2008 Best Luxury Home over $1,000,000
This project gave us the opportunity to build our customer’s dream home on a beautiful lot located at the end of a secluded cove on the north shore of Mallets Bay.
This site presented many challenges, including:
- Building on site that had a vertical drop of over 45 feet from the driveway to the lake.
- Building on a site that had a very narrow building envelope that was constrained by a 70 foot tall cliff on one side and a neighbor’s right-of-way on the other side.
- This site is located within the Town of Colchester’s Lakeshore Overlay District, which presents many strict regulations regarding clearing, erosion control, etc.
- Access to this site is very limited, and because of this the Town did not feel they could provide adequate fire safety protection, so we had to install a complete residential fire sprinkler system.
- We began working on this project in November and worked through the winter on this cold, lakefront site.
Design:
Very careful attention to detail was taken when placing this house on the site so that it would fit naturally within its surroundings. Windows were thoughtfully placed so that spectacular views of the woods and lake are enjoyed from most every room making your experience while in the house be one with nature. The proximity of the house to the lake, along with the use of glass balusters on the lakeside deck, gives the feeling of viewing the lake from a deck of a ship!
The exterior of this house was built to require very low maintenance. The shake siding has the look of natural cedar but is made from vinyl. The Trex decking is made from recycled materials and the trim boards are wood composite that is designed to hold paint for an extra long time. The foundation of the house is wrapped with cultured stone. The Marvin Integrity windows and exterior glass doors have maintenance free exteriors and are glazed with high efficiency glass.
This house was designed to reflect the homeowner’s love for life and family. Features include an open game-room on the top floor that overlooks the great room with spectacular views of the lake beyond. This area is topped with a Brazilian cherry ceiling that matches the wood flooring throughout the house. The main floor has a baby-grand piano in the foyer with windows offering inspiring views of the surrounding woods and lake. There is a family crest etched into a granite medallion that was let into the wood floors in the foyer. The open kitchen-dining-family room area is a dream for entertaining and/or relaxing with the family. The elegant master bedroom suite features a fireplace, access to a screened-in porch and a luxurious master bathroom with a large walk-in shower and views of the natural rock privacy walls outside. The terrace level of the house features a bright and airy exercise room overlooking the lake and a plush state-of-the-art theater with a performance stage, a 120-inch screen and three tiers of Italian leather theater seating.
This house was built to very efficient energy standards and features the following mechanical systems:
- In-floor radiant heat for all three levels fired by a highly efficient boiler.
- Heat-recovering central ventilation system that provides this tightly built house with a source of fresh air.
- Central air conditioning.
- Automatic fire sprinkler system.
- Well filtration and softening equipment.
- Back up generator with an automatic transfer switch.
- Central audio, video and security system
- Remotely monitored Advantex filtering septic system with a bottomless sand filter crib disposal system. This system is a vast improvement over the cesspool that used to be on site.
The interior of this house was designed with an aging-in-place philosophy. There are stacking closets on all three floors that will provide for an elevator shaft in the future and the main floor of the house is all very accessible. The homeowners say that they never want to have to move out of this house when they get older.
The Landscape Architect designed blended the house into the lot be using all native vegetation that was carefully selected to be tolerant of the conditions of the site. Timber steps and pea-stone walkways were built to ease the elevation transitions from the driveway and freestanding garage area down to the house and to the terrace level. The existing eroding shoreline was reinforced with a beautiful stone seawall build from natural stone boulders quarried in Colchester.
The homeowners’ dream has come true!
Office Location: 600 Blair Park Road, Suite 235, Williston, VT 05495 