Download - The Carmel Pine Cone

March 26, 2010 The Carmel Pine Cone 7 IYD
I N Y O U R D R E A M S
VIEWS
From page 5 IYD
“We wanted to do something different,” he said of the
Pfeiffer project.
They came up with a creative design that capitalizes on open
spaces, incredible views and natural materials. Ceilings soar
and curve, heavy doors slide instead of swing on hinges, and the
kitchen flows into the dining room, which flows into the living
room. The space is so light, no electricity is needed during daytime,
even when storm clouds block out the sun. And it sits on
a geothermal dome, he said, so barely any heat is needed, either.
“The power bills at that house are almost nothing,” he said.
The roof is copper, the wood is cedar, and Krasznekewicz
selected the stones from a local quarry.
“Every wall is at a different angle, and the curved roof in the
living room almost feels like the hull of a boat,” he said. “We
didn’t want to make it a big house, but we wanted to make it feel
grand.”
That feel is in part achieved by the presence of a door to the
outdoors in every room.
“When storms are happening, you really feel like you’re part
of them,” he said. “The front is the elements, and then the back
is all the garden and the redwood trees and the forest. A lot of
times, it will be raining in front and sunny in the back.”
They used outdoor stucco on the interior, and “we didn’t go
nuts on the finishes,” he said. “We didn’t have a lot of money at
the time. We wanted to make it cool, but without spending
thousands and thousands of dollars on it.”
The floors are No. 2 grade oak, full of knots and whorls.
Galvanized steel in the kitchen was “inexpensive but looks really
beautiful,” and the cement of the large fireplace shows faint
green hues from copper in the structure.
“We use the windows as art,” Krasznekewicz added. “If you
look in that house, every window gives you this special view. We
located the windows so that when you looked out, it would
frame, in a sense, a beautiful painting.”
In the master bedroom, for example, windows were situated
to ensure the best glimpses of the moon in the night sky.
While a contractor worked on the main house,
Krasznekewicz and a neighbor built the garage, and then he and
a friend built the guesthouse, which also faces the ocean with a
large family room/dining area/kitchen and has bedrooms in
the rear that look out upon the redwoods and canyon. One
room has a spa-like feel, where massage can be done indoors or
out, and another contains a Japanese soaking tub.
The third structure on the property is a large, two-story barn
with cement slab floors. Krasznekewicz and his family had
planned to build it in the woods, but the geology on that part of
the property wouldn’t support it.
“So, if it had to be out in the open, we would also make it
beautiful,” he said. “We were going to keep horses and have
beautiful stalls, but what happened was, it turned out so beautifully
that we didn’t want to put horses in it. So we turned it
into an art barn and wood shop.”
Krasznekewicz does woodwork on the ground floor, and his
See DRAMA page 10 IYD
Cedar, copper and well
placed windows make
this Pfeiffer Point home
(right) as intriguing from
the outside as from the
inside. Its owner and
designer, John
Krasznekewicz, worked
with friend and architect
Peter Wormser to create
it, as well as the stunning
Carmel Highlands
house the duo just completed
(below).
PHOTOS/COURTESY JOHN KRASZNEKEWICZ (ABOVE), MARY BROWNFIELD (TOP AND BELOW)
BOBBIE AND DAVID’S
FEATURED
HOMES OF THE WEEK
OPEN SUNDAY 2-4
3195 Forest Lake, Carmel
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950 sq. ft. guest house, plus 870 sq. ft. guest
quarters above the 3-car garage.
Offered at $4,250,000
48 Country Club Gate, Pacific Grove
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Hosted by
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The well-lit, comfortable living room in the Pfeiffer Point
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831.915.8010
BOBBIE@CARMEL-REALTY.COM
CARMEL REALTY COMPANY
ESTABLISHED 1913
DRE # 01136716 and 01171189