Author: Laura Drummond

The Treehouse at Williams Creek couldn’t be more aptly named.

As the driveway winds up the secluded 10-acre Afton property, it passes a creek before delivering you to the hideaway on the hill. What appears from the exterior as a modest dwelling expands into a luxurious 3,200-square-foot space the moment you walk through the front door. The entryway, which is actually located on the second floor of the home, provides an immediate “wow factor,” as you are greeted with a breathtaking view of nature, eye level with the trees surrounding the home. 

Like so many details of the house, the entryway was thoughtfully planned by the homeowners, local attorney Rachel Horvath and her husband Chris LeBlanc, owner of NOLA Build & Design in Charlottesville. Horvath handled the vision, while LeBlanc and his team designed and built the home. “I do a lot of this for a living, but Rachel was a huge inspiration for how to be in the space,” says LeBlanc. The second-story entrance, for example, was inspired by a design Horvath had seen in a Western desert abode. 

Horvath and LeBlanc make their home in Charlottesville, but built this retreat as a weekend getaway for their family. “Like most people these days, we lead very busy lives,” says Horvath. “We wanted a special place where we could relax, breathe, and take time to appreciate the stunning nature that this area has to offer. For our family and our guests, the Treehouse provides a welcome retreat from the chaos.” 

They chose this location in Nelson County for the privacy and outdoor space it affords, but also for its close proximity to the popular 151 brew trail and other nearby attractions. “We love the convenience of living in Charlottesville, but it’s nice to be able to be in the country,” says LeBlanc. “It’s peaceful. It’s close to everything. It’s a great space for the kids to be able to run free.” 

Self-described entertainers, Horvath and LeBlanc wanted to ensure the layout would balance private spaces with gathering places. The entry level consists of three of the four bedrooms and three full bathrooms, so guests don’t have to bring luggage up and down stairs. The open-floor-plan ground level is where everyone gathers, with its two-story living room, a party-prep-ready kitchen, and a dining area featuring a custom-built table that comfortably seats 12. One bedroom and a full bathroom are located on the ground level adjacent to the kitchen to accommodate single-story living. 

With four sliding glass doors on the ground level, the flow between interior and exterior is seamless. There’s ample entertainment space on the patio, including a 10-seat dining area and a spacious seating area. There’s also a fire pit for cooler-weather outdoor celebrations, and an in-ground hot tub with an outdoor shower. 

With two growing children and now-realized plans to list the home as a short-term rental property, the homeowners carefully chose materials that would be low maintenance and “that could take the wear and tear,” says LeBlanc. They selected radiant-heated concrete for the flooring and soapstone countertops from Alberene in Schuyler. In the living room, the fireplace is poured concrete with casework, and the mantel is constructed from wood felled on the property. Benches inside and outside the home were made from ash trees salvaged from the land clearing as well. When it came time to furnish the space, Horvath opted for simple, modern décor that would keep nature as the focal point. Calming views of the landscape are available at every vantage point in the home, making it a true rural retreat.

Where is the balance between traditional and modern? After purchasing a ranch home in Albemarle County, a young family went searching for just that—and found it in the kitchen. Hoping to strike a balance between the home’s traditional architecture and their own mid-century modern aesthetic, they turned to Green Mountain Construction. While other parts of the home underwent renovation, the kitchen—the most important room in the house for a growing family—became the magnum opus.  

Green Mountain started by combining the home’s original kitchen and dining room, crafting a spacious eat-in space filled with natural light. Cabinetry was updated, and a sizeable island with bar-style seating was installed. “We did a mix of modern millwork in terms of all flat-panel cabinetry and edge pulls for hardware,” says Shannon McCall, Green Mountain’s head of creative process. “Then we balanced that with warmer, more traditional materials like a marble mosaic backsplash and warm wood finishes for the cabinetry.” 

The clients selected an appliance suite that worked exactly for their needs, including an induction cooktop and separate combination oven unit. The cooktop blends seamlessly into the island’s modern black quartz top. The flush-mounted exhaust—an advantageous alternative to a traditional hood—disappears into the ceiling, maintaining the spacious feeling of the kitchen and keeping the windows free from obstruction.  

The space is sleek, but the stars of the show are details you can’t see. Green Mountain has an extensive interior cabinetry design process that starts with the clients taking a complete inventory of their kitchen items, accounting for every pot and pan, spatula and spoon. “It can be painful for the clients, but so worth it when you go to put your things away and there is space for everything,” says McCall. The design team then considers the list, along with factors like how frequently the family uses the kitchen, how they move within it, what they use most when cooking, and their possible future needs. They pay particular attention to existing pain points—where do family members run into each other? Which drawer is a black hole for utensils? Are they left-handed and working in a kitchen built for a right-handed cook?

Once the considerations are fully accounted for, Green Mountain gets to work, collaborating with cabinet fabricators to customize cabinetry that will meet the needs of the clients. “It’s like putting together a puzzle,” says McCall. Once the process is complete, the result is a kitchen with a place for everything. “We leave the clients with a map, so they remember it was all planned for, and where to put it away,” she says. “We make sure there’s extra space as well.”

The uncluttered appearance of the kitchen is matched by the practical interior components, like vertically divided drawers, so pots and pans can be stored for easy access rather than stacked. The convenient storage system is one of the most enviable aspects of the room. “It makes the kitchen feel fully customized to the family,” says McCall. “I think it makes a difference in how they live day-to-day.”

In the case of this particular family, they have a specific pizza routine, so their pizza utensils were grouped and stored in a central spot. They also do a lot of canning, so Green Mountain built shallow cabinets on the backside of the island that perfectly fits canning jars. The family also has young children, so a drawer was designed to primarily serve as baby bottle storage now, but it is also equipped to house reusable water bottles, keeping it useful even as the family grows. 

“The family knew what they wanted and were able to convey that, so we were able to create something that really functioned for them as well as felt more like them than the original house,” says McCall. “This was a great house that had been built well. It was nice to write the next chapter in its story.”

A two-car garage is a luxury rarely afforded to residents of the quaint neighborhoods in downtown Charlottesville. Tucked behind a single-story home is just that, although its mere existence is not its most remarkable trait. This carport is equipped with solar panels generating enough power to charge an electric vehicle—and more.

The first of its kind in the area, the carport was part of a larger home renovation project that began in April 2021 and took about a year to complete. It all began with homeowner Beth Bonner’s desire to reduce her carbon footprint. 

“I am a scuba diver, so I have seen what our excesses have done to the ocean and ocean life,” says Bonner. “I really wanted to try to make this house as energy-efficient as I could. I drive an electric car, and I wanted to be able to charge that off the grid.”  

A substantial undertaking, this project was a collaboration from start to finish. Dan and Alex Bracey of Bracey Designs completed the architectural design; Halcyon Contracting handled the construction under the charge of principal/owner Justin Pincham and project manager Gary Dettra; and Kelly Faust of Crux Solar provided the technical support and solar build-out. 

Initially, the team discussed installing solar panels on the roof of the carport. Inspired by the pergola on the roof of Common House, they decided to create the roof entirely out of Lumos solar panels instead. “There’s no other structure in that roof,” explains Pincham. “There’s no framing or deck—the panels are the roof.” 

The roof functions in the same way as any other solar panel array, but with a sleeker, more streamlined design. The siding incorporates design elements from the home’s exterior and lets even more natural light in for an efficient and elegant result. The double-sided solar panels are angled to maximize the amount of sunlight absorbed from above as well as to collect the reflective light from the floor’s surface. Producing an estimated 12,432 kWh annually, the system fully charges Bonner’s electric car, with any excess energy expending to the home, and then to the Dominion Energy power grid. 

While the solar carport is a rarity for now, it likely won’t be the last in the area. “I started Halcyon about 10 years ago, and this is our first solar charging carport,” says Pincham. “In the future, these kinds of installations are going to become more common.” One can see why. In addition to an aesthetically pleasing carport, the home now has greater energy-efficiency, which presents cost savings both in terms of tax credits and monthly expenses. “The project turned out beautifully,” says Bonner. “I could not be happier.”

“You can do irrefutably impossible things with the right amount of planning and support from intelligent and hardworking people and pizza,” says writer Scott Gimple. Rockpile Construction’s masterpiece pizza oven is a testament to that assertion.  

The team at Rockpile had just completed a custom-built home in Albemarle County when the clients approached owner Bill Norton about an additional project. They wanted to cook up a wood-fire pizza oven that would be the focal point of their grilling patio, and Rockpile delivered. The finished product is, in a word, bellissima! 

Though it was a smaller-scale project than is typical for the construction company, Rockpile displayed the same attention to detail and care as had been done for the clients’ home. “We’re known for undertaking challenging projects,” says Norton. “I’ve always wanted to build a pizza oven for a client. They’re a wonderful way to entertain guests because everyone loves to build their own pizza.” 

Norton initially modeled the design after a pizza oven he built for his own home nearly a decade ago. Forno Bravo provided the initial specifications and the ceramic insulation for the fire chamber. Norton then made modifications to align with this home’s particular aesthetic, gathering special ingredients from its exterior to incorporate into the project. The base, fire chamber, and veneer consist of the same stone used on the home. The copper-clad dome complements the roofing of the home itself. Here, form meets function, as the copper roof also provides long-lasting protection for the underlying masonry dome. Not to mention, it’s entirely fitting that a pizza oven should harken back to Brunelleschi’s Dome in Florence, Italy.

It was a team effort to hand-build the oven in a matter of weeks, sourcing most of the materials from local vendors. The finished product is an easy-to-use outdoor pizza oven that adds flavor to the homeowners’ gatherings. Norton even got to taste-test his work, as the clients invited him to their first firing celebration. The menu consisted of build-your-own pizzas. Molto buono!