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Sumptuous Surroundings
What's involved in creating a true custom home

Imagine what your dream home would look like if you had practically unlimited choices and budgets. According to Carl Baker, president of Sterling Development Group LTD in Louisville, true custom luxury homes range dramatically from client to client as these owners have the ability to capture what they really want.

Baker acknowledges that owners of these million dollar-plus homes fall into two categories: Those with “Old Money,” normally 45 years of age or older, see moving into this type of home as a normal course of events. They may want to settle in Louisville areas like Glenview. The “New Money” is usually in their late 30s to early 50s. Both husband and wife may work and they typically have two or three children. These families may choose to build in the estate section of Lake Forrest.

“When I design a home, the first thought is for resale ability,” said Bob Ross of Ross Custom Homes who typically builds in Louisville’s East End and in Lake Forrest. “Then, the second consideration is the arrangement of the home.”

In Lexington there are no more new lots inside New Circle Road on which to build, explains Tom Padgett, president of Padgett Construction Inc., Lexington, who builds between six and eight of these million dollar-plus homes a year. “Consequently, we do tear down older homes and rebuild. However, most of our work is out in the county on farms.”

Mick Kennedy, president of Erpenbeck & Kennedy Builders, Inc., Edgewood, says the prestigious development in northern Kentucky is the Triple Crown County Club estate section in Ridgewood.

In a design process that takes anywhere between 10 to 12 months, sometimes 18, simply planning a true custom luxury home can be overwhelming. Add to that another 12 months or so for construction, and one realizes the absolute necessity for a good relationship with their builder.

“In 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot homes, people know what they want,” Kennedy said, “and they want us to pull it all out and put it on paper. Brick and stone are now favored for exteriors with varied rooflines, octagon turrets, unique diagonals and lots of glass. They want curb appeal; they want sizzle,” he said.

“We spend an enormous amount of time with a client,” Baker said. “We get to know you, your lifestyle, how you interact with your spouse, even how many pairs of shoes you own. As we are a true custom home builder with a licensed architect, the home has to be designed to fit accurately the owner’s particular needs. We’re dealing with a one-of-a-kind complex home.”

Creating your own personal environment can become nearly mind-boggling. As Padgett said, “There is almost too much to choose from. Through our knowledge of construction and materials, we try to guide our clients through this morass so they don’t become overwhelmed.”

According to Ross, the standard in these million dollar dreams includes surround sound in all the ceilings, a wiring system for computer needs and central vacuums. There’s at least a double showerhead in the master bath shower, if not four or five, or a rain showerhead. The marble whirlpool tub is diminishing in popularity as steam showers have taken over for now.

Formal living rooms also seem to be a thing of the past, even in these luxury homes. Usually there is a large “great room” with an elegant, smaller study. A great room almost always has two-story high ceilings while other rooms have ceiling heights of 10 to 12 feet. Media rooms or media areas in great rooms are masterful works of modern technology.

Extensive (and expensive) custom -built cabinetry using the finest woods is also a must for libraries, kitchens and butler’s pantries. Massive moldings are other trademarks. Hardwoods are often used in flooring, and when there is marble or tile flooring, it is heated.

”It is not uncommon for owners to spend $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 on all their kitchen appliances,” Padgett said.

Baker says he often installs $10,000 Viking commercial ranges in addition to brick hearths, commercial hoods and dishwashers with pullout drawers. On the opposite end of that scale, one female client truly insisted she only wanted a phone with a speed dial for her kitchen.

A common feature in the master bedroom suite is separate his and her dressing rooms with their own “morning bars.” They contain built-in dressers with individual storage for all apparel especially sweaters and jewelry, plus a center island so the lady of the house is surrounded by her clothes. Normally, on the woman’s side there is a separate space with a window and a full mirror, a make-up mirror offering perfect lighting, and perhaps even a desk with a personal laptop.

The morning bar contains a coffee maker and a small refrigerator for juice or other beverages to sip while dressing for the day. In the evening it conveniently provides a glass of wine or a cocktail while the owners get ready for bed.

For those who truly can afford to dream, there are site-specific choices, as Kennedy calls them. He can recall building homes with double-acting staircases that have butler stairs going down the back way, and completely finished, heated garages with one bay designed as a car wash.

The lower level video/game room, with its bar and billiard table, is extremely important as it’s where the family really gathers. Even more site-specific are trendy workout areas. One home had a 15-person sauna, a 10-person steam room, three tanning beds, a Nautilus area and a game arcade. Proceed through double doors and you’re in a movie theatre with three levels of recliner loungers. Another home had its own indoor racquetball court in the lower level, while a complete baseball batting cage was constructed in yet another.

One owner designed his shower with three walls of glass projecting out from the house over a five-acre lake to give him the feeling of showering completely outdoors. That shower required three 75-gallon water heaters.

A great perk for the couple who has everything is an indoor lap pool. Only 10 feet long, one swims in place against the current for an excellent workout. Infinity pools are another luxury, with some costing $125,000 alone.

Technology and gadgets certainly aren’t forgotten either. While at his office one homeowner can dial a code on his phone to start the coffee maker at home. The ultimate gadget story, however, goes to the New Yorker who has another home in Lexington. From his place in New York, or anywhere he may be, he can control his Kentucky home’s interior and exterior lighting, mechanical systems, automatic front gate and closed circuit TV.

Of course, furnishing a home of this stature is also in a realm of its own. One decorating source is Wakefield-Scearce Galleries, Shelbyville. Begun in 1947, the gallery today contains one of the largest collections of English antique furniture, silver and accessories in the United States and receives customers from all 50 states plus Europe and Asia.

Pat Burnett, president of Wakefield-Scearce, says they have furnishings for those who just don’t want the ordinary. It’s a throwback to the English taste for the genteel and a love of things that speak of lives lived.

“Most of Kentucky’s elegant homes tend to be very large,” Burnett said, “which is nice to see as it fits hand and glove with antique furniture. They look best in large spaces.”

Deborah Powell, senior designer–builder group at Burdorf Interiors of Louisville, says she gets drawn into every aspect of decorating the home, down to selecting the doorknobs and other hardware. Often owners feel just lost with all the decisions and that’s when a designer is very helpful.

Powell has seen the use of “secret rooms,” where you have to step through a bookcase or hidden passageway to get to another room. Wine cellars and a swimming pool shaped like a cowboy boot provide additional proof that owners’ tastes are simply boundless.

So, it seems it is true: The rich are different from everyone else. They have more square footage.

Life in the Country

Pin Oak Stud in Woodford County is home to one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in the country. Owned by heiress Josephine Abercrombie, her farm’s Palladian country house was designed by noted British architect, Quinlan Terry.

“I was chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee of Rice University,” she said, “and had been looking at architecture. I took examples of what I personally wanted for my home to Quinlan’s office in England. I thought what I had was Georgian, but he told me, ‘What you’re showing me is a Palladian house.’”

So, 13 years ago Abercrombie created her own great Palladian country villa. Andrea Palladio, born in Padua, Italy, became well known in the 1550s for his commissions of palaces and villas for the aristocracy. His ideas were very independent at the time, and some saw them as a threat to Venetian integrity. Yet, his work generated an enduring legacy of recreating ancient classicism. During the 1720s, England became the birthplace of the Palladian revival with the building of Chiswick House near London.

Unlike her mother’s home, Abercrombie chose not to have a triangular portico over the front entrance, as she wanted more sunlight to stream through the windows. Consequently, the four Corinthian columns sit flat against the house supporting a pediment. The Indiana limestone centerpiece and walls of golden Minnesota kasota stone, with their pink highlights, project a breathtaking impression as one approaches.

The architect’s rendering of the rear view of this beautifully proportioned home was on display for a time at the National Gallery of Art in London. A terrace extends across the back, with a double balustraded staircase leading down to the grounds.

Abercrombie said what she likes best is that the basement is on the ground floor which allows wonderful, elevated views from the second floor rooms. Despite the illusion of enormous size, the house is basically composed of only three large rooms on the main or second floor: the living and dining rooms plus the kitchen. An entrance hall and bathroom complete that floor. On the top level are three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Featured in a spread in Architectural Digest (October 1989), the interior is as magnificent as the exterior is grand. Abercrombie hired Anthony Browne as her interior designer, and they journeyed from New York to Midway acquiring English antiques to integrate with pieces she already had. Browne created the draperies and upholstered pieces completing the home in approximately nine months.

The intricately decorated pastel ceilings in the living and dining rooms were designed by Terry. “But, all the carvings and craftsmanship throughout the home was done by Kentuckians,” Abercrombie said.

Amidst this splendor she has amassed an extensive art collection, including a John Herring horse painting, a Picasso drawing of a young man with a lamb, and a bronze sculpture of a cougar and bird by her friend, Englishman John McKenworthy…just to mention a few.

With interests extending from Eclipse Award-winning thoroughbreds and recognition as a TOBA Breeder of the Year to founding the Houston Boxing Association, it’s been said Josephine Abercrombie likes to win. As the only child of James Smithers Abercrombie, Texas oilman, inventor and benefactor to Texas Children’s Hospital, she learned to excel.

With Spuds, her gentle and loving weimaraner by her side, she truly enjoys her Kentucky home. It’s a triumph all of its own.

Stephanie Rommel is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com

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