Mike and Andrea Sarvis' new custom home builds on the green mission of Signal Mountain's Boulder Point community with environmentally friendly design and construction. The couple has moved ten times in their marriage, usually refurbishing historic homes instead of buying new construction. But this time, the Sarvises were undeniably attracted to a new development.
Along Shackleford Ridge, sidewalk-lined Boulder Point cultivates a community atmosphere inspired by the historic neighborhoods that the Sarvises love. Already featuring several green-friendly, custom homes, it's the first area neighborhood to be Dark Sky Compliant.
No streetlights or exterior fixtures that produce upward or horizontal lighting are allowed.
"We loved these lots and the builder," says Andrea. "They build the house to the land and try to preserve every tree they can." She and her husband decided if they were going to go new, they would do it right, with consideration for the environment and using reclaimed architectural elements to give their home the character of an older one. They hired a local proponent of green construction, Trey Wheeler of TWH Architects, to rework a mountain home plan they had bought online into a greener, more craftsman-style plan.
Builder Tracy Smith of Blue Hammer Homes brought the plan to life with energy-conserving advanced framing techniques.
"These advanced techniques allow for more thermal mass than conventional framing," says Tracy. "In other words, it allows for the corner of the home and the intersecting walls to be fully insulated." Any would-be gaps around outlets, switch boxes and drill holes are filled with foam to create a quality seal.
Tracy also used environmentally sound materials like Nichiha siding, made in Atlanta, which has the lowest silica content in the industry and is made with reclaimed fly ash, a by-product of coal manufacturing.
Windows have a layered low-E coating that increases efficiency and cuts down on harmful UV rays, says Tracy.
Larry Leigh of Architectural Surfaces helped the couple add their desired, old-fashioned charm to the new house. Reclaimed, recycled and refurbished elements are everywhere, from the glass-front pantry door that came from Cameron Hill to the pendant lamps over the bar that once lit a downtown warehouse.
Friends familiar with custom building advised the Sarvises to put the bulk of their budget into the two or three elements that were most important to them, and the couple followed that advice. Their windows, doors and floors are anything but builder standard. The crank-out windows remind Andrea of the home where she grew up, and the 8-foot-tall interior doors are all solid wood, echoing a long-gone era in home construction. Andrea watched Larry's crew mill their heart-pine floors from reclaimed beams. The same wood makes up the endearingly marked and scarred stairs and banisters that lead to the lower level.
She did her own scouting and refurbishing of antique elements, too. She re-glazed a large, paned window from a South Georgia farmhouse, which was then set into the wall opposite the front door, opening up the foyer substantially. Two phone nooks from a church in Pennsylvania are set into the walls, one in the kitchen and one downstairs.
In the dining nook, which was built to suit their antique dining table with bench seating, she painted the horizontal paneling a bright, barn red. "I think everyone should have at least one red room in their house," she says.
The Sarvis home is a comfortable and casual one with no formal dining area. "If there's a room we don't use every day, we don't need it," says Andrea. The bedrooms are modestly sized, which encourages the family to spend time together, perhaps in the living area open to the kitchen or the terrific covered porch overlooking the tree-lined backyard. Craftsman-style beams accent the gables of the back and front porches and are carried inside to the living room, whose beams were harvested from a cotton mill.
Off the kitchen, where the original plan called for a garage, is now a suite for the Sarvises' two girls with bright pink and neon green bedrooms. Their chocolate brown living and study area balances the brighter tones and allows paintings by Andrea and her daughter to stand out. On the opposite end of the main floor is the serene master suite with a pristine, claw-foot tub in the bath.
Trey's new plan moved the garage to the lower level, which also houses a first-class media and game room, an exercise room with sauna, a craft room and a bedroom suite for their teenage son. This level opens to the backyard and a covered patio with a built-in grill. The patio extends to create a large dining and seating area around an outdoor fireplace, which is wired and prepped to easily mount a flat-screen TV, a paradise for watching the big game.
When Mike and Andrea took on this project, they were warned that building a home would wreck their lives. Although Andrea admits that at times it was challenging, she purposefully enjoyed the process, taking time to give the home personality and make it truly theirs. "I feel very blessed that we had the chance to do this," she says. Now that the process is completed, they have no plans to move again.