DINING ROOM

The owner requested a room that would be more versatile than most traditional dining rooms, which she knew from experience aren’t used nearly as often as we expect them to be. In fact, she generally dislikes formal dining rooms. However, she did wish for a “quiet spot to catch up at the end of the day.”

Enter Alexii. The “flex space” she designed gives the owners a room away from normal family traffic where they can sit with a drink and talk about their day—and a formal dining room for those rare occasions when they want a setting for an extended-family gathering or a fancy dinner with grownups.

Most of the time, four club chairs circle a low table in front of the wet bar, creating a quiet lounge near entry points from the kitchen and foyer; out of the way in front of the large arched window are the dining table and its comfortable upholstered chairs.

But move the club chairs, turn the table 90 degrees, drop in a few leaves, bring out the good china and crystal, and they have a formal setting for an elaborate dinner under those gorgeous chandeliers and dramatic barrel-vault ceiling.

Speaking of that ceiling: Ernst coordinated with A&B to construct the barrel vault, whose grand half-cylinder arch is possibly the second-most dramatic feature of the house.

Ernst’s also room’s security relies on the fact that entry is limited to a single door into the rest of the house and one door to the outside via a private, covered side porch.

Through a pocket door off the foyer is the den. A masculine room with dark walls and furniture, it serves as the owner’s home office and retreat. The wood-burning fireplace with a gas insert is handsome with a classical surround and hearth in richly veined granite.

This wing includes the primary suite on the level just above the den, then the bar and lounge on the level just below: this is, loosely speaking, the grown-ups’ side of the house.

DEN (CONT’D)

One request for the owner’s home office was a view of the pool so he could stay connected with his kids and their outside activities. While the windows behind his desk let him see the circular drive, and thus any visitors, the trio of windows on the opposite wall overlook the pool, spa, yard, deck and pavilion.

There’s something so appealing about a curved wall, don’t you think? This mighty cool radius corner is shared by the office and the powder room just off the foyer. The powder room is accessible from the den as well the entry.