The owners of this home both grew up in multi-generational families, where grandparents resided with them. It seemed natural, then, the practice would continue, with the husband’s parents living with them when the couple started having children.
It is an arrangement that has worked well for the extended family, but the couple felt it could be even better. They imagined a larger home with extensive public spaces for entertaining and gathering yet with ample private spaces for each family member, a place where the husband’s parents felt it was also ‘theirs.’ “When we built our previous home, it was all our choices and priorities,” the wife says. “Building this house would be the first opportunity to not only incorporate his parents’ ideas but our boys to some extent. That’s how we started.”
The husband says their goals included having two primary suites on the main floor along with open concept living, cooking and eating spaces for the family as a unit. The couple interviewed several reputable builders, but felt an immediate connection to Jim Tegethoff, owner of Tegethoff Homes. “We had an instant trust with Jim and his transparency in doing things,” says the husband. Jim introduced the couple to Robert Srote, principal of Srote & Co Architects. “Designing a multi-generational home is a refreshing and rewarding challenge,” says Robert. “It requires an artful balance of crafting spaces that honor the unique needs of each generation while weaving them together into a cohesive and functional design. The intrigue lies in harmonizing diverse lifestyles under one roof, creating a home that feels both connected and accommodating.”
Part of the functional design included emphasis on the public spaces including the kitchen and outdoor areas. “Cooking and eating are a big deal in our family,” says the wife. And the husband laughs that “cooking is my mom’s love language. She was very involved in the layout and functionality of the kitchen design.”
And the boys, now entering their teen years? “They were Team Pool all the way,” says the wife. “And the movie theatre was very important. We love watching movies together, so that shared space in the basement was also a priority.”
One of the project’s happy surprises was the family’s introduction to Molly Archeski, Srote & Co interior designer. “My husband had to push me to have Molly as a resource,” says the wife. “We are super organized people who make decisions quickly. I just didn’t think we needed someone to help us with design.” The wife quickly appreciated Molly’s expertise, organizational skills and productivity. “I don’t know if my experience would have been the same without having Molly,” she says.
The interior designer describes the couple’s design style as a “clean transitional” look. “They like clean lines and not too much fussiness when it comes to the details,” says Molly, who also incorporated low-maintenance materials throughout the home.
Molly’s pièce de résistance is the lanai, a favorite of the entire family and the design professionals. Visible from the home’s front entry, the space features an outdoor kitchen, mechanized roller shades to keep heat in and cold out, and a dazzling ceiling treatment which solves an engineering challenge beautifully. “The lanai has a very high ceiling, and we didn’t want to install ceiling heaters and have the heat dissipate before it gets down to where you can actually enjoy it,” says Jim. “We had the electrician run some calculations to determine how much the ceiling had to be lowered. Then Molly went to work coming up with a unique design to not only bring the location of the heaters down so you can appreciate the heat but also create a dramatic effect.” The end result is so beautifully clever it won the Grand Prize in an Outdoor Living Design contest sponsored by heater manufacturer Infratech.
Robert notes that the seamless connection between the lanai and the family room fosters a harmonious interplay between indoor and outdoor living. “This design blurs the boundaries between the two, inviting nature into the heart of the room and creating a fluid, dynamic space for relaxation and entertainment,” he says. A huge glass door retracts to help blur those boundaries, and the door’s installation flush with the floor allows for ease of mobility, especially as parents age, Molly notes.
The lower level is an entertainment mecca, with a bar area, pool table, a movie theatre and a golf simulator. “It kind of started as a joke that we’d make a space for a future golf simulator, and then they decided to go ahead and do it now,” says Jim. “It became a multi-function room with interactive games like soccer as well as the golf simulator.”
Tying all the technology together, from the lanai’s motorized roller shades to the movie theatre, the golf simulator, multiple TV zones and outdoor audio/video, fell to HD Media Systems. “We provided the network, alarm, security cameras, all the distributed systems throughout the house,” says co-owner Drew Balsman. “This project had lots of different systems going and yet it just works because we kept it simple, using tried-and-true practices and gear that we know will achieve the desired outcome.”
The couple says the home has exceeded their expectations. “I think it has brought the family even closer together without us on top of each other,” says the husband. “My parents would probably just say how proud they are, but we notice they have friends come here on a regular basis. At our old house, they always went somewhere else with friends because it was just too tight. They have a larger social life now.”
Both owners give high praise to the entire team—Jim and Tegethoff Homes vice president Matt Cerretti, Tegethoff contractors, Robert and Molly of Srote & Co, and many others. “We loved how much pride they all took in their work, and they treated the house as if this was their own home,” says the wife. “I loved that.” The husband adds: “They all created our dream.”
Resources:
Appliances: Sub-Zero/Wolf, LG, True Refrigeration, American Outdoor Grill
Architect: Srote & Co.
Artwork: Minted
Builder: Tegethoff Homes
Cabinetry: Detailed Designs by Denise, Wrights Cabinetry
Flooring: Kirkwood Flooring, Virginia Tile, MSI
Closet: California Closets
Fireplace: Forshaw
Interior Furniture: Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, David Stine Furniture, Arhaus, Wilson Lighting, Wisteria
Granite Fabricator: Stone Fabricators, Inc.
Granite Supplier: Cambria, MSI, Global Granite, Neolith
Technology: HD Media
Staircase: Kirkwood Stair
Interior Lighting: Metro Lighting, Anthropologie
Plumbing Fixtures: American Standard, Kohler, Moen, Delta
Sunroom/Screens: HD Media
Tile Supplier: Kirkwood Flooring, Virginia Tile, MSI
Window Treatments: Hilson
Wallpaper: York
Pool: Pool Specialists
Outdoor Furniture: Abbyson Living, Ove Decors
Outdoor Lighting: Metro Lighting
Outdoor Kitchen: Forshaw
Firepit: Foreshaw
