A Journey Ends At Home
Timber Home Living – June 2011
A visit to a timber frame winery ends a couple’s search for their dream home. Download the article (see below) from Timber Home Living to learn more!
When the Right Timber Frame Builders Are Close to Home
After touring model homes from several timber frame builders, Nancy and Jim McFadden realized the craftsmanship they wanted was close to home. A visit to Chateau Morrisette Winery off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd, Virginia, built by Blue Ridge Timberwrights, sealed their choice and set the vision for a right-sized mountain retreat that could become their full-time home near Sparta, North Carolina.
Working with SALA Architects’ Katherine Hillbrand and Ann Hauer, the couple embraced Sarah Susanka’s Not So Big House principles: rooms scaled for comfort, angled walls that direct views, and flexible spaces that double as sleeping areas. Blue Ridge Timberwrights crafted a four-level, 3,700-square-foot Douglas fir frame (including some timbers reclaimed from century-old St. Lawrence Seaway docks) expressed with gables, short posts, and a subtle Asian influence. The timber frame’s open living and kitchen flows to a quiet “away room”; above, a lattice-style bridge reinforces the sense of openness. Tennessee fieldstone, cypress accents, and maple/cherry details root the home in its setting.
The result, the homeowners say, is a “masterpiece”— a warm, timber frame home that trades excess for intention and lives beautifully for two while welcoming family. Their journey ended where it began: with Blue Ridge Timberwrights’ craftsmanship in the Blue Ridge.
