Annual Homes & Design Issue 2019
In this stunning mountain home designed by Trey Wheeler of Tinker Ma, Inc. and built and designed by Bryan and Julie Bledsoe of Dwell Designed Construction, contemporary lines and materials come together to create a timeless, sprawling estate nestled into its surroundings. The clean lines and crisp finishes cultivate a refreshing simplicity, while the thoughtful layout and stately windows help the home blend seamlessly into a well-loved lot.
(ABOVE) Looking at the back of the house, the roofline really takes center stage. Enormous fir beams jut out, stretching from the opposite side of the house. The angular, flared roof creates a stunning focal point. “These beams are structural as well as beautiful; they are the support system of this roof,” Bryan says. Meanwhile, wrap-around porches work as additional seating and entertaining areas. A pass-through window from the kitchen opens all the way up to allow access to the interior countertop from outside. “That was a really fun choice and makes entertaining and passing drinks and food from the kitchen so much easier,” Julie explains.
(BELOW) Further around on the porch, the open-air outdoor shower is decked with the same bamboo composite as the entryway. It features a built-in bench seat facing the privacy of the woods. A tall concrete planter with mature herbs and plants serves as an organic semi-privacy wall.
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“We really tried to design this house in a way that didn’t disturb the land unnecessarily. The homeowner didn’t want to clear cut a large chunk, so we designed the home to fit into the topography of the lot. It’s nestled into the hillside with a slab foundation on various grades,” Wheeler explains. The differing elevations not only provide a well-blended aesthetic to the exteriors of the home, lending privacy and a sense of serenity, but inside, the elevations also create separate vignettes for privacy and more fully harness the lot’s many views. For example, by working with the lay of the land, the bedrooms are naturally elevated up a few stairs, helping to separate them from the public spaces in the home. Lastly, the exterior materials all work together to reinforce the idea that the home occurred naturally in this wooded setting.
Modular frosted glass French doors punctuate the angular entryway to the home, which is subtly tucked into a stone passageway. The exteriors of the home are composed of multiple materials and colors meant to blend into the surroundings. The walls are stacked stone, which was locally sourced and chosen for its array of warmer shades. The ceiling planks are a spruce tongue and groove, and a bamboo composite was selected for the decking of the porch. “We chose that because it matched the other wood used on the house very well and also because it is extremely durable,” Julie explains.
Stepping inside, the main living spaces are housed in one large corridor that makes a grand impression upon entering the front door, opposite a spectacular fireplace. “I just love walking into that main space. It’s so large, the scale of it is really impressive, and I think it came together really nicely,” Julie shares. Enormous glulam structural beams run perpendicular to the length of the room, creating an angled ceiling. “Those were massive,” says Bryan. “We had to set each of those with a large crane, and they run continuously to the exterior roof as well. It really creates a lot of visual interest.”
In the kitchen, a thick concrete island countertop works with white quartz perimeter countertops to continue a pale color palette. Quarter sawn white oak cabinetry displays clean vertical grain. “I think that detail goes well with the rest of the lines in this house,” Julie shares. White oak is also used in the trim, beams, and built-ins and adds warmth to the expansive corridor. Simple ground and polished concrete floors run throughout the entire home, lending a sense of timelessness and permanence. The focal point is the floor-to-ceiling fireplace, angled to match the ceiling and wrapped in concrete-look porcelain tiles. In a collaborative effort, Wheeler and his team helped design the scale of the fireplace, while the Dwell Designed team selected materials to achieve the perfect form both inside and outside, including a continuous stream of tile to the built-in bookshelf and bench beside the fireplace. Wheeler confirms, “That fireplace was fun to design. It proved to be a bit challenging, but I think the end result looks exactly how we all hoped it would.”
“I just love walking into that main space. It’s so large, the scale of it is really impressive.”
– Julie Bledsoe, Dwell Designed Construction
This multifunctional room is a purposefully designed masterpiece. The elevated platform helps to distinguish the office space from the rest of the room, while also providing storage for a hideaway bed and gym equipment. Guests have a comfortable place to stay the night, and the homeowners can also have a wide-open space for workouts. Meanwhile, their office space is elevated to capture more of the views. “That was a really unique space to work on. That platform created so much storage space, which was great because it allows the homeowners to use it exactly how they want,” Bryan explains. White oak trim was used around the picture windows and to create the platform. It blends well with the structural beams and offsets the cooler tones of the stone-colored walls and concrete floors.
In the master bathroom, angular skylights provide ample natural light and visual interest, drawing eyes upward to the clean finish of the ceiling. Concrete floors in the same simple finish as the rest of the house carry out a consistent foundation to the room until they meet with the inlaid pebble floor of the curbless, spacious walk-in shower. Nearby, a freestanding soaking bathtub is elegantly turned catty-corner to have a better sightline out of the large picture window. Wheeler shares, “We designed this to be a home that the owners could thoroughly enjoy now, and grow old in. Many of these features, such as the curbless shower, are functional as well as attractive.”
As Wheeler explains, “This home was designed with a very linear layout. Part of the reason for that was to capitalize on all of the homeowners’ favorite views.” Its expansive width actually occupies the majority of the lot from one side to the other, and as Bryan explains, that created a challenge with the pool: “We actually had to install the pool first, which would normally be the last thing we did. But because of the home’s size and shape, we wouldn’t have been able to bring in the equipment around the home once it was complete. So we had to be very careful not to disturb the pool during construction.” The same bamboo composite decking as the front porch adds a warm and natural color to this back entertaining area. Stepping down from the pool deck is another gathering area with a stacked-stone fireplace, built-in wood storage, and a lovely arrangement of comfortable outdoor furniture. From inside to outside, the homeowners are able to enjoy the impressive achievement of blending the house into nature.
