330 Homes Spring 2021

d r e a m h o u s e

They broke ground in January 2020, with Don serving as the project’s general contractor, and moved in that October. Devising a floor plan was tough, since the lot was narrow. “It was difficult to find a house plan that gave us the features we wanted inside, blended into the neighborhood and worked on a 50-foot lot,” Don says. “It took a lot of thought.” The solution ended up being an open floor plan which can accommodate many guests while also having clear distinc tions between the rooms. Rather than feeling like the rooms are overlapping, Kara likens a gateway into each area to a proscenium, the large arch that for mally separates onstage performers from the audi ence. “There are three walls in the dining room, and three walls in the kitchen,” she says. “You have that openness, but there’s a definitive room.” Using space efficiently became key. When the Ceas host family gather ings or cocktail parties, the kitchen ultimately becomes the focal point, and Don says they didn’t want it cluttered with a large chimney-style hood over the five-burner stove. Instead, a hidden range hood pops out from under a cabinet with the press of a button. “We wanted it to be something nobody noticed, and this works perfectly,” he says. with a kitchen, dining room and living room,

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