It was dark. Dark, gloomy, and almost claustrophobic. This circa-1980s house off Asheville’s Town Mountain Road had low ceilings on the main floor and outdated, herringbone-wood paneling. Outside, it was surrounded by trees.
But homeowner John Sterling saw something in it. The two-story, stacked-stone interior chimney. The lower-level family room with a wall of windows and soaring ceiling. Possibilities.
“I liked the setting,” he recalls. “It was very serene … secluded, yet near to downtown. The first thing I thought about was blowing out the ceiling on the main floor and adding some skylights.” Above that ceiling, however, was an odd roofline. This was not a DIY project. It would take an architect’s vision and a contractor’s skills to make it happen.
“The pitch of the roof was bizarre,” confirms Scott Huebner, AIA, of Brickstack Architects, who designed the remodel. “It was configured like a 30-60-90-degree triangle. The runoff wasn’t properly managed, and it was eroding the deck and the foundation of the house. The previous owner had taken out some walls on the interior and opened up the space, but it was kind of half-cooked. There was a lot of orphaned space and the kitchen area had an odd, angled island. We needed to create an open yet unified space that would serve a lot of functions.”
Windows and light would become the unifying factor.
Brad Rice of Bellwether Design Build was brought on board to handle the construction aspects. “We removed the existing ceiling — that created volume. Putting in the skylights was a challenge,” notes Rice, “but it was also the greatest satisfaction because it completely changed the feel of the house. We added four skylights in the dining area and ten skylights in the living room, following the shape of the chalet roof. We had to re-engineer the roof back there and install a support beam, but the results are awesome.”
In addition to the skylights, the homeowner contracted independently for a solarium, which was built adjacent to the front entrance, radiating from and expanding a formerly narrow hallway that led to the master bedroom. Tucked into a nook created by a rock wall, restored by Fernando’s Stoneworks, the solarium gives a welcoming peek into the interior as visitors arrive. Bellwether carefully poured and prepared the pad so that it would be flush with the existing floor and integrate perfectly when covered with the new hickory-wood flooring provided by Gennett Lumber for the main level.
To further brighten the interior, an expanse of dense, herringbone paneling was removed, and horizontally-oriented, bleached cypress planks were set in place, wrapping the wall and extending into the upstairs landing, visually connecting the solarium and entrance foyer with the lower level.
The original stairs that led from the landing to the downstairs area had encroached on the wall space, making the family room difficult to furnish. Huebner re-aligned the descent with a switchback and replaced its heavy wooden banister with a sleek, powder-coated steel railing. The new stairway was also clad in cypress, with planks milled to align perfectly with the treads, which are outfitted with inset LED lights to provide safe passage.
The newly illuminated kitchen was further enlightened with an elongated window above the sink. Dated oak cabinets, fitted with a ponderous valance, were replaced with sleek alder cabinetry by Mountain Showcase and topped with Café Bruin and Breccia Montana granite from Mountain Marble. A sculptural range hood installed over the island adds a touch of sparkle, while the inset induction cooktop maintains a clean, horizontal line. The kitchen cabinets were extended into the living-room area, recapturing the unused space along the far wall to create a hideaway office for the homeowner.
A long bank of wide, easy-open lift-and-slide doors was installed for access to the completely rebuilt ipe-wood deck, which is fitted with tension cable railing to minimize visual impact. The foundation was reinforced with a retaining wall around the bottom of the house and runoff from the steep roof was remediated with custom box gutters.
With the newly refreshed interiors in place, the homeowner and his fiancée, Betsy Ryherd, began installing furnishings and accessories to create a relaxed yet refined living space, using many nearby resources, including Grovewood Gallery and Four Corners Home and accessorizing with works by local artists.
But the most delightful aspect of the home is the sense of expanse and connection with the outdoors that has been introduced through the re-imagining of the structure. “It definitely feels more contemporary,” says Huebner. “We took something that was underutilized, with hidden potential, and gave it a new life.”
The trees that once seemed to smother the house have become an integral, ever-changing aspect of the interiors and the encroaching ceiling, a portal to the sky. “My favorite thing is the surrounding landscape,” notes Sterling, “and the fact that I can look out the skylights and see the constellations at night.”