A hallway becomes a study in grandness with Venitian plastered walls, a series of stone columns, and a dramatic ceiling of multiple barrel arches.

The architect’s original design was “Old World meets New West.” The house was drawn and bid as a European shell “retooled” with sleek contemporary finishes and furnishings. That concept appealed to the homeowners, who collect museum-quality contemporary art glass and had owned a contemporary home in the Northwest.
But as Minchew discussed interior options, the owners recognized their comfort zone was more Old World than “new.” The designer believes the scale of the house helped them move toward a European style. This change of heart meant everyone shifted gears. Every interior and exterior design detail had to be rethought; each finish reconsidered. 
“The only thing I can liken it to is writing software for a computer,” says the owner. “When you change your focus, you have to go back to the very beginning and rethink every decision.”
Adds Daugherty: “The only thing that didn’t change was the architecture, because we’d always planned on an Old World shell with European arches, bowed rooms and exterior gardens.”

Ornamental ironwork announces a dining room that itself is emblematic of artistic vision. Here, cantera ceiling tiles are inlaid in a complex shell motif

The time line also remained unchanged. “We planned an important party for October and wanted the house completed for that event,” recalls the lady of the house. (It was.)
With new direction, the team launched into overdrive. Sleek finishes changed to earthy, organic surfaces. Color choices shifted to more subtle and natural hues. Timber trusses in the great room were hand-adzed. Doors throughout the entire house were scorped, ceilings etched with frescoes, and walls treated to Venetian plaster.
In the dining room, cantera ceiling tiles were hand-cut and inlaid in a complex, intersecting shell motif complete with a rosette. The motif repeats the pattern of the paved driveway. In the gallery, the floating flat steel ceiling originally planned became a curved groin-vault ceiling with eight barrel arches, notched to let in filtered sunlight that emanates from skylights.  The ceiling is textured with burlap covered with Venetian plaster; the skylights are operative and embedded in an upper ceiling. Eight pairs of cantera columns complement the ceiling decor and line the grand hall like palace guards.
Kitchell praises his superintendent, Rick Coffman, who oversaw the complex project. “Rick loved this house,” Kitchell says. “He was invaluable in keeping the clients comfortable with the direction it was taking.”

Coziness reigns in the  master bedroom, where a fireplace with raised hearth holds the promise of warmth on cooler evenings.

The Old World theme demanded a kitchen with hand-crafted stand-alone furniture, finished to look antique. Pieces are contrasted with contemporary stainless steel appliances. Since the homeowners love to cook, and entertain by inviting friends to work alongside them, their kitchen is not only elegant, but spacious and inviting. It easily accommodates a food prep island, a large J-shape dining counter, furniture, appliances and eating area. One exquisite detail is a hand-painted ceiling fresco that accentuates a raised dome over the kitchen table. The design repeats the star pattern in the custom kitchen tiles.
Old meets today in a serious wine cellar that extends below grade. A curved travertine stairway finished with mosaic risers leads to a separate tasting room that opens to a well-lit “cellar” with storage for 2,500 bottles of wine. Fun details reflect the homeowners’ approach to enjoying life. The counter is fashioned from a slab of granite that sits on a big wine barrel; the brick paver floor is inlaid with faux “signature” bricks stamped “Simons Brick Company 1929.”

A billiards table (background) sets the tone of this inviting and luxuriously appointed great room; entertaining is done here with comfort in min

Thanks to a “feeding room” located off the hallway in the guest wing, even the dog gets special treatment.
All  involved in this luxurious home agree that comfort was the omnipresent design direction. The exception was the entry, where the owners wanted “wow!” The front door is massive, carved in Old World Italian style and accented with beveled leaded-glass sidelights. The rust-color barrel-vaulted ceiling adds to the drama, while a tall glass wall showcasing an outside sculpture garden lends dazzle. Here, an almost life-size modernistic figure on a horse is mounted in a steep-walled water feature.
“That feature was challenging,” admits Jonathan Hille of Berghoff  Design Group. “There is a lot happening here—foundations for the statuary, walls for the water, the design for the water feature, and all the plumbing.”