Elegant Transformations …
Building his own home allowed our founder, Rob Schmidt, to see a project from a client’s perspective, and subsequently became the project that launched R. Schmidt Construction. Having dreamed of one day designing and building his own home, Rob had his architectural design engineered to suit his preferred building methods. He then hired skilled craftsmen with whom he had long-standing working relationships, which resulted in the finely crafted home you see in this slideshow. Norm Stalder, owner of Norms’ Woodworks, worked for Rob during all phases of this project, which added an additional layer of experience and expertise.
This complex project required careful planning and advanced construction concepts. An entire half of the existing single story house was removed first. Rob and his crew then built two stories in its place, while he and his family lived in the other half. Once the first half was completed, the second half was torn down and replaced with a new two-story structure. The final stage is presently under construction. New doors, porch columns and a paint job will complete the exterior part of this project.
Following are just a few of the customizations and green building techniques implemented to meet the needs of Rob’s family:
- In the kitchen, the hood cabinet is the only cabinet that extends to the ceiling which adds an element of interest to the cabinet elevations. All other cabinet heights were kept lower than today’s typical height for ease of access for Rob’s family, and to accentuate the height of the ceiling.
- Low VOC paints and formaldehyde free building products were used throughout the home to promote healthy indoor air quality.
- Making the home energy efficient was a high priority. Through the use of spray foam insulation, radiant roof barriers, low emissive windows, and the installation of high efficiency furnaces and appliances, Rob was able to create a comfortable living environment for his family that also keeps utility bills low.
- As a special part of this project, the roof was engineered with vaulted ceilings, which gave flexibility over ceiling details. After the majority of the framing was complete, a truer sense of the spaces could be seen and ceilings were added where desired. They were precisely framed at varying heights to work with the different finish elements. The second story has vaulted ceilings and low exterior walls, and along with dormers this created dramatic angles throughout the second floor.
Many other special touches used throughout the Schmidt home are mentioned within the Gallery section of our website. See something you like but not sure how or if it would work in your living space? We can customize these ideas and more to work for you and your home. Let us know what you have in mind.