Another
Southwest‑design wall opening, identical to that of the
living room, forms the dining room’s other doorway, across the
hallway from which stands the doorway to the kitchen and great
room.
To
this great room is where the other front‑patio door–a
sliding glass door–leads. Its family room portion lies at the
front of the house and features a gas fireplace spanning one
corner. Travertine comprises the fireplace surround, but the
plaster wall above the firebox draws the eye with its three
small display niches built into the wall in a step pattern of
their own –each separately adorned with a tole design hand painted
around it.
Other
architectural elements boast the embellishment of this tole
painting. One noteworthy example is the outward‑bowed
wall of the kitchen’s breakfast area, where the curving expanse
of window is graced with the twining vine design above it. A
continuance of the design element carries around to the rear
wall.
And,
in the kitchen, a broader design spreads across the front of
the hood above the cooktop. With a stacked convection/microwave
oven and conventional oven built into the cupboards on the side
wall, the cooktop occupies one corner of the kitchen. The GE
Monogram includes a grill in the middle, but it’s the features
above the cooktop that stand out: there is a large, powerful
fan and, affixed to a tall backsplash, fold‑down racks
onto which warming lights are directed.
Other
features of the kitchen also bespeak functionality. Set at a
diagonal, the kitchen island provides
a spacious work area with elbow room to share. And the arrangement
of sink (built into the island), cooktop and refrigerator forms
the classic work triangle lauded as the most efficient of kitchen
designs. The pantry stands, conveniently, at one corner of the
triangle–a large, walk‑in space with a light that switches
on automatically when the door is opened.
The
hallway between kitchen and dining room continues a few feet
before it ends at a niche, with a built‑in cabinet offering
display opportunity on its granite countertop and a ledge near
the ceiling furnishing an additional display site. At this end
of the hall, two doors face each other, each opening to one
of the home’s three secondary bedrooms and each featuring its
own full bath.
Also
found at this side of the house are a spacious laundry room
along with the connecting door to the garage–a four‑car
garage with an extended cove at one end to accommodate a boat,
as well as a separate storage room.
The
other secondary bedroom lies down the hallway on the other side
of the foyer, next to the living room and convenient as a guest
room. Its attached three‑quarter bath–the large shower
almost a room itself, fully tiled in travertine and featuring
a built‑in bench across one side–serves the function of
a powder room, located as it is just off the living room with
a door to the hallway.
Near
the bathroom door, the hallway curves around to the double doors
of the private master suite, which boasts its own patio space
on the house front and a corner fireplace with another example
of the decorative custom tole painting. The master bath, with
a two‑head shower and a jetted soaking tub, opens off
the bedroom through a foyer of its own–a foyer from which the
walk‑in closet opens, convenient to the bathroom without
being in it.
