By Karin Glendenning
Community News Writer
Nancy and John Pikciunas live on the lake in Soddy-Daisy in a contemporary home with wonderful views of the main channel of the Tennessee River. The house was designed by architect Pat Neuhoff so that the lake can be seen from every room.
On the main level of the house, a pastel color palette makes the rooms bright and airy, as do the high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows on the back of the home. The living room has a stacked stone fireplace whose stonework extends along one of the room’s walls. Bookcases recessed in the stone hold some of Mrs. Pikciunas’s collections of china, and a glass-fronted cabinet on an opposite wall holds more decorative objects, including her collection of porcelain shoes.
The master bedroom is a study in blue and white with its light blue carpet, white love seat, blue and white club chair and blue and white plates hung on the walls. The king-sized bed is covered in pristine white bedding that Mrs. Pikciunas made, including a white damask coverlet and loads of pillows trimmed with crystal beads and white fringe.
Mrs. Pikciunas papered the master bath in a soft floral print in shades of blue, lavender, pink, light yellow and green. The light-filled room with its garden tub and separate shower also has a lake view.
To take advantage of the lake vistas, window treatments in the house have been limited to ones on the windows facing the street side of the home. Mrs. Pikciunas also made these, and they are opulent and show her skill as a seamstress.
The dining room is located between the living room and kitchen in a sort of gallery. Here a crystal chandelier hangs over a glass-topped table and is festooned at its top with a cluster of red silk roses that Mrs. Pikciunas arranged and attached there.
Dark green granite covers the counters and the large island in the kitchen. Its pickled maple cabinets coordinate well with the soft tones of the wallpaper, which features clusters of grapes and fruit. Above the cabinets Mrs. Pikciunas has displayed her basket collection, turning the containers on their sides and filling in spaces between them with trailing greenery.
A screened porch near the kitchen offers a spot for relaxing. “It’s a good place to sit on a rainy afternoon,” Mrs. Pikciunas said. Grapevines woven with white silk flowers and tiny lights wind around the top of the room. The table is set with china with a fish pattern, and two sculptures of fish are centered under the chandelier, fitted with small candles.
Throughout the house are many evidences of Mrs. Pikciunas’s talent for arranging flowers. Bouquets of silk blossoms sit in attractive containers, such as a wrought iron birdcage on a stand in the living room.
Upstairs is another bedroom, where the Pikciunases’ grandsons sleep when they visit. It is decorated in taupe shades, and the bed is covered with an embroidered white coverlet and piled high with lacy pillows. A bonus room, also upstairs, is done in taupe with a black and tan striped sofa and animal print accents.
A deck stretches across the back of the house and overlooks the backyard. Mrs. Pikciunas has planted hundreds of iris and daylilies on the bank, as well as hydrangeas, butterfly bushes, Carolina jasmine and weeping cherry trees. Since this area gets full sun, Mr. Pikciunas has irrigated it with a sprinkler system that he said runs for several hours every day.
The Pikciunases are now retired and enjoy living on the lake. Mr. Pikciunas is a boater and likes to take his grandsons out on the water.
E-mail Karin Glendenning at kglendenning@tfpcommunitynews.com
