried flowers,and the gardening tools forged in a classic Cornwall style alladd to the atmosphere.

Pacheco mounted rough wooden pegs above the windowsand strung curtains of flowers to dry.The glass cloche on the

A Sensual IndulgenceWRITTEN BY JILLIAN BLUME|PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE VIERRA

A neglected storage space is transformed into a room with a view.


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The use of silverware that resembles twigs andclay-pot saucers as chargers brings elements

of the garden into the dining area.

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The designer used a fisherman’s net as a rug in the living areato tie in the house’s proximity to the sea.

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bench could be used to start seedlings, and anantique fan with a green glass base offers relief.“The fan was very unusual,” she says. “You don’toften see a fan made of glass—and it still

worked! It looked special, like it had once beensomeone’s treasure.”

She created a living area, with its own per-fume of citrus and rose petal potpourri. Thespace is enclosed by a twig end table and a mag-azine rack. A dark arch of branches hangs abovethe windowed doors like a rustic swag, andwhite silk hydrangeas add splashes of light.Comfortable, bowl-shaped chairs cluster arounda twig “coffee” table, with a fisherman’s net inplace of an area rug.

“The house overlooked the ocean, and theporch overlooked the gardens,” Pachecoexplains. “I wanted to stay true to the garden

theme, but since the house was on the Cape, I couldn’tignore the sea environment. I decided to bring in just oneelement, but I didn’t want a bowl of seashells. So I used thefisherman’s net.” The overall effect is an intimate place forconversation or lying around browsing through whatever ishoused in the twig magazine rack.

The room is completed by the bright white of the dining

space. “My vision was an inviting place for a meal, a cocktailin the afternoon, or a lighthearted tea party,” Pacheco says.“Or if you had planned a luncheon in the garden and it wasinclement weather, you could bring the party inside.”

Adirondack-style chairs and an antique table painted dec-orator white are the focal point. The chairs are higher andstraighter than true Adirondack chairs, allowing the familyand guests to sit comfortably at the table. Pacheco turned thesaucers of clay pots into charger plates and lined them withglass dinner plates. The handles of the silverware look liketwigs, and a papier-mâché pear wrapped with leaves sits on

the top of a three-tier iron basket.The vertical shape of theiron basket is balanced by a whimsical white ceramic wed-ding cake topped with ceramic tulips. Pacheco hung a blackwrought-iron chandelier over the center of the table andused inverted clay pots instead of candles. A wild arrange-ment of branches, draped above the windows, defines the borders of the space.

The overall intent was to create a comfortable retreat forthe family. “I’d go back and add something here and there likea bird’s nest or the starfish underneath the fisherman’s net— objects that the family might gather on the beach or in thegarden,” Pacheco says. “The idea was to indulge in all thesenses in this room.You could smell the scent of the garden;you could hear the tinkling of the chimes and see the beautyof the garden around you.” When it was finished, the roomachieved and surpassed the designer’s vision, being trans-formed into a private oasis welcoming the family at the endof a busy day.

“My vision was an inviting place for a meal, a

cocktail in the afternoon, or a lighthearted tea party.”

HOME BY DESIGN |APRIL MAY 2006 27

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Come out and sit in the garden. Is it raining? Doesn’t matter.Snowing? No need to bring a coat. Because this garden can beenjoyed from inside and in comfort-in a conservatory.

Conservatories are classic glass houses built onto the home.At their best, they suit the house’s architecture and the livingstyle of the family; they bring the outdoors in and providemore interior space. They are more than a humid, earthygreenhouse, where seeds are started and plants are grown;conservatories take the best qualities of an indoor space— protection from rain, wind, and snow—and add the benefitsof natural light and a view of the garden that can’t be beat.

But that’s not to say that all conservatories are alike.Prebuilt modular units come in a limited range of styles andcan look tacked on and incongruous. For a conservatory to be

an integral part of its surroundings, a custom design is needed.Parish Conservatories in Fairfield,Connecticut, builds what

the British call bespoke conservatories, which means they arecustom-designed and built to complement the house. Insteadof looking as if they were an afterthought, the conservatories become a part of the whole.

Paul Zec, who works for Parish, which is the U.S. dealer forBritish company David Salisbury, knows the value a tailoredconservatory can add to a home. At Parish, the design for theconservatory is distinctive and personal, and, in this way, thenew room is an element of the home, not an attachment.

Windows above and around make enjoying nature easy, nomatter what the weather. Zec says that the new room often becomes the most popular place in the house,often to the surpriseof the homeowner. In fact, one client loved hers so much thatshe had two more built onto her home.

One reason for the popularity of conservatories is theincredible amount of natural light the windows provide. It’s anideal place for houseplants and a great spot to get orchids to bloom again. In winter, it can be a snug refuge for family aswell as for potted plants that would not survive the tempera-tures outside. Precious plants spend the winter protected, and

in spring the pots are set back out on the patio or deck.A conservatory doesn’t need to face south for the light

inside to increase.The amount of glass alone allows in so much

natural light that it is as if you were outside no matter what theposition of the conservatory. At first thought, the south orwest side of the house may seem to be the best placement, butthe added warmth in summer might be too much. An easternor northern exposure will let in plenty of light and offer acooler location for summer.

Zec says that most homeowners prefer to have the conservatoryoff the back or the side of the house.The kitchen is a favoritelocale, he explains, because it suits the flow of traffic inside andcreates the perfect situation for entertaining. No one can stayout of the kitchen anyway, and with the conservatory adjacent,

guests can enjoy sampling the fare and relaxing in the gardenat the same time.

Conservatories were all the rage in Victorian England, andthe largest built during that time period had enough space forQueen Victoria and Prince Albert to ride a carriage through it.Owners of large estates even built glass houses called orangeriesso they could grow citrus.

Fortunately, size is not an issue when it comes to conserva-tories: Even a room 10 by 15 feet can provide the benefits of natural light and usable living area. Zec says that the averagesize he builds is 150 to 200 square feet, but with a custom

design, there is no one-size-fits-all building plan, so the home-owner can decide on how much space he or she would like.Zec has designed and installed conservatory windows in theroof of a larger room—two of them each 6 feet by 6 feet— that acted as enormous skylights.

Who could resist such a warm, bright atmosphere on a coldwinter day or the chance to see more of spring even when it’sraining? A conservatory gives you the light and the plants withoutthe rain and the bugs.

For more information on Parish Conservatories, visit

www.parishconservatories.com or call 800-761-9183.

Let There Be LightWRITTEN BY MARTY WINGATE|PHOTOGRAPHY BY PARISH CONSERVATORIES

Conservatories offer the best of both worlds—

the outdoors from inside.


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The open feelingand natural light of

a conservatorymake it the mostpopular room in

the house.

Who could resist such a

warm, brightatmosphere on a cold winter day?

A careful custom design integrates theconservatory with the home’s architecture

and the environment. Homeowners are ableto create a landscape that further ties thenew room to the existing house.

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Changing Channels on theTraditional Media RoomWRITTEN BY JANE COLOCCIA|PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT MOORE

Atlanta-based interior designer Stephen Pararo creates a

multi-functional space.

When Atlanta-based interior designer Stephen Pararo wasinvited to create a media room for a Designer’s Show House in

Buckhead, he viewed it as the perfect opportunity to challengehimself and the common notions people have of what charac-terizes a “media room.” While Pararo had carte blanche indesigning the room, he didn’t want to resort to the traditionaltheater-style space that is prevalent these days.

“In your typical media room or home theater, everything isfocused on the screen, and I was looking to provide moreusability than that,” Pararo says. “I wanted to create a room thathad more than one purpose—a space that was conducive toconversation and listening to music, as well as watching the

screen.” And so the journey to transform the 25-foot squareroom began.Because the owner of the house is a bachelor, Pararo was

drawn to a masculine men’s suit fabric for the wall coverings —a medium check design in gray with a wool texture—which became the inspiration for the entire room. Pararo points outthat upholstered walls are perfect for acoustical purposes, asthe fabric helps to absorb the sound. “When you are pumpinga lot of sound into a room,” he says,“you have to be concernedabout the reverberation. Incorporating fabric on the walls— much like theaters use draperies—helps to absorb the sound.”

In this case, Pararo’s team took thin padding and glued it tothe wall and then sewed the panels of suit fabric together and

stapled them to the wall, using welting to cover the seams,much like one would upholster a piece of furniture. This became the backdrop for a room with a color scheme of gray, black, silver, and chrome.

The seating arrangement—four chairs and a sofa—isorganized more as a living room so as not to be as one-dimen-sional, and the pieces need only be turned slightly to view thescreen. To complement the sofa, the chairs are black leatherthat has been tooled to resemble faux alligator and are in arectilinear style with a mid-century feel.The luxurious choice

of fabrics lends to the overall appeal of the room.“I wanted to bring emphasis to the room beyond the screen andmake it a pleasant space,” says Pararo.That is why he chose toincorporate sepia and black-and-white etchings from the CzechRepublic, some of which are figures and some of which arescenes, and had them framed in gold. Other artwork includes7-foot-tall stainless-steel sculptures and two large blue panelswith seemingly human figures and a three-dimensional qualitythat mimics the feel of the television screen and serves to pull thatelement across the room.“The key was to use textural artworkversus just realistic and graphic designs,” notes Pararo.


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The chairs are blackleather tooled in afaux alligator pattern;they serve to anchorthe overall colorpalette of gray, black,silver, and chrome.

This elegant, non-traditional media room

for adults wasdesigned to be

multi-functional andconducive to makingconversation, listening

to music, andwatching television.

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The seating pattern of this media room, which cancomfortably seat seven, adds to the charm of

the room, as the designer wanted to avoidconventional theater-seating arrangements.

Key Considerations When Planning a Media Room

When designing a media room, Stephen Pararo believes certain elements must be considered.These include:

• A good viewing angle toward the television or screen• The right balance in the speaker system• Acoustical treatments on the wall to soften the reverberation• An easy-to-operate entertainment system• The ability to control light

This last element is why most media rooms tend to be located in basements with no windows; if

the media room is planned for a space with windows, Pararo recommends blackout drapes.

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The room is brought together by ebony book-

shelves that surround the sofa, providing another

element of “media” in the room,as well as a deep

mahogany Baker contemporary or modern hori-

zontal wood chest of drawers. The coffee table

also incorporates mahogany and shiny chrome,and all of the chair legs are deep mahogany, keeping

the dark color scheme and bringing focus to the

artwork and the television.

When it came to lighting, Pararo noticed that

people often use wall sconces in a media room,

so he deliberately chose not to light his room in

this way. Instead, he situated lamps on either side

of the room and employed general can lighting,

which is directional halogen lighting in black fix-

tures against a black painted ceiling so that the

only thing the eye sees is the light source.

“This is undoubtedly a media room for adults,”

says Pararo. “It is a sophisticated space for con-

versation, television, and interaction. There are

no beanbag chairs, and people aren’t supposed to

lie around on the floor!”

Yet one thing Pararo has noticed about media

rooms is that more and more people are interest-

ed in them these days. “I don’t care what demo-

graphic you are talking about,” he said.

“Everybody is thinking about the new technologyavailable in televisions today and incorporating it

into their home, even if a media room is in one

bedroom of a three-bedroom house!”

And as technology continues to evolve, Pararo sees the

trend of more media outlets in houses where plasma and flat-

screen TVs are placed in odd places and are used for both

entertainment and information.

“I can envision a person sitting in their recliner, flipping a

toggle switch, grabbing a mobile keyboard, and then surfing the

Internet in their media room,” Pararo says.“As the media becomes

more and more widespread, I see a blending of purposes whereit’s not just a television; it’s a screen, and it overlaps between

the disciplines of television and the Internet.”

But Pararo does caution homeowners to be careful when it

comes to technology: “The primary mistake that most people

make when doing a media room is that they tend to get too

complicated with the entertainment systems they buy.” Pararo

laughs when he thinks of a few of his clients who don’t use

their media rooms because the television and sound systems

they selected are too complex to operate.

“It is a

sophisticatedspace for conversation,

television, and

interaction.”

Artwork is an importantelement in this media roombecause it gives guestsanother object on which tofocus other than the screen.


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TheUltimateDream Home


A spectacular residence overlooking Las Vegasshowcases the latest in luxe living.

WRITTEN BY ROXANNE JONES|PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAYER BOWDEN PHOTOGRAPHY

or just

curious about what your neighbor’s home looks like inside,

chances are you’ve checked out a few open houses. A compa-ny called Street of Dreams Inc. takes the open-house concept

to a grand new level, giving potential homebuyers (or the

merely curious) the opportunity to tour a collection of multi-

million-dollar custom show homes—fully furnished and

accessorized—on a single street in an exclusive development.Karen Butera,principal of her eponymous interior design firm

based in Corona Del Mar, California, was the interior designer

for “Windermere,” one of four Street of Dreams show homes

built at MacDonald Highlands, a luxury hillside community in

Henderson,Nevada, near Las Vegas.This stunning 7,000-square-foot residence not only earned Butera multiple design awards

but also sold the very day it opened—a real testament to its

undeniable appeal.And considering that all the furnishings are

included when the home is sold, this lucky buyer hit the jackpot.

“In a project like this, you’re creating a home for an imagi-nary buyer,” Butera says, which can be both challenging and

liberating. “We wanted to design something that was com-

pletely different from anything we’d done before.”The “we” to

which Butera refers is the design/build team from Sun West

Custom Homes, with whom she had partnered on severalother high-end projects prior to this one.“The home had to be

unique and memorable,” she says, “yet fit with the streetscape

and environment of the community, which is innovative and

cutting-edge.” Judging from the market response, the project

was a hands-down success.

Whether you’re shopping for your next home, searching forinterior design inspiration,

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/06-apr-may 38/5236 HOME BY DESIGN |APRIL MAY 2006

First impressions

The home’s dramatic elegance is evident the moment one

steps into the courtyard entrance, where a panel of Luciteetched with the “Windermere” name is suspended from the

roof. Water gently cascades down the vertical panel into a

stone base filled with greenery, creating a seemingly free-

floating and shimmering water feature.“It sets the tone for the

entire home, which is peaceful,” Butera notes.Inside the double front door is a formal entry leading to the

main living area that seems to go on forever. One’s eye isdrawn past floor-to-ceiling glass walls that look out over an

infinity-edge pool to a breathtaking panorama of the Las Vegas

Strip, the DragonRidge golf course, and the red-rock moun-tains beyond. “When you walk in, you can’t tell where the

interior ends and the outdoors begins,” she comments. “We

treated the interior and exterior as a single, unified living

space, using sliding pocket doors of glass wherever possible for

a seamless transition.”Two more Lucite panels create twin retractable waterfalls

by the custom pool, which has a swim-up bar/cabana with in-

water seating.“We also added drapery panels to frame the cov-ered patio for privacy and to protect from the intense sun or

inclement weather,” Butera explains.

Back inside, you feel the same sense of expansivenessthroughout the home. “The design is very linear, with no

curves or architectural elements to interfere with the clean

lines,” she says. And the color and design palette is neutral.

“We used 21 different shades of white,” she notes.

Neutral doesn’t mean bland, however. Windermere isexceptionally warm and inviting, made so by Butera’s gener-

ous use of rich and varied textures. “We used green quartzite

slate flooring in the majority of the living area,” she says.The slateflooring also was carried through to the outside living area,

further reinforcing the seamlessness between indoors and out.

“We used awalnut plank flooring in a dark finish for both

the floors and ceilings in many rooms,” Butera says.“To counter

the dark woods, we used light fabrics in the furnishings.Ribbed glass in many interior glass doors also added texture.

And we used soft materials to create warmth—sisal carpeting,

area rugs, leather, rattan, and ultrasuede furnishings, even

woven cloth on some ceilings. This softness countered thehardscapes as well as enhanced the acoustics.”

Every room needs a focal point

Butera believes that every room needs a focal point in order

to be memorable, and each distinctive room of this home is a

case in point. In the living room, it’s the jaw-dropping view. Inthe presentation kitchen—a chef’s delight—it’s a beautifully

framed, detailed marble backsplash behind the cooking area.

In the family room, it’s a custom entertainment/media center

that conceals the television behind sliding glass doors. In the

formal dining room, it’s a soothing waterfall wall. “Waterplayed a big part in this home’s design,” Butera notes. “It’s

soothing, quiet, and peaceful.”

But to focus on a single feature of a room—no matter how

dramatic it may be—doesn’t do justice to other extraordinary

design details that speak to both form and function. In thekitchen, for example, the only lighting seen is decorative. “The

rest—mood, task lighting—you feel ,” Butera says.Travertine

and stainless-steel countertops, Viking appliances, and warm

cherry cabinets add to the room’s rich aesthetics and efficiency.

In the formal dining room, there is a pass-through butler’s

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pantry and wine storage. In the family room, with its two-

sided fireplace made of ledger stone with inset bands of marble

(the other side opens to the patio), there is a lounge area with

wet bar and kitchen.The wow-factor continues in the master suite, with its

floor-to-ceiling walls of glass that afford panoramic views of

the city and the surrounding mountains from the home’s hillside

location. It’s equally dramatic when looking in from the outside.

“When you view the master suite from the living area, acrossthe pool, it looks as if it’s floating on water,” Butera says.The

master bath, a large and lavish spa retreat, features a steam

shower, a disappearing-edge bathtub in the center of the

room, and custom his-and-her closets.

“The secondary, or guest,bedrooms were designed with distinctmasculine or feminine themes,” Butera says. One decidedly

feminine bedroom—done completely in soft shades of white—

is dominated by a canopy bed draped in gauzy white fabric.

A great home for work or play

Windermere’s design team, believing that the imaginary buyer would love to entertain, created fabulous spaces in

which to do so. A spacious home theater room offers plush,

leather-upholstered tiered seating, a custom surround-sound

and front-projection audio/visual system, fabric-covered wallsfor optimal acoustics,decorative uplighting in the ceiling coffers

and the elegant marble wall panels, and an artfully framed

screen with an automated sliding curtain. And for refresh-

ments before and after the show, there’s a wet bar.

Outside the theater is a lobby decorated with movie star

photos. The lobby connects to Windermere’s game room—

also accessorized with movie memorabilia—where there is a billiards table, built-in niches for electronic components, and

a wet bar.The dramatic focal point of the game room is a giant

aquarium, through which you can look into the depths of the

home’s swimming pool.Butera also points out that in the dining nook off the

kitchen, there is a rear-screen projection system built into the

window that faces the outdoor living area. “A transparent

screen drops down electronically so you can watch television

from outside,” she says.Outdoors, the pool-area patio overlooks a private putting

green.And a rooftop patio, complete with fireplace, bar, andspa, offers another vantage point for taking in the home’s

magnificent views.

Windermere’s home office provides an efficient and elegantenvironment for taking care of business—if one must. Built-in

cabinetry provides ample storage, and executive-style furnishings

complete the look.

Another valued feature of this home is its attention to state-

of-the-art electronics.An integrated whole-house automationsystem puts control of home security, lighting, video surveil-

lance, music selection—virtually anything electronic—at

your fingertips with easy-to-use controls that can be located inany room.

In a home filled with so many innovative and elegant designfeatures, what is Butera’s favorite room at Windermere?

“Probably the one that takes your breath away,” she

replies. “And that would be the family living area, with its

incredible views.”

And of what is she most proud? “We tried to create a residencethat said home,” Butera replies. “What makes it a real success is

that, when all is said and done, the public loved it,” referring

to the non-stop parade of visitors that toured Windermere

during the Street of Dreams show house event at MacDonaldHighlands. “And then, when it sold on the day it opened,well....” Enough said.

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nature becomes Art WRITTEN BY KIM A. FUQUA |PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE BUCKLEY

At a very young age, California artist Nancy Kaestner beganhoning her skills in painting and drawing with coloring books

and crayons. Over the years, Kaestner’s love of art and painting

continued to grow without benefit of formal training-outside

of high school art classes and the encouragement of her parents.

When asked where she has studied painting, Kaestner’s reply isthat her school has been her studio,where years of painting have

succeeded in producing the style and quality of her work. “I

believe that painting or any skill is a God-given gift that one mustwork at to develop,” says Kaestner.And develop her skill she did.

“I have been seriously painting for about 30 years now,” she says.Born in California, Kaestner calls the Sierra Foothills her

home. She finds that her creativity thrives in the natural sur-

roundings of the area,while the ever-changing seasons provide

an endless source of inspiration. “Translating onto paper the

image of a delicate flower, the richness of its colors, and theway it seems to rejoice in being alive is a constant challenge,”

says Kaestner. “For me there is a joy in painting subjects found

in nature. Capturing a reflection of what the Creator has set

before us brings me joy.”Kaestner began painting small, detailed vignettes of fruits

and flowers. Gradually, the paintings grew to include still-life

groupings, bouquets, flower baskets, birds, and small animals.

“My favorite subject is botanical illustration,” says Kaestner.

“Not only painting the plant for identification in detail, but

accurately illustrating the root system and seed pods, balancingthe composition while remaining true to the likeness of the

plant.” She finds that the 17th- through 19th-century botanical

painters have had a great influence on her work. Inspired by

the old masters, she continues to perfect her skills.

Watercolor has been Kaestner’s choice of medium for many

years, portraying floral and animal subjects in the greatest of

detail. “Colored pencil used with watercolor can add sharpnessand depth,” Kaestner says.Within the last five years, however,

she has rediscovered a fondness for oil painting on canvas.“Oil

is more forgiving and allows for making changes that are not

as easily done in watercolor,” says Kaestner. She also enjoys

etching and photography, which she says is helpful in captur-

ing and composing future ideas. “I could spend hours in, androlls of film on, a flower garden.”

During the past 15 years, several companies have licensed

Kaestner’s work commercially for use as greeting cards and

prints and on household products, stationery, wine labels,pillows, heat transfers, bath products, and plates for The

Franklin Mint. One company commissioned her to develop a

hummingbird and lily theme collection that was used on more

than 25 products. Kaestner also was asked to paint three large

floral displays in oil for a newly commissioned RoyalCaribbean cruise ship. In addition, a selection of her paintings

was chosen to be displayed in several U.S. embassies, includingLuxembourg, where she had the opportunity to meet the

ambassador. “He subsequently purchased my painting for his

private collection,” shares Kaestner.

Kaestner’s work has been shown for several years at theD.E. Craghead Gallery in Carmel, California; the Foxhall

Gallery in Washington, D.C.; and LALOO in Nevada

City, California.

Samples of Kaestner’s work and more information can be

found by visiting her Web site. To purchase one of Kaestner’spieces, one may contact her directly by phone or e-mail.

A CALIFORNIA ARTIST FINDS JOY IN PAINTING SUBJECTS FOUND IN NATURE.

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GALLERY

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Alaska WRITTEN BY DEBBIE L . SKLAR |PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALASKA RAILROAD

THE ALASKA RAILROAD OPENS A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

FOR VISITORS TO VIEW THE SCENERY.

FForget the planes, forget the automobiles; the best way to

see our 49th state is via railway.

If you are thinking of exploring Alaska this spring or summer,

traveling through the Last Frontier State by railway couldprove to be a grand experience.

Imagine getting up close and personal with some of

Alaska’s most beautiful landscapes; your delight when you

spot a grizzly bear with a cub or two in tow; or the instant

when the silence of a misty fjord is shattered by a pod of gianthumpback whales, breaching high into the air and crashing

back against the sea?

Traveling in Alaska is said to be like traveling in no other

place on earth. There are 586,000 square miles of land and

almost that many experiences in which to partake.Alaska Railroad

For the first-time Alaska visitor, stepping aboard a train bound for the wilderness such as those on the Alaska Railroad

is the beginning of a journey filled with adventure and surprise.

Every year, more than 500,000 people ride the Alaska rails,

whether for traveling to other parts of the state or for the

sheer romance of it. Alaska is one of the few places in the

country with a working railroad hauling passengers and freight

by rail

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DESTINATION

daily. Only one-third of Alaska is accessible by car; journeying

by train offers scenery options that go beyond what a highway

traveler can see.

The trip might start like any other: The train pulls awayfrom the station, the sound of metal wheels on rails building

to a steady rhythm. Secure in a comfortable seat, you sit back,

relax, and watch the countryside unfold around you.

But within minutes, passengers realize the trip north from

Anchorage toward Fairbanks is special.Around each curve, themajesty of glaciers, mountains, or Alaska wildlife comes into

view: A moose might be grazing near a stretch of braided

river.The blue of a glacier peeks out from under melting mid-

summer snow on a mountainside.A view of Mount McKinley,

North America’s tallest peak, emerges in a splendor afforded

only by the routes traveled by Alaska’s trains.The Alaska Railroad, the largest state’s train system, has the

distinction of being the only “flagstop” train system, meaning

passengers can stand by the side of the track in the vast wilderness

and hitch a ride. Journey Options

The 75-year-old system runs through Alaska from tidewater

at Whittier and Seward north to Anchorage, then through theHOME BY DESIGN|APRIL MAY 2006 45

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heart of Alaska to Fairbanks, the commercial hub for northern

communities.Most of the tracks are surrounded by wilderness.

Long stretches of the railroad parallel the rugged coastline of south-central Alaska, offering spectacular panoramas, all at a

pace that recalls the beginning of the 20th century and the

Alaska Railroad.

The 12-hour trip north from Anchorage to Fairbanksthreads through Denali National Park and features seeminglyendless views of mountains, wildlife, and rivers. Onboard,

guests enjoy the hospitality and amenities that originally gave

train travel such a decadent reputation. Cocktails and other

beverages are served throughout the day, while gourmet meals

feature a hearty New York steak or a selection of fresh seafood.The trip begins in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. With

almost 265,000 people, Anchorage is a popular urban setting

with all the advantages of a much larger town.The waters of

Cook Inlet meet the steep foothills of the Alaska Range. And

just minutes east of downtown, the pristine wilderness of the

Chugach Mountains begins.

Heading north from Anchorage, the train passes through

the Matanuska Valley, known for scale-busting vegetablesgrown under the midnight sun. Another 75 miles north, train

travelers can catch what is often the highlight of their trip: the

first spectacular view of Mount McKinley, which towers at aheight of 20,320 feet. And if the sight of the highest peak in

North America isn’t enough, the route affords views of severalof the 20 highest peaks in the country.

When the train pulls into Fairbanks—“The Capital of the

Interior” and Alaska’s second largest city—visitors can explore

a city that began as a trading post and mining town in 1901.Other Excursions

Travelers looking for a shorter excursion from Anchorage

may want to consider a trip south to Seward or Whittier. A

four-hour trip from Anchorage takes passengers along the

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Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet to the port city of Seward.

Established in 1903 by railroad surveyors as an ocean terminal

and supply center, Seward has a frontier-town atmosphere

with homes and buildings dating to the early 1900s.The KenaiFjords National Park offers coastal cruises past tidewater glaciers,

whales, nesting seabirds, fur seals, and sea otters.Visitors may

explore the new Alaska SeaLife Center, with glass tanks thatlet viewers feel as if they’re under the sea. Visitors also may

take a 21 ⁄ 2-hour trip from Anchorage to Whittier on the“Glacier Discovery” train, allowing passengers access to the

many tours available in Prince William Sound and the massive

tidewater glaciers for which the sound is known. Daily sea-

sonal service from Anchorage to Seward and Whittier operates

from mid-May to mid-September.White Pass Route

Another option is to take a train ride on the White Pass &

Yukon Route, where passengers ride in vintage parlor cars on

a three-hour trip. The train travels alongside the Skagway

River, through a narrow box canyon, along a mountain

shoulder, and through a tunnel before it reaches the summit of

White Pass.

Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast in search of adventure,a family looking for a little vacation fun, or someone just hoping

to be inspired by the beauty of Alaska, the state’s railroads havea journey suited to your interests.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

21st-Annual Homer Jackpot Halibut Derby - Home

May 1, 2006 to September 30, 2006

Alaska’s largest halibut derby, with more than $210,000

in prize money.

(907) 235-7740

homerhalibutderby.com

Juneau Jazz and Classics - Juneau

May 19, 2006 to May 27, 2006

Renowned blues, jazz, and classical musicians play in

varied venues.

(907) 463-3378

Sitka Summer Music Festival - Sitka

June 2, 2006 to June 23, 2006

Evening concerts and other events showcasing classical

chamber music.

(907) 277-4852

Swing into Spring - Anchorage June 9, 2006

The sixth-annual golf tournament extravaganza.

(907) 694-4702

Midnight Sun Festival - Fairbanks

June 21, 2006

The largest one-day event in Fairbanks on the longest da

of the year. Live music, vintage and classic cars, children

rides, petting zoo, gold panning, and delicious food.

(907) 452-8671

Alaska Railroad

(800) 544-0552

P.O. Box 107500, Anchorage,

AK 99510-7500.

Alaska visitor information

(800) 862-5275

Dept. 712, P.O. Box 196710,

Anchorage, AK 99519-6710

travelalaska.com.

White Pass & Yukon Route

(800) 343-7373

fax: (907) 983-2734

P.O. Box 435, 231 2nd Avenue

Skagway, AK 99840

skagway.com.

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Resources


PAGE 18 HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?

Finlandia Saunawww.finlandiasauna.comPortland, Oregon800-354-3342

PAGE 22 THE WELL-READ FAMILY ROOM

Jean AkermanJean Akerman Interior Designwww.jeanakermandesign.com

Toronto, Ontario416-781-3500

PAGE 24 A SENSUAL INDULGENCE

Rita PachecoSwan Interiors288 Union StreetNew Bedford, Massachusetts508-990-SWAN

PAGE 28 LET THERE BE LIGHT

Parish Conservatorieswww.parishconservatories.comFairfield, Connecticut

800-761-9183

PAGE 30 CHANGING CHANNELS ON THE

TRADITIONAL MEDIA ROOM

Stephen PararoPineapple Housewww.pineapplehouse.comAtlanta, Georgia404-897-5551

PAGE 34 THE ULTIMATE DREAM HOME

Karen ButeraKaren Butera Inc.www.karenbutera.comCorona Del Mar, California949-640-1300

PAGE 42 NATURE BECOMES ART

Nancy Kaestner www.nancykaestner.comGrass Valley, California530-478-0350

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