Eye-Land: Named for the expansive white oak savanna views, this beautiful 5,200-square foot family home offers seamless indoor/outdoor living with five bedrooms and three baths, and space for two more bedrooms and a bathroom. The site posed unique design challenges. The home was ultimately nestled into the hillside, instead of placed on top of the hill, so that it didn’t dominate the dramatic landscape. The openness of the savanna exposes all sides of the house to the public, which required creative use of form and materials. The home’s one-and-a-half story form pays tribute to the site’s farming history. The simplicity of the gable roof puts a modern edge on a traditional form, and the exterior color palette is limited to black tones to strike a stunning contrast to the golden savanna. The main public spaces have oversized south-facing windows and easy access to an outdoor terrace with views overlooking a protected wetland. The connection to the land is further strengthened by strategically placed windows that allow for views from the kitchen to the driveway and auto court to see visitors approach and children play. There is a formal living room adjacent to the front entry for entertaining and a separate family room that opens to the kitchen for immediate family to gather before and after mealtime.

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Anice Hoachlander, Hoachlander Davis Photography
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Located near Ennis, Montana, this cabin captures the essence of rustic style while maintaining modern comforts. Jack Watkins’ father, the namesake of the creek by which this home is built, was involved in the construction of the Old Faithful Lodge. He originally built the cabin for he and his family in 1917, with small additions and upgrades over the years. The new owners’ desire was to update the home to better facilitate modern living, but without losing the original character. Windows and doors were added, and the kitchen and bathroom were completely remodeled. Well-placed porches were added to further integrate the interior spaces to their adjacent exterior counterparts, as well as a mud room—a practical requirement in rural Montana. Today, details like the unique juniper handrail leading up to the library, will remind visitors and guests of its historical Western roots.

Eye-Land: Named for the expansive white oak savanna views, this beautiful 5,200-square foot family home offers seamless indoor/outdoor living with five bedrooms and three baths, and space for two more bedrooms and a bathroom. The site posed unique design challenges. The home was ultimately nestled into the hillside, instead of placed on top of the hill, so that it didn’t dominate the dramatic landscape. The openness of the savanna exposes all sides of the house to the public, which required creative use of form and materials. The home’s one-and-a-half story form pays tribute to the site’s farming history. The simplicity of the gable roof puts a modern edge on a traditional form, and the exterior color palette is limited to black tones to strike a stunning contrast to the golden savanna. The main public spaces have oversized south-facing windows and easy access to an outdoor terrace with views overlooking a protected wetland. The connection to the land is further strengthened by strategically placed windows that allow for views from the kitchen to the driveway and auto court to see visitors approach and children play. There is a formal living room adjacent to the front entry for entertaining and a separate family room that opens to the kitchen for immediate family to gather before and after mealtime.

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After reconfiguring the drive, our team re-aligned the secondary walk toward the family parking area. Massed woody plants, perennials, and groundcover downplay the secondary entry from visitors, and are repeated around the property to create a consistent planting plan.

Eye-Land: Named for the expansive white oak savanna views, this beautiful 5,200-square foot family home offers seamless indoor/outdoor living with five bedrooms and three baths, and space for two more bedrooms and a bathroom. The site posed unique design challenges. The home was ultimately nestled into the hillside, instead of placed on top of the hill, so that it didn’t dominate the dramatic landscape. The openness of the savanna exposes all sides of the house to the public, which required creative use of form and materials. The home’s one-and-a-half story form pays tribute to the site’s farming history. The simplicity of the gable roof puts a modern edge on a traditional form, and the exterior color palette is limited to black tones to strike a stunning contrast to the golden savanna. The main public spaces have oversized south-facing windows and easy access to an outdoor terrace with views overlooking a protected wetland. The connection to the land is further strengthened by strategically placed windows that allow for views from the kitchen to the driveway and auto court to see visitors approach and children play. There is a formal living room adjacent to the front entry for entertaining and a separate family room that opens to the kitchen for immediate family to gather before and after mealtime.

Contractor: Choice Wood Company Interior Design: Billy Beson Company Landscape Architect: Damon Farber Project Size: 4000+ SF (First Floor + Second Floor)

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Located near Ennis, Montana, this cabin captures the essence of rustic style while maintaining modern comforts. Jack Watkins’ father, the namesake of the creek by which this home is built, was involved in the construction of the Old Faithful Lodge. He originally built the cabin for he and his family in 1917, with small additions and upgrades over the years. The new owners’ desire was to update the home to better facilitate modern living, but without losing the original character. Windows and doors were added, and the kitchen and bathroom were completely remodeled. Well-placed porches were added to further integrate the interior spaces to their adjacent exterior counterparts, as well as a mud room—a practical requirement in rural Montana. Today, details like the unique juniper handrail leading up to the library, will remind visitors and guests of its historical Western roots.

Stuart Wade, Envision Web The scenic and enjoyable Lake Chatuge, located between Hayesville, North Carolina and Hiawassee, Georgia, is a man-made lake created by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the early 1940’s as part of a project that would provide badly needed electricity to the southeast, especially in light of the defense industry’s need for a source of power during the war efforts. In addition to the benefit of electrical power, the jobs created by the building of the dam helped the local economy, which was certainly struggling in the post-Depression era. Construction took only about a year, but it was not without its difficulties. While the promise of electricity offered much to the residents, many of them had to give up treasured family farmland, which would soon be under water when the land was flooded. In fact, roughly 7200 acres between Towns and Clay counties were inundated. Some families and churches relocated their buildings, while others left altogether because of the dam. These events are easily recalled by those old enough to remember the coming of the dam. Furthermore, a play by Tom DeTitta called The Reach of Song commemorates the coming of the TVA to the area and chronicles the story of southern Appalachia in a musical format that was named the State Historic Drama in 1990 by the Georgia State Legislature. The completed dam, which is 144 feet high and 2,850 feet across, now operates for a variety of purposes, including flood damage reduction, power generation, and augmentation of water flows for navigation downstream, according to the TVA. Nowadays, residents and visitors alike delight in the 132 miles of shoreline, reveling in the beauty afforded by the area. With everything from sport fishing to boating to camping and swimming, Lake Chatuge offers something for everyone.

The inviting fire draws you through the garden. Surrounds Inc.
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We developed this landscape over several years in close study with the Architects and Clients, who were committed to artisan-quality construction in every detail of the home and landscape. Each level of the house and terraced landscape boasts magnificent views to San Francisco. The steep site and the clients’ love of rustic stone lead us to create a series of luxurious serpentine stone walls to chisel the hillside. On each terrace of the garden, the same walls frame and hug unique spaces for play, entertaining, relaxing and contemplation. Each room of the house opens to a distinct, related garden room: a BBQ terrace with an outdoor kitchen and pizza oven; a quiet terrace with aquatic plants, Japanese maples, and a mermaid sculpture; a lap pool and outdoor fireplace; and a guest house with a vegetable garden. The resulting landscape burgeons into a true feast for the senses. Visitors are greeted at the street by stone columns supporting a tailored entry gate with Oak branch detailing. The gently sculpted driveway is flanked by Coast Live Oaks and California native plantings. At the top of the driveway, visitors are beckoned up to the main entry terrace by a grand sweeping staircase of Montana Cody stone steps. Before entering the main door of the house, one can rest on the stone seat-wall under a reclaimed redwood trellis and enjoy the calming waters of the custom limestone birdbath fountain. From the Grand Lawn off the rear terrace of the house, the view to the city is framed by romantic gas lanterns set on bold stone columns. Although the site grades required guardrails on this main terrace, the view was maintained through minimal planting and the use of an infinity pond and hand crafted metal railings to contain the space. The retaining walls of the Grand Lawn became a canvas for us to design unique water features. We hired a local stone sculptor, a local metal sculptor and a top-notch pool company to help us create a boulder water wall and artistic bronze fountainheads that thunder down into the pool: both playful and grandiose in one gesture. Architect: Graff Architects General Contractor: Young & Burton Treve Johnson Photography

Located near Ennis, Montana, this cabin captures the essence of rustic style while maintaining modern comforts. Jack Watkins’ father, the namesake of the creek by which this home is built, was involved in the construction of the Old Faithful Lodge. He originally built the cabin for he and his family in 1917, with small additions and upgrades over the years. The new owners’ desire was to update the home to better facilitate modern living, but without losing the original character. Windows and doors were added, and the kitchen and bathroom were completely remodeled. Well-placed porches were added to further integrate the interior spaces to their adjacent exterior counterparts, as well as a mud room—a practical requirement in rural Montana. Today, details like the unique juniper handrail leading up to the library, will remind visitors and guests of its historical Western roots.

This project presented unique opportunities that are not often found in residential landscaping. The homeowners were not only restoring their 1840's era farmhouse, a piece of their family’s history, but also enlarging and updating the home for modern living. The landscape designers continued this idea by creating a space that is a modern day interpretation of an 1840s era farm rather then a strict recreation. The resulting design combines elements of farm living from that time, as well as acknowledging the property’s history as a horse farm, with staples of 21st century landscapes such as space for outdoor living, lighting, and newer plant varieties. Guests approach from the main driveway which winds through the property and ends at the main barn. There is secondary gated driveway just for the homeowners. Connected to this main driveway is a narrower gravel lane which leads directly to the residence. The lane passes near fruit trees planted in broken rows to give the illusion that they are the remains of an orchard that once existed on the site. The lane widens at the entrance to the gardens where there is a hitching post built into the fence that surrounds the gardens and a watering trough. The widened section is intended as a place to park a golf cart or, in a nod to the home’s past, tie up horses before entering. The gravel lane passes between two stone pillars and then ends at a square gravel court edged in cobblestones. The gravel court transitions into a wide flagstone walk bordered with yew hedges and lavender leading to the front door. Directly to the right, upon entering the gravel court, is located a gravel and cobblestone edged walk leading to a secondary entrance into the residence. The walk is gated where it connects with the gravel court to close it off so as not to confuse visitors and guests to the main residence and to emphasize the primary entrance. An area for a bench is provided along this walk to encourage stopping to view and enjoy the gardens. On either side of the front door, gravel and cobblestone walks branch off into the garden spaces. The one on the right leads to a flagstone with cobblestone border patio space. Since the home has no designated backyard like most modern suburban homes the outdoor living space had to be placed in what would traditionally be thought of as the front of the house. The patio is separated from the entrance walk by the yew hedge and further enclosed by three Amelanchiers and a variety of plantings including modern cultivars of old fashioned plants such as Itea and Hydrangea. A third entrance, the original front door to the 1840’s era section, connects to the patio from the home’s kitchen, making the space ideal for outdoor dining. The gravel and cobblestone walk branching off to the left of the front door leads to the vegetable and perennial gardens. The idea for the vegetable garden was to recreate the tradition of a kitchen garden which would have been planted close to the residence for easy access. The vegetable garden is surrounded by mixed perennial beds along the inside of the wood picket fence which surrounds the entire garden space. Another area designated for a bench is provided here to encourage stopping and viewing. The home’s original smokehouse, completely restored and used as a garden shed, provides a strong architectural focal point to the vegetable garden. Behind the smokehouse is planted lilacs and other plants to give mass and balance to the corner and help screen the garden from the neighboring subdivision. At the rear corner of the garden a wood arbor was constructed to provide a structure on which to grow grapes or other vines should the homeowners choose to. The landscape and gardens for this restored farmhouse and property are a thoughtfully designed and planned recreation of a historic landscape reinterpreted for modern living. The idea was to give a sense of timelessness when walking through the gardens as if they had been there for years but had possibly been updated and rejuvenated as lifestyles changed. The attention to materials and craftsmanship blend seamlessly with the residence and insure the gardens and landscape remain an integral part of the property. The farm has been in the homeowner’s family for many years and they are thrilled at the results and happy to see respect given to the home’s history and to its meticulous restoration.

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