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Entry-level Homes Making a Comeback

Entry-level Homes Making a Comeback

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Submitted by Sean D. Sullivan, Living Stone Construction Inc.

Entry Level HomeWaist size. College tuition. Kidney stones. Many things in life don’t get better as they grow bigger. Often times, the best things comes in small(er) packages.

In recent years, the tiny-home trend has taken that philosophy to the extreme. But it hasn’t quite caught on with mainstream America. The overwhelming majority of home buyers still prefer to own an abode with ample space in which to live, relax and entertain.

The median size of homes built in 2015 was bigger than ever, and the portion of those homes with four or more bedrooms grew to 47 percent. But so far in 2016, the median home size appears to have reached a plateau, leveling off after several years of gradual growth.

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Rhodo Reno – A Case Study In Right Size Design

Rhodo Reno – A Case Study In Right Size Design

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Sean and Laura SullivanThe Rhodo Reno
A case study in “Right Size” Design
By Sean Sullivan, AMB, CGP, CAPS

My wife (Laura) and I decided to buy a 1960’s rancher in downtown Black Mountain to renovate for ourselves. We liked the feel of downtown and wanted to be close in to the lake, park, pool and center of town. We had our work cut out for us though since the home hadn’t been touched in nearly 40 years!
The 900sf shack sat on a crawl space situated nicely on a corner lot near the golf course. Believers in making all things beautiful, and the desire to give every home we touch “curb appeal”, we first nailed down the floor plan. We wanted to keep as much of the original structure as possible, leaving the two exterior door locations, existing room layouts (virtually the same), as well as leaving the original location of the hallway and common bath. Because we had to combine the two end bedrooms into a master suite, we needed to design a small addition on the back to replace the lost bedroom and give the home a proper kitchen.
We enlisted the help of an architect partner to help create the new style, passive solar design, and get the exterior elevations just right. After that was nailed down, we set out to make this the most efficient use of space we could create. Since most of our clients end up building homes larger than they had originally intended (due to having lower levels on sloping lots), we wanted to show what it meant to “right size” a home.

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Custom Alexandra for Christine Dowd

Custom Alexandra for Christine Dowd

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Alexandra model in Thoms EstateChristine Dowd knew what she didn’t want in a house. She didn’t want what she had, which was a house she’d built whose finishes were so rough she ripped a sweater on a door frame.
What she wanted was a beautiful new house in Thoms Estate, a north Asheville enclave of good taste and friendliness that had a couple of lots she liked. She was out there looking at them one day when a couple who lived beside one of the lots invited her in to look at the home that Living Stone Construction had built for them. Christine loved it (and she loved the couple).
“They graciously showed me around their home,” she said. “They loved their house. It was so well designed. You could tell that someone had taken a lot of time to get all the details right. When I walked out of their beautiful home, even though I’d contemplated other builders, I’d made up my mind to go with Living Stone.”
And so Christine, recently retired as a presenter for Apple, went to see Sean Sullivan at Living Stone Construction, a builder of green and energy-efficient homes whose work continues to win awards for design, function and price points.

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Mountain Modern in WNC

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Watkins poolSarah Watkins knew what kind of house she wanted to build. She just had to find the kind of builder who would love the challenge of creating it as much as she did.

She and husband Casey found the builder they wanted in Living Stone Construction and its president, Sean Sullivan.

“The thing about Sean was that when I presented what I wanted in our home, he loved it,” Sarah said. “It was a bit different from some other projects he had done.”

Sarah had spent a year and a half putting her family home near Asheville together in her mind. Picking up just about every architectural magazine available, she knew enough about what she wanted that she sketched it all out. She knew the textures, finishes and ambience she wanted in the home.

She and Casey visited several builders in the Asheville area. Living Stone was among the last they visited, and they were immediately impressed by the company’s approach, plan and thoughtfulness. They liked that Sean took them to Living Stone job sites to see not only the houses under construction but also the process by which Living Stone built them. They liked that the owners loved the homes Living Stone had built for them.

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Sean and Laura renovate their Black Mountain home

Sean and Laura renovate their Black Mountain home

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Rhodo RenoLaura and Sean Sullivan decided to put Living Stone Construction’s design-and-build process to the test when they renovated their home in Black Mountain.

Sean, owner of Living Stone, and Laura, owner of ID.ology Interior Design, wanted to see how well their in-house process works for the many clients the award-winning team attracts. They bought an older home in a venerable neighborhood and treated themselves as clients.
Through work that raised the roof and added square footage in back, the Sullivans confirmed that Living Stone’s meticulously thought-out process makes renovating an existing home or building a new one as easy for clients as possible.

“I would say that we confirmed that our process does work,” Sean said. “It works very well. And we learned some things along the way to improve the process of our clients going forward.”

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A SECOND National Award for Living Stone Construction

A SECOND National Award for Living Stone Construction

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Best In American Living Award
On January 20th, 2016 Living Stone Construction will be presented a BALA Award (Best in American Living) for “One-of-a-Kind Custom or Spec Home, 2501-3000 sq. ft.” for the Pritchard Hardin Residence, which will take place this week at the NAHB International Builders Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Living Stone has won many awards on both the state and local levels however, this BALA award is the company’s second national honor.

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25 Design Trends for 2016

25 Design Trends for 2016

The modern home is always evolving. And to get an idea of what it’s evolving to, look no further than what’s happening within its walls today. With that in mind, we delved into our New This Week series, sifting through Houzz discussions and data to find out what materials, strategies and concepts will be coming to more homes in 2016.

1. Two-tone kitchen cabinets. Keep upper cabinets white or neutral for a clean, timeless feel, then go crazy with the lower cabinets by playing with various wood tones and deeper colors to take your kitchen in two different style directions.

2. Outdoor fabric used indoors. Outdoor fabrics are becoming increasingly hard to distinguish from traditional indoor fabrics, and many Houzzers are bringing them inside, where their durability makes them perfect for high-traffic dining room and living room furniture, as shown here.

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IRON SHARPENS IRON: Sean Sullivan leads NCHBA to a very successful 2015

IRON SHARPENS IRON: Sean Sullivan leads NCHBA to a very successful 2015

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By Mike Carpenter, NCHBA Executive Vice President & General Counsel

Sean Sullivan’s theme was “iron sharpens iron”. He carried this message in his travels to every corner of the state during his tenure as 2015 President of the North Carolina Home Builders Association (NCHBA). Like iron sharpening iron, Sean strongly believes in the value that NCHBA imparts to its members, both professionally and personally, arises from active participation in the multitude of opportunities that the association offers. This belief is firmly grounded in his personal experience as a member and he freely shares his story both to educate and motivate others.

Sean first became exposed to NCHBA during his tenure on the leadership ladder of his local association in Asheville. He quickly recognized the value that NCHBA brought to his business not only from formal educational opportunities but also from informal networking with other builders who weren’t directly competing with his business. Sean recounted on many occasions how his business volume dramatically increased, and continues to do so, as he put into practice those things he learned by and through his NCHBA involvement. By utilizing his own story as an example, he urged others to become involved—and many have followed his lead.

During 2015, Sean expertly juggled the responsibilities of his rapidly growing business with the duties of NCHBA President and made both a success. He was significantly aided in achieving this result by his delightful wife, Laura, who is a talented design professional in her own right. In addition to Laura’s support, he has a great employee team which he nurtures by exposing them to NCHBA events like the 21st Century Building Expo and Conference. He also received solid support from his excellent Senior Officer team which Sean would be the first to credit with helping him cover the bases.

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Aging in Place Renovation

Aging in Place Renovation

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Here was the challenge: how to turn a family home into one that would keep its owner happy – and in place – for the rest of her life. It was the challenge that interior designer Betsy Edwards met with the help of Living Stone Construction. And it was posed by Annette Pace, who loved her farmhouse‐like home in north Asheville’s historic Beaverdam community but hadn’t lived in it for years.

Annette, who raised her sons in the house, didn’t want to give it up. But being a planner, she was planning ahead and wanted to see if Betsy could turn the house into a pretty home that would shelter and nurture Annette as she grew older.

“She had a real sense of commitment to the property,” Betsy says. “There was a sense of family and tradition there that was hard to give up.”

Betsy, whose business (Betsy Edwards Design) has reconfigured houses, hotels and restaurants all over the world, felt the home’s magic the moment she first saw it. “You could just feel the energy and beauty of it,” she says.

Annette, living elsewhere at the time, had expressed that she wanted to live in the house for the rest of her life. So as Betsy walked through its rooms, she envisioned how they could be changed to accommodate her client’s later years.

Some updating needed to be done, certainly, but cosmetic changes alone wouldn’t achieve the longevity that many homeowners want these days. Aging in place ‐ a term used to describe construction details that allow a resident to enjoy an independent life for years ‐ often means wider doorways and no‐threshold showers. In Annette’s case, it meant a master bedroom suite on the main floor – a space she suggested might be made out of the large room that held the family pool table.

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Living Stone Construction Partners with Kohler

Living Stone Construction is now a distinguished member of Total KOHLER Home.  Living Stone Construction exclusively offers a diverse line of Kohler products and its portfolio of brands.  Since 1873, Kohler Co. has been improving the level of gracious living by providing exceptional products and services for the home.

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