January 27, 2007
Section: Living Well
Page: 04H

Spectacular new house mixes modern amenities with an old-time feel
Terri Dougherty
Post-Crescent staff writer

The Post-Crescent

The challenge for builder John Hofferber was to make a new home look old.
Not old as in crumbling or dilapidated, but as in stately, regal and old-world. This home would be an estate with the aura of a splendid mansion, and all the comforts of a 21st century dwelling.

"We tried to create that old feeling," said Kurt Wismer, who works with Hofferber at BerHoff Homes. "We looked at how they did the old processes, we looked at the type of materials available."

The result is a 10,148-square-foot home, with an attached guest house, seven fireplaces, nine bathrooms and an exterior that looks like it was built with stones from nearby fields and smeared with mortar.

Inside are hand-scraped floors and old brick walls, but also a heating system that uses the latest in geothermal technology and an automated lighting system. The house in the town of Clayton is part of the Winter Wonderland of Homes from the Valley Home Builders Association that begins today.

Hofferber chose 1893, the year his grandmother was born, for the home's target year. The vintage look meant using wide moldings, deep colors in the wood and some planned imperfections.

The lower level walls are lined with reclaimed Chicago brick, purposely laid off-kilter. Some areas of the wall are made to look as if they once held windows, and there's a Guiness beer can embedded near a doorway for a bit of atmosphere.

"The wall is very crooked but it gives you that old feeling," said Hofferber, the founder of BerHoff Homes.

In the two-story great room, windows on the second floor look into the upper-level rooms, to give the appearance that the house has been enlarged. That feeling is enhanced by the brick-lined hall to the master bedroom, which looks as if it may have once been an exterior entry.

"We're trying to pull off the look that it's been added on," Wismer said. "Typically a house that old would have gone through renovations. We devised the look of an addition to create a little bit of that."

In the kitchen, the apron sink and range hood have a dimpled hand-hewn appearance, square nails accent the hand-scraped floor and the distressed white cabinets under the butcher block island look well-worn and well-loved.

The house is old-fashioned only in its style, however. Bundles of wires and tubes in the basement attest to the extensive technology employed in its infrastructure.

There's a security system, and a geothermal system that incorporates a backyard pond to heat and cool the home. In addition, all the home's lights can be programmed from a central area.

But from the floors to the light fixtures, the house evokes a sense of stylish comfort, which is exactly what owner Penny Sutika was after when she envisioned a home built in an old-world style.

"I want to have a house where people can kick back," she said. "It's definitely going to be a house to be lived in.

"We're going to have grandchildren one day, and we don't mind if they scuff up the floor. I want you to come in here, grab a blanket and curl up and read a book."

The home has plenty of areas for entertaining. There's a lower level pub, with a bar, pool table and home theater, as well as a wine cellar and smoking room. Under a beamed canopy in back is an outdoor bar area, and an outdoor kitchen is in the plans.

Sutika, her fiance and three children take hosting to the next level, however, with a guest house and garage that are connected to the main house.

The mood in the guest house is vibrant and upbeat. The brightly decorated cottage has its own kitchen, bedrooms and bath enclosed by walls of lime green, bright yellow and salmon.

"We both have large families and want them to be comfortable," Penny Sutika said. "We want to have our families come visit."

In the main house, she envisions setting up a long table in the hearth room, connected to the kitchen by an arched doorway, so relatives can gather for a meal.

On Friday nights, she expects her teen daughters will invite their friends over for pizza. It won't be the frozen or takeout variety, however. They'll be getting authentic homemade pies baked in a wood-fired pizza oven.

"Every Friday night is pizza night," Sutika said. "Usually the girls get a handful of friends together and we make some pizza."

It's taken almost a year to take the home from the planning stages to completion, and Sutika is more than ready to move in and start enjoying.

"The day the parade closes at 5 p.m., we're moving in at 5:01 p.m.," Sutika said. "We're all going to let our hair down and have fun."

Terri Dougherty can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 243, or at tdougherty@postcrescent.com.


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