There are two dirty
little secrets about high-end residential homes that seldom get talked about.
The first is that truly custom homes are
a rarity these days; most are
nothing more than blown up versions of tract homes with a few upgrades like
granite and travertine floors.
Yet you don't hear this, very few people
are calling it like it is and "everyone" now has a "custom" home. The reason for
this is partially associated with the enourmous costs of hiring a great
architect...these guys are not friendly to the pocketbook.
It is also important to point out that if
a builder can just reuse a set of plans and avoid the architect then his profit
margin has just increased exponentially.
The second secret is that the real
high end homes, like the one's you see on TV or those little spots in Beverly
Hills for a cool $45 million, those are built by commercial contractors, not
residential home builders.
Why?
Because of the scale, quality, cost, and
experience with the custom work being done is more in line with a commercial
building than a residential home.
Real custom homes are the brainchild of the
homeowner and architect's imagination. They are unique and not replicated. This
is one of those homes.
Here the sellers teamed up with long-time
and well respected local architect Gordon Longwell to produce one of the most
tasteful and truly livable custom homes in the area.
If you mention Gordon's name anywhere
within 70 miles of the Coeur d'Alene area you'll hear great things. Everyone
knows his caliber of skill and commitment to creating a reality out of a set of
plans.
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View looking toward the city and
river
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Stepping through the front door immediately gives you that "wow" effect.
Your eye goes straight through the open
main room and out to the river view below.
The seller is a peculiar fellow, one of
those guys who does everything to the max.
He wouldn't even let the architect use a
residential builder, he brought in Ginno Construction a commercial contractor
from neighboring Spokane, Washington.
These are the guys working with Gozzer
Ranch (a multi-hundred-million dollar project) as well as local banks, churches,
and even governmental buildings.
Everything is tastefully over-engineered
in this home. For example, what other homes have you seen that have.
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Kitchen
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→ A winch to pull up the firewood
→ An air system that constantly
re-circulates and freshens the air with separate air ducts controlled by a
computer system
→ 220v outlets in all 4 corners of the
shop complete with air hoses
→ A full size 60,000 watt propane
generator that auto-switches within 30 seconds of a power outage
→ UPS (surge protected) wiring throughout
the home for use with expensive computers and electronics
→ Warm and comfy radiant heat in the
master bathroom
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Living room
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→ A full RV hookup with 50 amp service and a 13 foot clearance
→ 2 septic systems, one for the shop and
one for the house.
→ A shockingly effective "Invisible Dog
Fence" to keep fido from bothering the local elk population.
→ Incredible forethought in design and
contemporary style. Like the way you can open a series of upper windows and
create a draft in the home to cool it without the AC in the summer.
→ An entire T-1 line for the Internet
connection. The office itself is actually a fully functional computer server.
→ A commercial phone system with every
sort of connection and option you might want, faxes, voicemails, forwarding, you
name it.
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Office area
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→ An office that would make most "at home workers" get all hot and bothered.
→ A vortex fireplace which is HUGELY
efficient while producing virtually zero ash
→ Speakers in every room and outside, all
controlled with separate volumes
→ Custom bronze water features outside
the front door that could even double as planter boxes if you would like (the
seller had grow lights installed)
→ French style drains in the shop and
garage that keep the snow and muddy water from melting and messing up your
garage
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Entry way
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→ No less than three locations
that you could wash your car indoors, complete with hot water, and one even has
a power washer...of course this has hot water as well
→ Radiant propane powered heaters in both
the garage and the 50x50 shop. Hint, these heat "things" rather than the air,
this way they're far more efficient and much more enjoyable
→ Even the color in the concrete near the
entry way was mixed into the entire batch, this means it won't "rub off" like
most
→ Easy to clean tile on the main floor
made even more robust by epoxy grout rather than the generic stuff they usually
put in
→ Recirculating hot water in the whole
house so you've always got hot water right when you turn on the faucet
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View looking Northwest
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→ Nearly everything that is metal is covered with industrial powder coating
keeping it super clean and as maintenance free as possible.
→ The kitchen counters are even made out
of Caesar stone, not your generic granite. Caesar stone is even harder and
requires zero maintenance
And the best thing about all these
features is that they were built right into the house. They don't look like an
add-on or upgrade, it's just perfect from the get-go and if they're not pointed
out to you they disappear completely.
So that's a brief list of 1/3rd of the
unique features of this home, let's take a look a bit deeper inside.
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Master bedroom with French doors
out to the deck
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The home's floorplan is also
very custom, the shape is almost like a sea shell which fans out from the front
door to the main living areas.
The ceilings slope upward gradually and
dramatically impact the appearance and interior volume of the home.
Clearly the architect and homeowner
shared the same vision of how to capitalize on the enormous views.
Positioned just 5 degrees off true north
this home gently arcs around its focal point and benefits from both the early
eastern morning sun and incredible western facing sunsets.
With the array of windows here you'll
never want for more light.
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Guest bedroom with splitable
design and main and back deck access.
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On the main floor you have all
of your basic day to day living needs. The master bedroom, kitchen, living room,
guest bedroom, guest bathroom, and laundry.
The home is 4,192 square feet with 3
bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. All situated on 10.5 private acres just a few minutes
out of town.
Downstairs is largely made up of the
office which fans out with full size windows all looking out to the prairie and
river below.
Men like shops, and this shop takes it to
a whole different level. Here you have 2,500 square feet (50x50) with huge roll
up doors and plenty of room for all the projects.
A shop is a big bonus for the woman of
the house too, finally you can have all of that crap and bulky stuff out of
sight and out of mind.
All the equipment is negotiable, a full size car lift, air compressors, computer
systems and anything else you might need or want.
Heck, the seller even measured the wind
direction and placed the shop on axis so you can get cross breeze in the summer
with the doors open.
No worries about heat or humidity the
gable fans are automatically controlled. There is also a nice little bathroom
and computer area in the shop. This is super handy when working on cars or
projects and you need to order a few parts of just make a couple phone calls.
This unique home is not justified by
these photos or this description, if you are looking for something special and
this piques your interest on ANY level then you need to see it in person.
The seller is represented
by Joel Pearl of Windermere
208-209-2422
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All information on this website is deemed to
be reliable, but is not guaranteed.
Contact your REALTOR® to verify the accuracy of all information.
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