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VIP At Home: Dreaming Big



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By Emily Robertson

Laura Childers of Laura Lee Interior Design and Lee Ross Dinwiddie of Graf Studio had their work cut out when they partnered to design and build a beautiful home in Olde Stone. The stunning house is more than 10,000 square feet and incorporates beautiful views, exquisite details and a modern traditional style.

 “The owner hired me and then we started to work with Lee Ross Dinwiddie as the architect and eventually the builder,” Childers says. “The plan is a complete design from the ground up because everything about the plan is completely custom to the owners’ needs and wants.”
The construction for the five-bedroom, six-and-a-half bath home lasted 18 months and required many extra steps in the build process, starting from the foundation. “The lot itself presented an extra challenge,” Childers says. “The house is on a large hill, so we needed to incorporate some structural engineering to be able to begin the build.” Dinwiddie says his crew had to raise the home site by 15 feet and they brought in 4,500 truckloads of dirt and rock to help secure the foundation. 

Once construction began, the owners gave Childers and Dinwiddie freedom to design and build something truly unique. “The owners really let Laura and me be creative with the vision,” Dinwiddie says. “It is a nice mix of contemporary and traditional. We incorporated big, oversized windows and heavy timber in the great room, as well as a steel, floating stair case. The relationship of spaces in the home worked out well for an open floor plan, but provided privacy for the owners.”

While the home’s kitchen is not especially large, Childers worked with the owner to create lots of efficient space. “The kitchen is situated between two living spaces and doesn’t have a huge footprint,” Childers says. “We were intentional about planning for storage and containing the kitchen necessities. There is an entire wall of built-in cabinetry that includes an entry to a walk-in pantry.”

When it came to interior details and decor, Childers says the owner wanted this house to feel fresh and clean, but also comfortable, for their family. “We created modern, clean lines and took advantage of the golf course views with lots of large windows at the back of the house,” Childers says. “There is a lot of creative freedom with the great finishes in the house and the main level has a great flow, thinking ahead for when they are empty nesters.”

Childers says that the couple had two teenage daughters as they built the home, so they wanted their bedroom suites upstairs to reflect their styles and interests, but everything that the couple needed is located on the first floor, including the master suite. “I really like how the master suite came together,” Childers says. “Where the tub is situated, there is a glass corner on the house. The master bed and bath aren’t so big that they feel too large, but they are really cozy and intimate.”

For several bathrooms in the house there is a theme of black and white incorporated into the tile and furnishings, each in different ways in each space. “The master bath, powder bath and two guest bathrooms are a version of black and white,” Childers says. “The owner really wanted this house to feel very different from the house they previously lived in and sold.”
Custom pieces can be found throughout the home including the iron doors and wood beams and floating staircase. All pieces in the home needed to be a bit bigger than a typical piece to better fit the size of the home. “The way this house was designed with high ceilings, every ceiling was vaulted or two story,” Childers says. “Having really tall ceilings and open spaces allows you to have some really unique lighting opportunities and the owner really gave me freedom in those decisions.” 

For décor, Laura says that the homeowner had several pieces of art that were family keepsakes that she incorporated into the home, along with pieces from Bowling Green Home Furnishings. “The owners had an artist in the family, so they had lots of great art that we used throughout the house,” Childers says. “It was really fun to incorporate pieces that are sentimental to the family or something that the client has picked up along the way. We are always happy to incorporate those kinds of pieces into our design.”

For both Childers and Dinwiddie, the ability to be creative and dream big with this home made it a favorite in their lists of projects they have worked on in their careers. “We enjoy homes that are not your everyday house,” Dinwiddie says. “We love to dream together with an owner and then figure out how to make that vision come to life.”

This beautiful home would not have come together without the help of these wonderful local businesses:
Builder: Graf Studio, Lee Ross Dinwiddie
Designer: Laura Lee Interior Design, Laura Childers
Cabinets: Bluegrass Cabinets
Countertops: Sugar Grove Marble & Granite
Lighting: Winlectric & Bowling Green Home Furnishings
Plumbing: Winnelson
Tile: Just Tile It
Wallpaper: Laura Lee Interior Design 
Window Treatments: Drapery Nation
Furnishings: Bowling Green Home Furnishings 

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