It looks brand new. Doesn't he like living in a hotel? <hiss>

When you said the owner had designed it himself I'd expected something 'original', not this stone wedding cake.

I wouldn't mind staying there, on vacation, a day or two, but wouldn't want to live there. The interior reminds me of the bathroom in a hotel we stayed in on our last day or two in London. They had upgraded our room when we arrived. It was fun but I wouldn't want to live there.

It’s lying in wait for Alabama’s next lottery winner.

Such folks have wayy too much play money. And possibly an attention-deficit disorder of some ilk, unable to get settled and be happy. Story says it was built in 2015, briefly offered for sale in 2019, taken off the market in 2020, now offered again. Seems like a lot of ruckus to endure building and/or moving so often. I've owned two houses. 1991 to 2005, 2005 to current with no desire to move. Both were already built. My parents built a house in 1964, stayed to 1983, bought an existing house in which mom still resides (41 years).

Pretty soulless. Of course, it’s probably been stripped of all personal items as it’s for sale.

"Stone wedding cake" is a great description. Looks cold and un-homey to me.

Too much white, no personality.

Curious that someone desires and enjoys opulence on this scale. The pool furniture is arranged for groups of strangers, not for a home.

The outside, while ridiculous, looked kind of pretty in the lighting. The inside was plain awful.

If you want to see good design, it is usually in the modest homes of artistic-minded people. People with big budgets so often get it wrong.

Could not read the article. The exterior is better than the interior. That's me being nice. It is over the top in too many ways, too ornate for my taste. That said, it's not my house. It looks well built, but we all know you cannot truly tell that from photos.

It is very close to the interstate, so there is traffic noise. I would say it is near the lake, but not on it.

That price range is not uncommon in AL, so no need to win the lottery to afford (yes, I know that comment was meant to be a p0litic@l slam). AL is full of large lakes, so many people have second homes at and over this price point.

I have never been to Dothan, and don't know anyone that lives there, so I looked at recent sales on Zillow. Seems to have large houses nearby, but it appears to be over-built in the area. Seems he had a dream.

Not my style, but I do like the pool and lake view. I could be very happy out back. :D

The wood floors in some areas are an interesting choice to me, they just don’t seem to fit the overall style of the house … except in the office. I like them in there.

I didn't see KSWL's comment as political. To me it is just the kind of place that screams "lottery winner" as opposed to, say, the more understated "to the manner born" vibe that I think many grand Southern homes in good taste exude. YMMV

It was actuallysupposed to be a taste slam 😎

Not that anyone should need a reminder, becoming an oral surgeon does lead to very high levels of income but doesn't necessarily enhance the extent of good taste or common sense such people have.

I hate everything about it.

Aw, come on Jojo, the piano is nice.

Too cavernous, ornate and soulless for me.

I love it! Beautiful! ! He is not a normal soul to design a property like that. People have different passions in life. He has created a great piece on earth. May the key of this place finds its next owner soon.

Well, that was a fun gawk. (Fun coincidental fact: I spent the first few years of my life living (outside of) Ft Rucker in Dothan, AL. I don't have a southern accent. ) I found myself wondering if the showers had been waterproofed correctly. Hard pass.

Restraint was not in his vocabulary. There may be one or two elements I liked, but no thank you. I do wonder if people that have houses like this actually love it, or just love that it shows their wealth.

There was one shower that wasn’t terrible.

I agree with JoJo. It’s awful.

It's a lovely house. I can't help but look at all that stone and wonder how much it weighs :) I couldn't access the article. Why was there a story about the house? Because of his job, or that he used software, or how overbuilt it was? Something else? Lovely as it is, it's kind of average rather than newsworthy to me.

The good news, according to the pop-up ad, is that vets can get $100,000 towards this monster.

Is there any room that was not struck with the ugly stick? Even that bathtub is horrible.

That piano sticks out like a sore thumb.

I strongly suspect no one plays the piano in that house. I grew up in a serious piano-playing home and the lid was almost never up (probably due to all the music books on the lid.) The piano feels like an expensive prop here.

But yes, I did find something I love here. The Lacanche stove. I would sell my soul for a stove like that.

Wowee! My first thought was Windsor Castle outside London, I guess because of the stairs and the interior stonework.

Nice to look at, wouldn’t want to live there.

I wonder if it will appear on https://mcmansionhell.com

which is a fun and educational website. I learned a lot about architectural details from it.

Good Grief. Money does not buy taste.

I’m thinking the guy must have gotten a kick out of being able to use some software and design a home for himself using it creatively to get some things he wanted in his home. Then he and his wife got carried away and took it to a whole new level with what they put into it in the next 4 years. It’s way too sterile and over the top.

I knew Dothan as a very small, mostly middle-income small town in the mid-late 80’s when I did some work on a helicopter program at nearby Ft Rucker (now Ft Novosel). We used to joke about how many bank branches were along the main street thru town.

kswl, Alabama doesn’t have a lottery, but plenty go across state lines to buy tickets.

Gorgeous property, I actually like it a lot from the outside. There are some aspects from the interior I’d take, most of it I’d leave.

It amazes me what money will buy in sone parts of the country. Don't get me wrong, $5MM would buy a super nice house here, but not remotely on that scale. And the property taxes are a fraction of mine. Sigh…

I was disappointed after I saw the outside and then they had inside photos. The outside it crazy large and out of place but at least it is pretty.

Food is right. It is really quite inexpensive for what it is. I have never been to Alabama and I am sure it has nice areas but it shows up at the bottom of lots of lists, it just does. Wikipedi ranks it 46th out of 50 for income. Houses are very reasonable. "Alabama is the eleventh-cheapest state to buy a house in. In the Cotton State, homes comprise 12.2 percent of the average household income, and home prices average $142,700" Where was that other thread about kids not being able to buy?

Outside, you worked on helicopters? Neat.

Here are a few excerpts from the article:

In 2008, Craig Schmidtke began drawing his dream house on a home-building software he bought on a whim. Schmidtke, an oral surgeon in Alabama, had never drawn a house or used this type of software before.

“But I’m always looking for new hobbies,” he said. He figured if the home didn’t turn out well, it would just stay on his computer forever.

Seven years later, he and his family were living in it.

Now, after using the home as a primary residence for nearly a decade, Craig and his wife, Anna Schmidtke, are downsizing and have listed it for $4.979 million.

Every detail of the home was imagined by Craig and signed off on by Anna. An avid golfer, Craig included a golf simulator and a movie theater, where he often watches golf tournaments. There is also a 500-bottle wine cellar and a television hidden behind a mirror in the primary bathroom.

The Schmidtkes moved to Dothan from Colorado with their children in 2005 to be closer to Anna’s parents, who lived in the city. They moved into a four-bedroom home and fell in love with the community, Craig said. In 2007, after Craig opened his own practice, he and Anna began thinking about building their own home in the area.

“I started to do some research and found some homes I liked on the internet,” Craig said. “I thought, ‘I could draw the house myself.’”

With some training from the software company, Craig’s drawing came to life and around two years later, he and Anna were ready to hire a builder. In 2011, they bought an empty plot of land in the city for $275,000. The home took four years to build and was completed in 2015.

“We didn’t want something that was going to fall out of favor, like ultra contemporary,” Craig said. “The neoclassical style is something that rang with us.”

While Craig declined to comment on how much they spent on the construction of the property, he said it was more than both listing prices.

“We didn’t build this to make money off of it,” he said. “All we want is for the next buyer to love it as much as we do.”

There was much more to the story but this maybe explains his reasoning.

I think the outside is quite beautiful. Inside not my taste at all, but for someone who likes all that ornate frou-frouness it's pretty nice.

Yes, we know where we end up on most lists. It is also one of the most biodiverse states in the US. As long as we don’t sell out to all the developers and large industries.

Our small city has been voted the ’best place to live’ the past year and near the top for the past few years. We’re in North Alabama in a science-based city though and it’s quite different from much of the state i will admit.

I cannot even imagine trying to keep that place clean with all those nooks and crannies.

Nicely done for that style -- it's not a style I like, but if it's your style, it looks well done.

" I cannot even imagine trying to keep that place clean with all those nooks and crannies. "

When you're talking 10,000-ish or more square feet, especially with a large property, you're in "full time staff" territory.

Watch it, folks - sometimes brain children grow up ... and after the dreamer grows up and inhabits that dream for a while ... they find that it isn't as dreamy as they expected.

And decide they prefer to live somewhere else.

And may find that it becomes somewhat difficult to find someone interested in taking on that dream ... even at a substantially discounted investment.

ole (more or less) joyful ..... renter of a rural farmhouse for 19 years at recent $675./mo. till about a year ago.

Bummer that the glass dome is not a conservatory, but a stairwell. I do like the one low-key white bedroom, and the marble flooring in the entry, if it didn't have so much black embellishment.

Fancy Nancy’s dream home!! 😉😊

(Anybody else’s little girl love that book like mine did?)

a Bill the cat quote this house reminds me ... pbbt

" the dreamer grows up and inhabits that dream for a while ... they find that it isn't as dreamy as they expected. "

A life truism for everything - sometimes it's about living in a mansion, sometimes it's about living in a heritage farmhouse. Sometimes it's about living in the city of 2 million, or living in a small town of 2000. Yet, I don't think it's about finding out the dream isn't as dreamy, it's about changing lives, priorities, and preferences.

To me, those changes are a normal part of life, and changing dreams is to be expected and welcomed, not regretted or resisted.

I appreciate Outside Playing's polite heading here. It reminds me of the recommended phrase to fall back on when proud parents present their wrinkly new offspring for your admiration: "Now that's a baby!"

Thank you, chisue. I find it easier and gentler to be kind and think positively these days than always be looking for the negative. I guess it’s my older age, although i can find the snark if the situation arises.

Overall I like it, especially the exterior. I used to draw houses like this when I was a teenager and imagined myself living in a house right out of GWTW. I always put in a third floor that was a ballroom.

In this house, a lot of the rooms are too large (especially the bathrooms) and lack intimacy. I think the kitchen is the worst room, regarding decor, as it is definitely overdone, and there is not really anything about it that I do like. I'm not fond of the furniture in the house either, but that is a minor issue.

I would be concerned about the risk of floods, since the area is flat and there are small lakes very close to the property.

Location is the biggest problem - it is in the middle of nowhere, and I would never consider living in that climate again, and by climate, I mean both weather and political.

I think it is beautiful. In the way that a palace is beautiful. Not my taste, over the top, but beautiful. If you take out the furniture, which is mostly awful, and take the tvs off the fireplaces. I mean, when you design for that level of detail, why slap the tv on like that?

Clearly they are not living there, it is staged, there are no lamps or personal items anywhere, that helps make it look sterile.

But surely some things are missing from the listing. Like a cleanup area for the kitchen? Surely they didn’t design a kitchen with just one sink, and not that big a one at that. Laundry? Garages? Pool room? Do Alabama houses have basements?

The location is interesting. A US Highway might not be as busy as an interstate, but we live a mile from a US highway and it is noisy enough, especially at night. It’s on a corner, and right where everyone drives past or straight towards the gates. And do they have a view of the pond? (probably a retention pond) The property line doesn’t seem to include access to it, but it might not be usable anyway.

I wonder how his process went, if he designed it himself then what about all the ”technical stuff” like hvac, plumbing, electric, communicatons, and all the options and codes that go along with those? I wonder what part of the design he did, and how to accomplish things like that awesome bathtub?

btw, at the bottom of the listing, there was an ad:

Is that where they are downsizing to?

That's funny ad placement!

bpath -- Hee-hee! What a contrast! You're right. This house does have nice 'White House' bones, and we know there are people who want to live there.

I guess I'm the outlier here. I do not like the outside at all. It does not look like a home to me. More like a museum. It's not welcoming to me.

Lars, you are correct that the flood risk is high. I noticed that along with the incredibly low property taxes (compared to ours).

Owner's quote: "“We didn’t want something that was going to fall out of favor..."

No fear of that! It's already out of favor! I agree with most of what's been said, that it is way too ornate, too much like a palace or museum or public space than a home that feels cozy. The marble bath tub got me as it'd never get warm enough to be usable. But I suspect this house had nothing to do with being practical or useful. Not surprised that they want to sell it. What makes me think they're moving into a 2500 sq ft colonial???