Today, I’m out at the cottage style custom home that McSpadden is building on beautiful Lake Wylie. It is in a gated community just over the bridge in South Carolina (just minutes from Charlotte). The house still has a few months to go before it is move in ready so let’s name this stage “The First Round of Finishing Touches”.

In the kitchen, with its sweeping view out to the lake, we have several new additions. For one, the granite counter tops have been installed. They are simply gorgeous: medium to dark shades of metal greys blended with mother-of-pearl ivory. The design looks chunky with deep grey webbing here and there - as well as little flecks of muted gold that pick up the honey color of the wood floor and the color on the wall. Only one wall has been painted so far – it is that cheery, warm faded lemon color I call French Vanilla. The wall color is also a nice contrast to the stairs which are white with honey wood and (soon to be) mahogany. Some of the appliances have been installed: all stainless (Bosch and Wolf so far – nice!). And the backsplash over the stove is in. Outstanding! Stainless in a bricklaying pattern with ribbons of copper (they look like a row of little blank pennies) running through them. 

But, the show stopper this week has to be the door. Mike Jenkins, the project manager for this McSpadden home, has been telling me for weeks how good the door was going to look. I guess I didn’t have the imagination for it because I was not prepared. The mahogany door is, in a word, grand. It is quite large and impressive in its own right. The top half is a window and the entire door is flanked on each side with window panels framed in the same mahogany. The glass in the door and in the side panels is designed in a modern Arts and Crafts style with different textures of clear glass dominating with only a few stained glass features added. It really is a piece of art.

The overall look of this custom home is truly beginning to emerge and it is one of comfortable, understated elegance. Check back in a few weeks to see the next round of finishing touches!