2011 Home of the Year

Architect: Bickford + Co.   l   Builder: Cornelius Homes   l   Interior Designer: KW Interiors

Patient is one word to describe the owners of this dream home. More than 10 years ago, they purchased 20 acres of land with nothing on it but trees, two ponds and a barn. But they had a vision for the future. Converting the barn into loft-like living space, they bunkered down for a year — with two small children — while they built a log cabin a couple hundred yards away. (Coincidentally, that home won Ashner Construction a previous Home of the Year award back in 2000.) Charming though it was, with only one bath and growing teens, it wasn’t meant to last forever. So they formed a team including Kirk Cornelius of Cornelius Homes, Michelle Angerer and Scott Bickford of Bickford + Company, and interior designer Kyle Weinstock to build them a new place.

Kyle Weinstock and Kirk Cornelius

Having had a decade to fully understand and appreciate their unique site, they decided to position the house near the other two structures to get continued use out of them and face directly into the deep forest that eventually reaches the Kaw River. That particular location needed significant engineering on two sides: up front, where the two ponds were combined into one along the driveway, and in the back, where the bowl-shaped lay of the land required 30-foot piers.  

Their choices pay dividends in drama. Bickford, who used uninterrupted “view walls” to seamlessly integrate the indoors with the outdoors, calls the house “transparent.” Every room connects to the environment just outside the walls as though they are one. A gorgeous palette of natural materials and an open, continuous flow of rooms make it a home worth waiting for.

Click here to see the Gold Award Winners and Subcontractors

Click here to see the Silver Award Winners and Subcontractors

Click here to see the Judges