Rustic for a Reason

One-of-a-kind build honors the Montreat culture

“I was told that Montreat was all about how many people you can pack into one house,” says homeowner Ann Brooke Raynal. She liked that. And as a third-generation family business, Sineath Construction was certainly acquainted with the concept. When president Brian Sineath and his crew went to build a woodsy dream home for Raynal, they added plenty of room for visiting friends and relatives, inside and out.

The forested enclave next to Black Mountain has been home to the Presbyterian-founded Montreat Conference Center — originally the Mountain Retreat Association — since 1905. Montreat’s vernacular residences are sprawling antique homes built before the advent or need of air conditioning. These proudly rustic summer retreats also lacked heating and typically contained a rudimentary kitchen, a rambling patchwork layout, and multiple bedrooms with a hodgepodge of beds meant for big families and summer guests. 

Ann Brooke’s husband Charles Raynal and architect Matt Griffith, founder of in situ studio in Raleigh, both attended summer youth conferences in Montreat. They met their wives, Ann Brooke and Ashley respectively, at Davidson College, and after some years of moving about, both couples ended up back in Raleigh and resumed their close friendship. 

Ann Brooke first visited Montreat on a July 4th holiday and was smitten. “I loved the community of it. Three months later, we were under contract.”

The house they purchased in 2012 was one of the original summer homes, built in 1908. Ann Brooke reveled in the nature-drenched disconnect — no television and no internet created an idyllic, outdoor-focused retreat where she could spend summers (she’s a middle-school history teacher) with the couple’s two girls; Charles joined them on weekends.

Now, though, with both daughters in college, Ann Brooke and Charles began thinking of Montreat as an eventual year-round residence in retirement. But the original home was not livable year round and structurally could not be renovated to modern standards. The tough decision was made to tear it down and build new; the obvious choice to get them there was Sineath Construction in collaboration with Griffith.

“The name of the firm — in situ studio — is [from] a Latin phrase that refers to something in its original position,” the architect explains. “We try to make our work almost invisible, with a deep and personal connection to its place.”

“Place” here means all the heirloom shade sources so characteristic of Montreat homes. “We wanted to keep the old hemlock trees, the rhododendron, mountain laurel, and flora,” says Ann Brooke.

Vision accomplished. The Raynal place is built so seamlessly into the verdant property it’s as if a seed were planted and a home grew from it. 

Of course, it wasn’t nearly that simple.

Brian Sineath, whose company is based in Weaverville, was working on another Montreat home designed by Griffith when he learned of the Raynal project. “For architects, having contractors who know what you want — that relationship is gold,” says Griffith. In Western North Carolina, savvy GCs like Sineath are crucial when it comes to addressing the unique challenges of mountain communities. 

“Lots are generally pretty tight in Montreat,” the builder notes. “Parking is limited, and because [the area] is almost a deciduous rainforest, stormwater runoff is a very big issue.” Partnering with a local landscape architect who designs stormwater-retention and erosion-control plans, Sineath “works hard to ensure it’s not an issue on our projects.”

Ann Brooke overcame her reservations about cantilevering to allow for the construction of an elevated upper-floor deck. “A lot of engineering goes into one steel column carrying the weight of a second story,” says Sineath, “but it also makes that wall of windows possible.”

Inside, the stone fireplace surround is impressive, but according to Sineath, the central staircase also got a lot of attention over the two weekends of the Western North Carolina Parade of Homes this past fall (the house netted the builder three awards, including Best One-of-a-Kind Home). Visitors admired the stairs’ generous tread and gradual rise, details implemented with the Raynals’ future lifestyle in mind.

The upper paneling is intended to be evocative of the beadboard Ann Brooke loved from the original home. The individual three-inch-wide boards of local poplar were manufactured at Smokey Mountain Lumber, whitewashed, and cut to precisely meet all the apertures, in particular the curve around the stunning skylight, another careful endeavor.

“Our in-house carpentry crew had to lay that out on the floor to create the radius, build the skeleton, and put it into place, then use very thin drywall to make the curves around the skeleton,” explains Sineath. 

Expressing a sense of loyalty and togetherness that befits a family business (not to mention a Montreat build), he credits the success of the tricky paneling project to his firm’s lead carpenter Junior Banks. “He’s been with us 12 years, and his leadership on that was amazing.”

Indoor Picnic

Ann Brooke chose green and cream as the foundational colors for furnishings and accoutrements, in part so they could be interchangeable to the rooms but primarily so they would not compete with nature’s serene hues, expertly framed by the wall of windows. Builder Brian Sineath says the left corner of the cube where the glass walls — custom-made by Asheville’s Britt & Tilson Glass — meet is reminiscent of a Frank Lloyd Wright feature. 

Blend Until Smooth

Homeowner Ann Brooke is an avid cook, and one of her form-and-function requests was the steel shelf over the stove to hold easily accessible spices. The white-oak paneling on the cabinets covers the appliances, as well, creating a uniform smoothness that leans Scandinavian. Floors inside the home are also white oak, plain sawn, and finished with Bona NordicSeal. Countertops are quartz (from Ashley’s Kitchen & Bath Design Studio in Black Mountain) and lighting fixtures are trim and spare, to Ann Brooke’s newfound pleasure. “I am not naturally a minimalist,” she admits, “but I surrendered to the lines of the house.” (Interior design by in situ studio with Ann Brooke Raynal.)

The More the Merrier 

Ann Brooke was fully on board with the Montreat tradition of packing as many guests as possible into one’s home. The small town, adjacent to Black Mountain, has been a Presbyterian summer-retreat destination for more than 100 years. This contemporary version of the requisite Montreat bunkroom, enjoyable year round, provides four of the sleeping accommodations for ten. It’s also partnered with a sitting/playroom (depending on the age of the guests). “Our youngest daughter brought friends home from college last winter and they took over the bunkroom. It was perfect.”

Serenity, Granted

The support rooms — mudroom, laundry, storage, powder room, stairs, and hallways — are located on the edge of the home so that the personally significant spaces have a direct connection to the creek. That includes placing the casement windows so when they are cranked open, they capture the sound of the water. The primary bedroom, a feat of rustic simplicity that honors the original Montreat vernacular, is on the main level and reflects, in modern incarnation, the original home’s beadboard walls, white-oak floors, and serene shades of green.

Resources:

Builder: Sineath Construction (Weaverville)

Architect: in situ studio (Raleigh)          

Interior Designer: in situ studio (with homeowner Ann Brooke Raynal)

Stonework: Wright’s Stoneworks (Fairview)

Cabinetry: dopko cabinetry (Raleigh)

Countertops: Ashley’s Kitchen & Bath Design Studio (Black Mountain)

Interior Paneling: Smokey Mountain Lumber (Asheville)

Exterior Steel Rails: Screaming Hot Iron (Fletcher)

Landscape Architect: Jason Gilliland, Site Design Studio (Asheville)

Landscaping: Woods Landscape Co., Candler (installation)

Flooring: Gennett Lumber Company (Fletcher)

Tile: Southeastern Tile Connection (Mills River)

Custom Exterior Finishing: Carolina Colortones (Arden)

Windows: Britt & Tilson Glass Company (Asheville)