This house was an absolute pleasure to build. These are the same owners who built the Creekside Cabin on our website. These owners were fantastic to work with. When we finished their cabin, they asked us to go to the top of the hill and build this house. The design is by Frazier and Associates of Staunton, VA (please link, Jennifer.) This house was designed to look like a 1920s bungalow that was added on to many times. The size is deceiving. It’s much larger than it seems. It has a lot of square feet tucked here and there.

The design goals were: design a house that was full of many authentic details, provide space for certain family activities, and don’t be pretentious. Frazier did it. The owners did not hold back. The roof is standing seam copper. The siding is a combination of stone, wood, Hardi-shake, Hardi plank, and cementitious stucco. The eaves and overhangs are tongue and groove natural wood. The rafter tails are fir. We fabricated the rake brackets that are visible in some of the exterior photos. The wrap-around porch goes from open-air to screened in. It’s wonderful. My owner likes cars, so we gave him garages for four. (I think we’ll be building another separate structure for cars someday – at least that’s what I told him.)

The interior is something else: beaded board kitchen ceiling, wonderful case work throughout, stonework around fireplace, built-in banquette right off of the kitchen looking out through Rockbridge County, solid fir doors with authentic hardware, high-custom cabinets in kitchen with built-in Fisher/Paykel dishwashers. The main stair is strong and elegant and completely authentic to the period. The list goes on and on. Our owners asked us to take into account that they are not “tall” people, so we made sure the custom cabinetry was built 2” lower and that shower heads were properly located, etc. All the trim is custom and there’s a lot of wainscoting – again period accurate.

In the end, this house played to our strengths. We were on the job everyday, and that is required when details are important. Warren steadfastly chased down every detail and did a great job! We were in constant contact with the architect. No set of architectural plans gives every single detail for every single thing. This is where talking to the architect and being true to their vision comes in. There was also a lot of “one off” details, which is where we excel. Like so many of the houses we build – this exact house hasn’t been built before. The owners were a dream inasmuch as they supported both the architect and us throughout. If this three-way partnership is not maintained, the project is tougher on everyone. I can’t say enough about these owners.