Featured in the May 2013 issue of "House Beautiful Magazine," SANDBOX designed this home for a young and expanding family from the San Francisco area. To meet a desire to spend family time in the Tahoe area, the 3,800 square foot home was designed to comfortably accommodate large family gatherings in style, yet still capture the cozy feel of a mountain cabin. The home flows well between the indoors and outdoors, with large glass window/door walls on both sides of the Great Room, spilling out onto front and rear terraces, as well as decks serving many of the upper level spaces. With a dramatic southern exposure, SANDBOX successfully captured sun and views of Northstar Ski Resort from virtually every room. Photo (above) by Vance Fox of the South/Front Elevation, showing multiple decks, terrace with firepit and the glass door wall.
The Read family hails from both the East and West coasts of the United States. Thus, SANDBOX created a home that blends visual influences from both regions, melding Tahoe and California Bungalow styles with a New England Cape influence – all with a little contemporary twist on the interior. The result is a home that is architecturally interesting, appropriate for its context and timeless. Photo (above) by Vance Fox showing the Great Room, with its vaulted ceilings, large stone fireplace, and folding glass doors on both sides of the room, providing for Northstar views, terrace access and a great indoor – outdoor flow!
Photo (above) by Vance Fox shows the newly completed galley-style Kitchen, where the melding of rusticity and subtle modern elements is evident. The clean lines of the Walnut cabinets, Limestone counters, flamed Granite floors and tile work, are complimented by the rustic reclaimed, hand-hewn beams above. While not visible in the photo, a casual, sunny, glass-enclosed Breakfast Nook, with built-in banquette, sits conveniently to the left of the Kitchen, with the more formal Dining Room to the right. Also visible in the photo is a cozy Office Loft above, accessed from the Master Bedroom and overlooking the Great Room.
Many ‘green’ sustainable building technologies have been incorporated into the home, including passive solar design, soy-based insulation and reclaimed wood for the interior finish treatment. While the exterior wood siding is not reclaimed, it was treated with a maintenance-free aging solution to give the home the look of weathered barnwood, yet with no future maintenance applications required! Photo (above) by Vance Fox showing the Rear/North Elevation of the home under construction, with the beautiful and timeless combination of weathered wood and artful stonework.
The rear of the Read Residence backs to a very private area of largely Forest Service land, and SANDBOX took full advantage of this in the design. Photo (above) by Vance Fox shows the folding glass door wall and multiple windows/doors looking out/accessing the large, partially covered terrace – perfect for entertaining, with a stone seat wall, sunken spa and outdoor cooking area.
While cozy in its feel, the open floor plan and numerous windows throughout the home dispel the typical notion of a mountain cabin as dark and cramped. The Dining Room, visible in the above photo by Vance Fox, looks out to the forest, and has sliding glass doors accessing the covered Dining Terrace, as well.
The juxtaposition of the rustic reclaimed Fir throughout the home, with the clean and refined dark Walnut cabinets, modern tile and counter finishes, creates a beautiful dynamic and illustrates the successful integration of Tahoe and ‘city modern’ influences. This is evident in the above photo by Vance Fox showing one of the guest baths.
A stairway constructed of rustic Fir and Oak (above left) leads from the more masculine-feeling, ‘Tahoe rustic’ lower level, to the more feminine ‘New England Cape’ feel of the upper level bedroom area. The Master Bath (above right) is finished with more refined marble counters, a lighter pastel paint scheme and wainscotting. Photos by Vance Fox.
The Master Suite is light and bright, incorporating the 'New England Cape' feel, with windows and a deck to capture morning light and fantastic mountain views to the south of the slopes of Northstar.
