Custom Homes: Natural Beauties
A custom home on a choice-view lot needs to be properly oriented. Often such properties are irregularly shaped and have multiple elevation changes that can be challenging, as was the case with the two residences featured here. But the builders and architects applied their skill and experience to create homes that capitalize on the natural beauty of each site.
Surveying the seascape
This Cape Cod, Mass., home was framed to withstand hurricane-force winds and has hurricane-rated window glazing. The siding is dipped cedar shingles and the roofing is 30-year architectural shingles. Photos: Gerry Kehoe for the MZO Group
Coffered ceilings in the kitchen and family room provide spatial definition without walls. “Because it’s an open plan, we needed beams to hold the ceiling up,” says architect Andrew Zalewski. “We integrated those beam lines into patterns and coffers on the ceiling.”
The bonus room over the garage is used as a bunk room for the homeowners’ visiting grandchildren.
A little romance, a little country
Douglas fir shelving flanks the living-room fireplace instead of cabinetry. The mantel is reclaimed wood from docks on the Mississippi River. Stained concrete floors were used throughout the house.
May the (site) force be with you