Email
Print
FeedKeeping Up With The Joneses
A career brought then to Orlando 28 years ago, but their dream home keeps them here today
Photos by Elizabeth Birney-Pierce and Garry pierce, Art Dimensions Inc.,
except where noted
What brought the couple and their two daughters to Orlando in 1981 was the opportunity to help the family business expand into other cities. Tom is a third generation male in his family’s residential home-building industry. His grandfather started the Jones Company in St. Louis in 1927, and Tom’s father, Robert, later purchased the company in 1964. Although Dallas-based Centex Homes acquired the Jones Company in 2003, Tom is still involved with his family legacy.
“We were going to go to Orlando for two to three years tops,” recalls Linda. “We didn’t know anyone there, and I remember Tom being more excited to move than me.” The couple lived in a rental house while their new residence in Orlando was being built. Shortly after the completion of that 3,600-square-foot home, their son was born.
For 25 years, the couple’s three children grew up in the dwelling that Tom had designed and built. After their first grandchild was born, the couple decided it was either time to remodel or build something new. Now with three grandchildren, and hopefully more on the way, the couple is confident that their conclusion to build anew was the best option.
A wish is a dream
When the Joneses first toyed with the idea to take the big step to build, they looked at the house that Tom’s father had recently built in St. Louis. They admired all the modern conveniences and thought, “Let’s just start over,” says Linda. The couple lived in a subdivision just down the road from their new house’s locale. That location appealed to Linda, who decided one day to venture out and look for a lot on her own. The couple had previously toured a Street of Dreams event and found they liked the homes built by Dave Brewer Inc., a custom luxury home builder that has been building in that area for 37 years.
“At our first meeting with Dave, he told us to come back with a wish list,” says Linda. She laughs that that project was easy, as she had spent a fortune on magazines, which were then organized in notebooks with dividers.
“We love to entertain, so we wanted plenty of space for any type of gathering we might have. We truly wanted to build the house of our dreams,” says Linda. As she further explains, their new abode wasn’t built just for Mr. and Mrs. Jones, it was designed for friends and family to relax. Once they got started thinking about their wants and needs, the square footage grew and grew. The couple foresaw a formal living room where family and friends would feel relaxed enough to put up their feet. Their dream list called for space for their children and their growing families. Now when their daughters and their families visit, they each can have their own suite, including a storybook nursery built for each of the grandchildren. The Joneses anticipated their son moving back home after returning from college, so it was important to incorporate his own entrance into the house to maintain his privacy. Linda and Tom both wanted an office, but she also wanted a craft room. They definitely required an elevator to be installed so that transporting holiday decorations up and down floors would be a breeze and as they grew older stairs wouldn’t be an issue.
After describing their wants and needs to Brewer, architect Bernie Johnson of Johnson Estate Designs, came back with a design that “almost nailed it the first time,” Linda states. The model that was eventually conceptualized is set on two lots, giving the Joneses around two acres of land. The house is positioned to the left of the property, so that a park-like area containing a walking path and a waterfall could be integrated. The plantation-style house has six bedrooms, eight full and two half bathrooms, a grand dining area, sports bar, theater room, craft room, two offices, two laundry rooms and more. Storage was an important consideration for the house, as the Joneses had very little at their previous addresses, therefore, two enormous rooms over the garage were enlisted to fit that bill. The 21 total rooms combine for a sum of 15,000 square feet, plus 6,000 square feet of outdoor living space.
“Dave and Tom clicked right away. It was a great experience working with them, especially since Tom is in the business,” shares Matt Trask, business director for Dave Brewer Inc. “They had a lot of confidence in us, which was great.” Trask adds that Lewis Green, the project manager, is the smartest in the business and was a tremendous asset to the project. “He knows everything about everything to do with building homes, and it was important to have the best guy in the industry on this project.”
Personal design
Working with interior designer Betty Cox of BDC Interiors was a match made in heaven. “From the first time we met, we just loved her,” says the proud homeowner. “Even if she was not our designer, she would be our friend. We were always on the same page. I love her taste. Betty is a wonderful person and very easy to work with.”
Linda maintains that she and her husband are not formal people, so they wanted a house that would be livable, with their personal touches being added continuously. “We had five warehouses full of things we have collected over the years, and now we are down to two. It was like Christmas unpacking everything,” she says.
Cox and the homeowners bounced ideas back and forth, and came up with a comfortable home where guests can feel at ease. Linda adds that they use every room in the house, and that all of them are warm, comfortable and inviting—no “museum” rooms here. She reports that the house is spacious enough to entertain large crowds, such as the roughly 200 guests at their daughters’ co-baby shower, not to mention the large Christmas party with 300 people and the Super Bowl shindig held at the house since they moved in last year.
Cox was able to design aspects of house and furnishing she has never done before, such as the monogrammed dining room chairs. She shares that Linda’s walk-in closet is to die for and offers creative personal touches, like the faux-painted walls with rhinestones in the shoes, necklaces and purses. She adds that the master bathroom is marvelous with its basket weave travertine stone floor.
“Linda is such a lady and was fun to work with. We worked hard, but played hard too. We would laugh all the time. They are a blessing and will be friends for life,” smiles Cox.
It’s all in the details
The amount of detail that went into the house is phenomenal. The moulding and trim work seen throughout the house adds exponential value, while the faux-painted walls and ceilings create character and whimsy. Linda is in awe that Kathy Bailey, one of the faux painters, was up on scaffolding, climbing over banisters to create the spectacular grand entry dome ceiling. When taking prospective clients through the house before the couple moved in, everyone was impressed, according to Trask. “It blows away any Street of Dreams house I’ve ever seen,” he says.
The elaborate pool area, with striking hardscapes and gas tiki torches is another showstopper. The pool is divided so that a person can swim under the screen and lay out on a sundeck to catch the rays. Both ends of the pool have a beach entry, too. There is a grotto and waterfall with seating underneath as well as an island that has seating and a multi-tiered fountain. Fiber optic lights are present for a little chromatherapy and a fog system produces a mysterious and ever-changing atmosphere. Tropical plants add greenery and life to the setting. There is a bocce ball court just beyond the pool, which is a big hit at parties.
The area also serves as an outdoor living room. Linda laughs that their house has a split personality: a traditional plantation home in front, a tropical atmosphere in back. “We had a beautiful back yard in our old house and we wanted a tropical paradise in this house,” she says.
Select sanctuaries
Linda is an enthusiastic gift-giver, so her mandated craft or “wrapping” room, as she dubbed it, was designed to the hilt. “It’s my own little world. Everything in it is about me,” she chuckles. This vibrant room is accented with European touches, such as a multicolored hand-blown glass chandelier with crystal beads from Merino, Italy. The room is not only beautiful, but fully functional. There are certain spots for scissors, and ribbons are color coded on floor-to-ceiling rods in four shallow closets. An entertainment center houses the television, while drawer after drawer contain gift bags and an island holds 275 rolls of wrapping paper.
It was not as easy to pin down Tom’s one favorite space in the house, as he seems to equally love three: the sports bar, the kitchen and the pool area. As Cox says, “Tom knows what he likes and knows what he wants. He loves his sports,” so a sports bar in the house was a no-brainer. The room consists of a stocked bar, a copper tile ceiling, a pool table, a poker table and more sports memorabilia than eBay has to offer. Seven televisions throughout the room can show as many different sporting events. “I would put Tom’s sports bar up against any sports bar throughout the country,” adds Trask.
Tom loves cooking, according to Linda, so the kitchen was an important element in the design process to him. “His joy is to cook for people,” she adds. The kitchen was appointed with every convenience, including all the high-end stainless steel appliances one could imagine. Two islands, one with enough space for five barstools and one that matches the rich dark wood seen in the ventilation hood above the stove, also offer sinks and ample amounts of storage and countertop space. Multiple light fixtures, a stone tile backsplash and hardwood floors round out the list of amenities in the kitchen.
Linda concludes that Tom also loves the lanai. Daily he sits outside enjoying the sunshine or watches one of the four televisions on the lanai.
“This house is only as good as the people we were surrounded by,” beams Linda. “Dave and Betty took us by the hand and walked us through the process. I can’t say enough good things about them.”
}