As soon as you walk through the front door of Lance and Laura’s home — a handsome and massive door of wrought iron, mahogany and glass that was custom designed in California — you know you’re in a dwelling that has been well planned and lovingly crafted.
The couple has traveled extensively in Europe and elsewhere, and they wanted a home that evoked the French chateaus they had so enjoyed visiting on their vacations. “No matter where we travel, we look at the architecture and how the buildings are built,” says Laura. “As soon as we knew we wanted to build our own home, we began making a wish list of features to incorporate.” To aid in their planning, they also clipped photos out of magazines.
Lance and Laura were both raised in the West Bend area, and they had been living on Little Cedar Lake. “It just wasn’t for us because we never used the lake,” says Laura, adding that they are both very busy in their careers. That set them contemplating about where there might be a more fitting place to build a home that would better suit their needs and lifestyle.
Designing Their Dream Home
Lance and Laura say they love to eat, and are active with a group of people who share their passion, rotating around to each others’ homes for dinners and parties. In this group are David and Lisa Moore of Moore Designs in West Bend; David is a builder and Lisa is an interior designer. Once Lance and Laura found the perfect parcel of land — five wooded acres on Cedar Creek in the Town of Polk, near Slinger — David and Lisa sat down with the couple to plan the construction of their dream home.
The house was built at a careful and measured pace, three years, in fact; it was completed in 2005. The exterior stone and brick-work alone took a year to complete. The result is a showcase of Old World construction techniques, a timeless and striking home that combines a historic feel with modern conveniences. “We wanted an old look, with heavy wood,” says Lance. His family, which has been in the building business for several generations, has its roots in Germany.
Mapping out the Floor Plan
Of the 6,700 square feet in the home, 3,100 are on the main floor, which has a great room, kitchen, master bedroom suite and den. The exposed lower level, with three guest bedrooms and a rec room, takes advantage of the light and warmth from the south-facing windows. Also on the lower level is an interior office for Lance, who can dash in, all muddy, from the garage and take care of business without tracking mud through the rest of the house.
An upper deck off the great room and lower-level patio extend the usable space in the home, also allowing the couple to view the wildlife that inhabits their grounds: birds, deer, turkey and fox.
Above the two-level garage is a bonus room with its own kitchen, wood-burning stove and balcony that looks out over the creek. “Being in the room is like sitting on top of the trees,” says Lance. An elevator shaft has been roughed in should the bonus room ever need to be turned into a mother-in-law room.
Among the items on the couples' wish list was a traffic pattern that would allow guests to flow through the house and a kitchen large enough to hold many guests for sit-down dinners at holidays and on special occasions.
“We decided not to have a dining room because we would probably use it only once or twice a year,” says Laura. “Our kitchen is always the heart of gatherings of family and guests, so it’s more practical than a dining room tucked off to the side.” The large kitchen table, when placed on the diagonal, opens up to seat 20. Between the kitchen and the great room a see-through limestone fireplace, with charming uneven brickwork, creates a cozy ambiance. So do the ceiling beams, which were recycled from an old barn, planed down and cleaned up.
Fulfilling Their Wish List
The kitchen is a chef’s delight, with a work island, double oven, six-burner stove, microwave, main dishwasher, wet bar, and under-counter fridge and ice maker, plus spice racks that pull out from either side of the stove. There is also a pantry, adorned with a custom-made sliding door with Old German-style stained glass, that contains a dishwasher and sink. “When we’re entertaining, we close the pantry door to hide the mess,” says Lance.
Other wish-list touches abound: Brazilian cherry floors, natural stone entrance and hallways, and cherry newel posts adorned with intricately carved finials in an artichoke shape. The walls are of drywall with heavy knockdown and some orange peel. “We didn’t like the look of sand mixed in with the paint,” says Laura. “It didn’t look old enough.”
Neutral, earth-tone colors are used throughout, creating a sophisticated and soothing effect. In the great room, which is dominated by a large leather couch, the three main colors — moss green, burgundy and gold — are carried through in the side chairs and the 12-by-18 wool rug.
The master bedroom suite contains an Old English-style leather bed and built-in television cabinet. The showpiece in the master bath, even though it has contemporary amenities including a walk-in shower, is an old-style tub that the couple had fitted with a whirlpool. Because the master bath is secluded behind a landscaped berm, there are no window treatments, which brings the outside in throughout the seasons.
Enjoying the Adventure
In the hallway between the master bedroom suite and the den, their love of travel and adventure is most evident. Among the many treasures brought back from the couple’s journeys are a telescope from St. Thomas, a globe from Curaçao, a turtle stone from the Great Barrier Reef, a glass boat from Italy, a boat hatch from Brazil and even a stone from the Berlin Wall.
There are also photos of the travelers, who take one big trip a year, in settings around the world: in front of the Sydney Opera House, on a Cape Horn cruise, at Uluru Rock in Australia, at the Coliseum in Rome and on the Panama Canal. The adventure mementoes include a photo of Lance skydiving and a framed scarf he wore when running with the bulls in Spain years ago. “I wouldn’t do that today,” he laughs.
The couple's love of entertaining shines in the lower-level game area of the recreation room. Among the many attractions enjoyed by guests, especially their nieces and nephews, are a pool table, large touch-screen television, dart machine and racing game. Gazing out at the festivities from the corner of the room is a shark suspended from a pulley, a souvenir from a fishing trip. Adjacent to the game room is a curved gray-and-black granite bar — complete with microwave, wine cooler, fridge and ice maker — that looks out onto the patio.
More than anything else, the couple's careful planning has resulted in a home that works well for all types of entertaining, including cocktail parties, buffets, intimate sit-down dinners and fundraisers. “This house is everything we hoped it would be and more,” they say.
