Dream Home 2015

The 2015 Dream Home - a 5,999-square-foot, five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath, stucco in Southlake’s Carillon development - is built for entertaining. Visitors enter into a “uni-room” - an open kitchen, dining and living space with a 22-foot atrium ceiling and a view of the second-floor landing. Two 15-foot-wide, three-panel, sliding-glass doors open onto a covered patio with outdoor kitchen, dining space and lounge with fireplace. Push the button on a remote control, and three motorized sunscreens protecting the patio retract, revealing a saltwater pool with 10-person hot tub, two fountains and two linear fire boxes that shoot fire into the air.

“On a spring or fall day, you can put 400 people out here, and it wouldn’t feel crowded,” Jon Atwood, this year’s Dream Home builder and industry veteran, says.

Inside the home, which Atwood listed for sale at $1.6 million and sold during framing, the play features don’t stop.

The kitchen includes a six-burner, double-oven Thermador range. Atwood also custom-built a 280-bottle sealed wine fridge that’s already full of bottles shipped in by the home’s new owner, who owns a chain of grocery stores and is moving into the home with his wife and their two college-age children.

Tucked just off the kitchen, a 690-square-foot game room includes a built-in bar, TV lounge, space for pool or game tables, and wiring for three TVs. There’s a powder room in a hallway between the kitchen and game room for guests, and a side door leads to a wood-screened outdoor shower for pool users.

“This home is definitely geared toward an entertaining haven,” Dorian Stacy Sims, president of Stacy Furniture and Design, decorator of this year’s Dream Home, says.

The Dream Home, done annually in partnership with Fort Worth, Texas magazine, is an opportunity for builders and contractors to showcase their best.

The home will be open for tours Sept. 26-Oct. 25. Gross proceeds from the $10 tour ticket sales benefit A Wish with Wings, a nonprofit that fulfills wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people annually pay the $10 admission.

Atwood, who lives in Carillon in a villa home he put up, has built 22 villas of between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet and two estate homes of between 4,000 and 10,000 square feet in the development.

The 1100 Lake Carillon Lane home is his second estate, and the new owner, who is moving from nearby, already has extra equity. Another prospect offered to buy the home for substantially more than what Atwood sold it for, says Atwood, who forwarded the offer to his buyer.

“He’s already been offered to flip, and he said no,” Atwood says.

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Living Room

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Best of the Lot When Atwood was recruited to serve as this year’s Dream Home builder, he pitched a large corner lot just inside the entryway to Carillon and facing a neighborhood lake and trail system. It’s also a short drive to Texas 114 and Southlake Town Square.

“I had a fantastic lot, which I think really is the best selling feature,” says Atwood, who got his start in 1996 selling garage doors and fireplaces, went to work for a builder in 2001, and then went out on his own in 2009 when his boss died.

Growing up in Colleyville, Atwood was always around construction, hanging wallpaper, laying bricks, cleaning windows, selling garage doors and fireplaces. He got his first big break into homebuilding when a builder, impressed after Atwood spotted a plumbing problem on a job site, shut the water off, and called the plumber, offered him a job.

“I knew when the garage doors came in, and I knew when fireplaces came in,” and he was talking to framers and drywall contractors in the process, Atwood says. “I was already talking to subs.”

The job Atwood accepted was the one he held from 2001 to 2009, until he went out on his own. He estimates he built 100 homes working for the one builder and 40 since he’s been out on his own.

When his boss died, Atwood took over the four projects they were working on and finished them.

“I just parlayed that into my building career,” he says.

Atwood bought three lots in Carillon in 2012 coming out of the recession. 

“I built one spec house,” he says. “I sold it before I could even get it framed. It just kind of kicked off.”

Carillion opened up its estate lots for sale - 12,000-22,000 square feet in size - in December last year.

Today Atwood is under contract on 11 estates in the development for buyers he’s already sold to. He’s also building in three other communities similar to Carillon - Clariden Ranch, Watermere South Village, and Torian Place.

“I never saw myself as a builder,” Atwood says.

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Kitchen & Dining

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Drawn in a Week Atwood drew up the Dream Home plan in a week with architect Jon Bolton and interior designer Maria Mock, longtime collaborators.

Atwood was looking for a “transitional” style, between Southlake’s “Old World” and modern.

Old World means heavy textured walls, stained woods including cabinets, dark hardwoods, stone and brick interior walls, divided light windows, yellow blown glass and twisted wrought iron light fixtures, dark, oil-rubbed bronze plumbing fixtures, Atwood says.

“Brown and black and chocolates,” he says.

Transitional means “light and bright, less is more, more creams and light grays, white painted kitchen cabinets, LED lights, clear glass light fixtures, polished chrome fixtures and hardware, simple trim, simple stairs,” he says.

“Old World still does well in Southlake,” Atwood says.

But more and more, he hears customers say, “I don’t want Old World anymore. It’s depressing, dark, it’s not inviting. I want to live in what I see in magazines.”

Atwood estimates about 90 percent of his clients are moving from within the region. Many are downsizing, but others are simply swapping old for new, including the Dream Home buyer, who is moving from a home roughly the same size in Southlake.

The 2015 Dream Home’s Mediterranean exterior is highlighted by an unusual, durable multi-coat stucco finish and a concrete tile roof. The exterior finish began with concrete that was rolled on over a fiberglass mesh that covered the entire exterior. Then an acrylic finish was rolled on over the concrete.

Lighter treatments - in the cabinets, trim, stone, tile, carpet, fixtures, paints, furnishings and accessories - flow from room to room. Atwood uses the same materials in multiple rooms, including walnut floors in the Dream Home. Tile treatments are either vein cut porcelain or ceramic.

With the sliding glass doors and sunscreens open, the great room’s living space sweeps from the entry to the pool. The 1,400-square-foot interior family, dining and kitchen space doubles in size with the glass doors open.

“It just screams Southern California,” Atwood says.

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Master Suite

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The Uni-Room: Multipurpose The uni-room is a concept Atwood likes to incorporate into his designs. He estimates he’s built 40 homes since he went out on his own - 90 percent built for a client, 10 percent spec.

The 2015 Dream Home includes multiple uni-rooms.

Besides the family-dining-kitchen great room and the multi-use “man cave” game room, bar and TV lounge, Atwood built a utility room that doubles as a mud room and craft room with lockers and opens into a garage.

As in other rooms in new homes, today’s buyers want multiple uses incorporated into their man caves, Atwood says.

“We’re not doing strictly media rooms anymore,” he said. “They want a pool table in the game room, or they want it right off the pool, or they want to be able to drink and hang out.”

The Dream Home logically has three dining areas inside. The white, leathered Taj Mahal quartzite island countertop in the kitchen includes a sink on one side and a breakfast bar on the other. The space between the kitchen and living area sets up well for informal dining. And for formal occasions, a formal dining area sits next to the entry.

“They’re really going to live right here at the bar,” Atwood said in a recent interview at the Dream Home. “All my guests eat at the bar.”

The covered patio is its own uni-room. The kitchen includes a gas and teppanyaki grills, the latter being one of the few changes to Atwood’s plan ordered up by the new owner. It also includes spaces for a patio set and lounge in front of the gas fireplace, which Atwood set up with a Texas Bonfire gas logset. Atwood wired the room for TV and speakers. The retractable screens drop the room’s temperature about 20 degrees, he said. The ceiling is cedar.

Operation of the pool is designed for ease, with a remote control working all functions of the hot tub and pool, including the fountains and lights. The linear fire boxes are manually operated only, for safety.

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Bedrooms & Bathrooms

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Simplicity in the Great Room Atwood’s focus on light colors and simplicity is most visibly on display in the Dream Home’s great room.

He uses white vein cut porcelain tile in the entryway and corridor connecting the great room to several other rooms. Atwood complements that with light-colored, easy-maintenance walnut floors in the great room and adjoining study. The master suite just off of the great room includes the walnut floor in the bedroom. 

The stairs to the second floor and banisters are walnut, and rails are straight with no twists. Paneling, trim and cabinets are also walnut.

“It stains out easier, and it’s a pretty look for a stain,” Atwood said. “The grain on the walnut doesn’t have the big knots in it.”

The clean appearance of the porcelain, which Atwood also used on the soaring fireplace facade, works well with the walnut, he said.

“There’s a synergy between the two,” said Atwood, who trimmed the fireplace porcelain with walnut and Centurion stone. “I think it keeps it kind of cozy.”

Atwood lit the room with three, ceiling-mounted round pendants, five efficient LED lights per fixture.

It won’t necessarily be easy to replace the bulbs once they go out, but, on the other hand, “that bulb’s going to last you 10 years,” Atwood said.

The foyer, dining room and kitchen also feature clear glass fixtures. “No candelabras; it’s clean,” Atwood said.

The kitchen includes white panel-front cabinets, including panels hiding the refrigerator-freezer and microwave oven. The wine room and an ample butler’s pantry sit behind the kitchen.

The kitchen island includes a four-foot-wide stainless sink from The Galley that includes removable teak cutting boards, two strainers, two mixing bowls and a dish rack, at $4,000 for the kit. The kitchen also features a second one-foot-wide Galley sink, at $1,000.

The quartzite is “harder than granite,” Atwood said. “You can take something straight out of the oven, put it on here, and it’s not going to burn it.”

The polished $13,000 Thermador comes with six burners, griddle, and two convection ovens - gas for the burners and electric for the ovens. The kitchen comes with a wall-mounted spigot above the range for easy filling of pots with water.

Atwood built the 18-square-foot wine room, looking for the ambience he’s seen in restaurants like Bob’s Steak & Chop House and JR’s Steak and Grill. The one-zone refrigeration system cost $2,000, racks $3,000, insulation for the walls $500, and glass door, $1,200. For the rear wall, Atwood used the same stone he used to trim the fireplace and entryway in the great room. 

The refrigerator is currently set at 59 degrees. It’s already displaying a collection of La Crema, Clos du Bois, Kendall Jackson, Cline, Charles Krug, 667, Sonoma-Cutrer, Rodney Strong and Gallo wines - the owner’s favorites.

“Some of these wine rooms can be $30, $40 grand,” Atwood said.

He’s incorporating the same concept into another home he’s building today, except “we put it in the man cave.”

Atwood’s light treatments extend into the master suite. The master bath includes a double shower, two vanities with mirrors wrapped with the metallic linen-woven wallpaper that’s inset in the bedroom ceiling, white tub, and big walk-in closet with built-in shoe racks.

“It’s a very calm and peaceful room,” Sims says of the master suite.

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Common Spaces

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Enter the Designers When Atwood finished the home this summer, he turned it over to the Stacy design team, which had already consulted on the color paint palette. The designers spent two weeks in August furnishing the five bedrooms, game room, living and dining spaces, kitchen and great room for the Dream Home tours.

To the company, which did a Dream Home several years ago, it’s an opportunity to highlight its repositioning within the last several years from the low-priced leader it was when owner Rick Stacy founded it in the late ’80s.The company saw the opening after Gabberts left the market in 2005 and Robb & Stucky in 2010. It’s positioned itself with a full range, from entry pricing to the high end. Today Stacy has showrooms in Grapevine, Allen and Plano and is interested in a Fort Worth showroom.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to showcase the variety of what we do versus the perception of what we do,” Sims said. “Everyone thinks we’re brown, traditional. With the exception of one or two rooms, everything here is a step away from how we’ve been perceived.”

Stacy’s team worked closely with Atwood to follow his vision for the home and with the new owner and family, who will have the opportunity to purchase the pieces.

“We didn’t want a museum; we wanted something that was livable and inviting,” Sims said.

She describes the feel of the furnishings as “more casual and contemporary, but not extremely contemporary.”

And it was important to the designers that each room complemented the others.

“We were very deliberate in having the color palette flow through the house,” she said.

“We pulled our color palette from the Mediterranean with soft shades of taupes and grays in our main upholstery pieces and rugs reminiscent of the sand and shore, splashes of aqua from the sea and yellows for the sun,” Sims says.

In the great room, Stacy’s designers set several vignettes in the open space.

“The great room space was intended to be bright, light and inviting all while comfortable and serene,” Sims said. “We were very purposeful to select furnishings and accessories that would complement the clean architectural lines and further the welcoming and open spaces. We truly believe in this home, less is more.”

Guests entering the foyer are greeted by a baby grand piano. The lounge in the living space includes sofas and chairs in light fabrics positioned in front of the fireplace and wall-mounted flat panel television.

The breakfast area between the lounge and kitchen has a table - a glass tabletop with woven base in driftwood tones - flanked by two curved banquettes. The four counter-high stools in the island dining area have complementary fabrics in subtle gray.

In the man cave, Atwood did the bar in walnut, and he preserved the concrete floor, staining it.

The room has a leather serpentine sofa and drink holders - a nod to the new owner’s wishes - facing an 85-inch plasma TV.

The Stacy designers also outfitted the room with pool and game tables. The Dream Home’s new owner owns a pool table. And “they do play cards,” Sims said.

“Our selections for the downstairs media room were centered around creating a casual, yet sophisticated masculine hideaway,” Sims said. “The blue tones are deeper and very inviting, perfect for the big game or movie night with the family. The space is designed for entertaining in comfort, with plenty of room for a game of pool or just relaxing after a day of swimming.”

The designers put a wall unit bookcase in the hallway connecting the man cave, pool and exterior shower entry, kitchen, and powder room that could be outfitted with baskets with towels and other supplies for the pool.

The designers viewed the master bedroom as a “spacious and comfortable retreat,” Sims says. “The color scheme was designed to be visually calming with soft yellows, greens and golds. You’re able to relax with a great book or a morning cup of coffee in the cozy nook. Clean lines on the furniture are also consistent with our modern, more sophisticated theme.”

Upstairs, the motif continues The landing, which overlooks the great room below, connects three bedrooms, a game room, and a study room. All three bedrooms have full bathrooms; one of the bathrooms also is a community bath. The upstairs also features two balconies facing the lake.

The game room, which opens onto one of the balconies, is shaded during the evening. The designers outfitted the room with a flat panel TV and lounge.

The designers incorporated more yellows and tomato reds to create a warmer, more casual space.

“We wanted it to be a little lighter, little more relaxed,” Sims said.

The study includes two built-in desks and a window bench.

Atwood says the approach to the home should be in style for years. Other than the grill and extra kitchen sink, the buyer of the 2015 Dream Home asked for no other changes, he said.

“Not one lighting fixture or one (piece of) hardware,” he says. “They are the dream client.”

Transitional should mesh well with the next design movement, he says.

What will that movement hold?

“I think the movement will be to more contemporary,” Atwood says. “I’m already seeing it. Glass staircases. No crown moldings. Tons of tile on the walls.”

But that may not be far from what he’s just put in on Lake Carillon Lane.

“I think this house will stand the test of time,” he said.  

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Vendor List:

Aaron Ornamental Iron Works

3501 Locke Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.731.9281, aaronornamental.com

Alliance Drywall Inc.

P.O. Box 1725, Colleyville, Texas 76034, 817.577.0661, sheetrocker.com

Atwood Custom Homes

P.O. Box 93615, Southlake, Texas 76092, 817.505.8881, atwoodcustomhome.com

Century Granite & Marble

695 E. State Highway 114, Southlake, Texas 76092, 817.329.9499, centurygranitemarble.com

Durango Doors of Fort Worth

4015  W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.368.5709, durangodoors.com

Ferguson, Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery

3433 W. 7th St., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.348.8489, ferguson.com

Fort Worth Billiards

2312 Montgomery St., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.377.1004, dfwbilliards.com

Fort Worth Overhead Garage Door LLC

1709 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.713.5519, overheadgaragedoorllc.com

Gladiator Fence

Mansfield, Texas, 817.381.9880, mansfieldfencecompany.com

Hunter Trim and Cabinets

2873 Tinsley Lane, Fort Worth, Texas 76179, 940.841.0025, huntertrimandcabinets.com

Ideal Partners

6913 Camp Bowie Blvd., Suite 181, Fort Worth, Texas 76116, 866.573.1795, idealpartnerstx.com

IMC by The Stone Collection

2100 Handley Ederville Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76118, 817.698.5500, imcstone.com

Interceramic Tile & Stone Gallery

6318 Airport Freeway, Haltom City, Texas 76117, 817.834.8491, interceramicusa.com

J&S Air Inc.

7307 Business Place, Arlington, Texas 76001, 817.695.1840, jsair.com

J. Bolton & Associates

700 N. Carroll Ave., #100, Southlake, Texas 76092, 817.251.9393, jboltondesigns.com

J. Caldwell Custom Pools

5744 Boat Club Road, Suite 200, Fort Worth, Texas 76129, 214.549.0554, caldwellcustompools.com

Loveless Gutters

6816 Harmonson Road, North Richland Hills, Texas 76180, 817.590.2583, lovelessgutter.com

Masonry Custom Designs

201 Broadway, Azle, Texas 76020, 972.822.3875

Overhead Garage Door

1709 White Settlement Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 800.471.4505, overheadgaragedoorllc.com

Pierce Decorative Hardware and Plumbing

4030 W. Vickery Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.737.9090, piercehardware.com

Prewitt Electrical Services Inc.

3809 Parchman St., Suite D, North Richland Hills, Texas 76180, 817.589.1050

ProBuild Building & Construction

8701 Sterling St., Suite 180, Irving, Texas 75063, 972.621.2233, probuild.com

ProServe Plumbers

11255 Camp Bowie Blvd. W, #120, Aledo, Texas 76008, 817.900.8276, proserveplumbers.com

Red Oak Insulation

P.O. Box 277, Red Oak, Texas 75154, 972.617.0740, redoakinsulation.com

Stacy Furniture and Design

1900 S. Main St., Grapevine, Texas 76051, 817.424.8800, stacyfurniture.com

Steinway Hall - Fort Worth

3717 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.665.1853, www.steinwaypianos.com

Texas Custom Window & Door

3800 Pelham Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76116, 817.909.0179

Texas Tile Roofing

2616 Weaver St., Fort Worth, Texas 76117, 817.838.6100, texastileroofing.com

Homes by The Anderson Group

850 Texas 114, Southlake, Texas 76092, 817.313.8004, homesbytheandersongroup.com

The Kitchen Source

3116 W. 6th St., Suite 101, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.731.4299, thekitchensource.net

The Sherwin Williams Co.

1451 Keller Parkway, Keller, Texas 76248, 817.431.2841, sherwin-williams.com

Universal Systems

2960 Wesley Way, Fort Worth, Texas 76118, 817.589.9966, fortworthhometheatercompany.com

Vintage Floors

3004 W. Lancaster, Fort Worth, Texas 76107, 817.877.1564, vintagefloors.co

Wells Glassworks

P.O. Box 542191, Grand Prairie, Texas 75054, 972.206.2624, wellsglassworks.com

Yard Art Patio & Fireplace

6407 Colleyville Blvd., Colleyville, Texas 76034, 817.421.2414, myyardart.com