H
ouston’s top 20 interior designers combined their creative capacity in Riverstone for this year’s only ASID home tour to design a house like no other for owners Rodney and Tiffany Winkler. While it’s always challenging for more than one designer to integrate their designs into a cohesive vision, this challenge was a little more difficult. Typically, the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) show homes showcase designs and trends in builder homes or model homes where no owner’s influence must be considered. Imagine how that challenge is multiplied when there are 20 designers working together who now also are obliged to consider the new homeowners’ tastes and lifestyle in their collaboration on this immense project, not only majestic in scale, but magnificent in scope.

The 6,682-square-foot Italian villa, Vista Fontana, was built by Teramor Custom Homes. The designers, all affiliated with the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter of ASID, combined their prodigious talents to illustrate the latest trends, designs, technology and more in an innovative fashion, while adhering to a unifying theme — the Italian farmhouse, where (in this case) every room has a fountain/water view.

The Winklers decided on Sugar Land because of its central location to work, friends and family, and chose Riverstone because of its beauty and the lot they found. “We had toured Riverstone and thought the community was beautifully developed,” Rodney said. “The lake is larger and grander than any other community lake we saw, and we also didn’t want any neighbors behind us. This was a perfect choice.”

After eight months of working with Patrick Berrios of Berrios Design, the couple’s dream home was on paper and ready to go to Teramor Custom Homes, which the Winklers selected after touring another of the builder’s Riverstone homes.

The Winklers’ vision is evidenced in every room of the home, but especially in the kitchen where the ceiling soars 27 feet high. “When I told Rodney I wanted a two-story kitchen, he thought I was crazy,” Tiffany shared. “But I love the openness it affords the space, and to me, the kitchen is the gathering spot in the home. The architect designed the entire home around the kitchen.”

The kitchen is adjoined to the family room and the spaces are divided only by an impressive 18-foot stone archway. Tying them together are beautiful Castle Combe smoked, oiled and pegged wood floors and immense wooden exposed beams carved and built on-site. Adjacent to the family room is a downstairs lounge/game room, which was another non-negotiable for this family.

Tiffany explained, “I think it makes more sense to have this space downstairs, especially while the kids are young, so they can be nearby.” The couple incorporated nice soft flooring for the kids to play on, comfortable seating conducive to conversation and pocket doors to keep the clutter out of sight.

Another remarkable can’t-miss feature of this home is the 17-foot custom-designed wrought-iron door, another reflection of the homeowners’ tastes. Rodney designed the iron-work, which is duplicated indoors on the stairs and balcony.

“I was on a flight to London with a pad and pencil and just kept sketching and sketching,” Rodney said. “Tiffany liked my rendering and the builder and iron craftsman made a few suggestions. I was able to come up with something unique and we really love these great doors.”

The Winklers believe the ASID designers embraced their ideas and brought them to life with style, ingenuity and valuable solutions to their list of “wants” for the home. Rodney explained, “For instance, I wanted built-ins along one wall in my study, but we have these three high windows, so how do you do that? Designer Teena Caldwell, who owns boutique furniture store Twenty-Two Fifty Interiors in Sugar Land, devised a shelving and cabinet design that was just perfect.”

Though a bit dazed with the pace of building a show home, the Winklers report that seeing their dream take shape has been exciting, while demanding. The builders, D.C. Peterson and Ken Alexander, agree. They faced their own set of challenges with this design, even though they have built several other ASID show homes. “Our goal is to always provide the ultimate in design and convenience for our home buyers, but the extraordinary quality associated with ASID Show Homes sets the bar even higher.”

To do that, the builders chose to focus on local builders, most of whom are based in Fort Bend County. The aforementioned dazzling front door and the sweeping stair were a collaborative effort of the homeowners and wrought-iron wizard Tim Buchanan, and the kitchen and bathrooms were crafted by Benedettini Cabinetry, a high-end tech shop in Rosenberg. Patrick Berrios, the architect, has his office in Sugar Land.

The interior and outdoor design of Vista Fontana was influenced by the home’s interactive spaces geared towards entertaining, along with five bedrooms and even more bathrooms, as well as the Winklers’ memories of their travels throughout Europe and Africa, and the growth of their family, which now includes their 5-month-old daughter. And, as the name Vista Fontana (fountain view) suggests, the designers also strived to take advantage of the array of fountains which can be seen from every single room in the home.

Legendary Houston designer Kelly Gale Amen speaks of the home as “layers of spaces, visible immediately from the front door, through the foyer, living room and beyond, including the pergola, loggia and bar, infinity pool and lake.” The outdoor spaces (designed by Amen) are canvassed in neutrals and incorporate the concept of dimensional rooms without walls. To accomplish this, each space is surrounded by a 12-inch border of pebble stones around travertine pavers set in a herringbone pattern. The spaces also incorporate Amen’s functional, famous art furniture as well as designs by students from the Zina Garrison Academy.

The master bedroom, designed by Diana Walker with cues taken from the lake view and the Winklers’ desire for a dark and dreamy suite, is embellished with elegant materials and architectural elements such as the stained glass window and the two-story bell tower with Tableau Faux Iron detailing above the tub. Also noteworthy are the tufted headboard which was formerly a gate and the framed wedding dress in Tiffany’s closet, which was an idea she found on Pinterest.

Though rustic in design, the technology in this home is far from antiquated. Incorporating products to control lighting, temperature, audio and video distribution and security is the work of cutting edge company Echo Workshop. A Lutron system utilizes multiple keypads to activate whole-home or single-room lighting scenes — with a single “welcome home” touch button near the garage entry, the entire home is illuminated, while the “goodbye” button has the opposite effect. The same system controls the temperature and shades in the house, while the homeowners can access most of the electronics in their home from any iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iTouch).

Vista Fontana is spectacular in its detail and design, and setting the stage for it all is the Ivy Bend neighborhood, a gated community of 10 properties along expansive Lake Riverstone. “Ivy Bend is one of the most coveted neighborhoods in Sugar Land and a fitting backdrop for the grandeur of an ASID show home,” said Christen Johnson, marketing director of Riverstone.

Proceeds from this year’s home tour benefited the ASID Foundation, an organization that supports interior design research, education and scholarships. For more information, visit asidtgcc.org.

(top photo - The family room, designed by Sharon Staley and divided from the kitchen only by the 18-foot stone archway, reflects a rustic ambiance found in elegant Italian country homes. The exposed wooden trestle beams and the stone columns provide perfect contrast for the tailored sectional sofa and clean lines of the cocktail table.)

Spectacular ASID Show Home spotlights top designer and trends

TEXT by Cheryl Alexander | PHOTOS by Bruce Glass | INTERIORS by ASID Designers
 | DESIGNERS BUILDER by Teramor Custom Homes

This fabulous dining space, by Debra Sabrsula, is a mixture of Old World Italian and contemporary design. The barrel-vaulted ceiling clad in timeless brick complements the smooth plaster finish on the walls. The long, smooth natural slab dining table from John Brooks seems to float above the high tech molded Chinese red chairs. Chairs and antique Italian sideboards from Roche Bobois.