Great Room

As you enter the great room, you think to yourself, it is called properly, for it is truly great. The south wall forms a V overlooking the lake, as though the house itself is leaning toward the beauty and serenity beyond. There are three sets of matching double doors that lead outside from this room. These doors came from a large mansion located in Argentina and are over one hundred years old. The two in the center of the room, facing south, have transoms above them that can be opened to allow fresh air into the room without opening the entire door. They stand over ten (10) feet tall and are built from virgin mahogany.

You pause for a moment. These doors came from a large Argentina estate? They look like the type of door Evita would have walked through. Perhaps she did. You wonder if she ever touched or even passed through them. It is very possible. If only these door could talk. What stories they could tell…. The lilting song, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”, softly haunts your mind.

Great Room Doors

On either side of the south doors, there are bay windows with window seats that extends beyond the house and out onto the deck.

They each have storage under the seat to keep blankets, pillows, or perhaps toys. Lovely pillows placed on the seat will make a comfortable place to relax and take in the serenity of this oasis. Can lights have been placed in the ceiling of the window seats because this would be a very cozy, serene, place to sit and enjoy a good book while resting here.

Another pleasant idea is to sit in the bay with a glass of wine while enjoying the view. A time of relaxing, regrouping, a wonderful place to unwind. Outside one can watch the wind dancing with the trees, the birds flitting from limb to limb, fish jumping in the lake, and, occasionally, a deer or two will wonder by.

This south wall rises 24 feet high, in the center of the room. Above the doors is a catwalk that surrounds three sides of the great room. The south side of the catwalk is wall to wall windows. There are even more windows above these windows. These windows are situated so one can gaze at the moon as it glides across the sky, watching as it goes from a sliver to something so large it seems you could reach out and touch. The full moon makes dancing shadows in the room and seems to give off fairie light.

The view from the catwalk is great. to decorate the high walls, to add interesting items , and, when necessary, to clean the upper windows.

The beams are stained mahogany so they don't "blend" in but stand out. After all, a post and beam home should show the posts and beams.

There are two matching ceiling fans suspended there. They have lights that can be turned on facing down or up, for a more gentle lighting effect.

Here we find the third set of matching doors. However, although the same style and wood, these are smaller in size and do not have the transom. They open to a covered, screened area of the deck the designer calls the summer kitchen.

The bar is long and inviting. A perfect place to enjoy a casual meal or to chat with the chef as they prepare a meal or snack. It is also a comfortable place to sit and eat a snack while watching the big screen television. An area on the east wall is designed to hold a big screen television set.

Looking to the north you realize the foyer is beautiful from this angle also. You also get a good look at the elevator door. What a convenient place for it to reside.

Dividing the Great Room from the Foyer are large beautiful columns. The giant columns are part of the beams that hold up this magnificent home. However, they are not just "posts".
Custom woodwork adorns beautiful giants.

What ambiance these make. Have a full moon, these gas lights and a fireplace and you could not have a more romantic atmosphere. Wow!

Looking up you see the beautiful columns rise on up through the second floor and form a barrier for a gallery that overlooks this room. The columns above have been custom made to match the fabulous columns that stand below them..

By looking up, you can tell that from the gallery you can go east or west to the upper areas of the home.

The door to the top elevator opening is an antique door from England. Stained glass, and an old mail slot, and a lovely handle decorate the door. The handle is set high, as is the custom of this doors age and style.

These pictures show the column at the end of the bar, between the great room and the kitchen. Two sides of the column are just like the others. However, the other two sides have glass blocks in them. Behind the glass blocks are paintings. The great room side has butterflies, the kitchen side has fruit. Rope lights give a soft light shining through the glass presenting a serene glow to the pillar as well as the rooms. This post, as well as the long bar, acts as a divider while still maintaining the beautiful matching wood in other parts of the area. This column is truly delightful.

The east side of the room is THE piece de resistance, the focal area of the room. The owner designed a very large, extremely unusual, entertainment center and had it built against this wall. The picture can not do it justice.

This unit holds a large screen TV, dvd player, satellite box and any and all other equipment that would be needed or wanted in an entertainment center. It also will hold as many as720 DVD's. Like to collect DVD's? This unit will hold them. This is in addition to the DVD's that the bottom entertainment center will hold.

One of the most difficult things, when changing out equipment such as televisions, DVD's, stereos, etc. is getting behind them. The designer has taken care of this problem.

Behind the entertainment center, are two, very large, antique pocket doors. They make a lovely statement in the office/den room and, when opened, they "face" the back of the entertainment center, thus making it easy to make adjustments or changes to the equipment in the cabinet. Pockets have been made for these doors to slide into, keeping the original idea of the "pocket" alive. These beautiful old doors still serve a purpose. (The picture on the right was taken before the beautiful entertainment center was built.)

Next to the entertainment center is a mammoth fireplace. This custom designed, custom built, fireplace is a great addition to this room. This large, see-through fireplace rises the full two stories of this room. The over-mantle is on the second story. The fireplace is open to the Great Room and the Office/Den/Game room that lies just to the east of the Great Room. It now has gas logs in place. However, it can easily be converted to a wood burning fireplace, if so desired.