A Thousand Ideas

Dillard-Jones home builders know that if a picture is worth a thousand words, an actual home – wrought of stone, wood, steel, mortar, glass, and ample creativity – is worth a thousand ideas.  With their “Idea Home” approach, Dillard-Jones offers a means through which prospective homeowners receive more than a sampling of the firm’s impressive work; rather, they experience a dwelling in real time and space, thus deriving distinct inspiration for their own unique home.

Twenty-two years ago, when Candice and Courtney Ryan visited Lake Glenville, they knew they would one day make this beautiful area their home.  Two decades later, they now dwell happily in High Hampton, where they worked with Dillard-Jones to create a signature Idea Home of their own.  What they found when they engaged the team at Dillard-Jones was a turn-key experience.  Dillard-Jones brought everyone to the table needed to bring the Ryans’ hopes to fruition.  From the first meeting to move-in day, each carefully selected detail came together, yielding a fine home that is as personal as it is functional and as elegant as it is welcoming.

Building a custom home is an ambitious project.  It is a project that requires expertise and perseverance.  It requires faith that, eventually, the seemingly endless decisions and uncertainties will transform into an actual place—your place, where you can go to relax and rest your head.  Plans, drawings, and precedent images help communicate a vision to a homeowner; however, even for the experienced viewer, it is impossible to get a genuine sense of how a project will develop from plans alone. Two dimensions and scaled models, no matter how detailed, can never substitute the experience of being in a fully-embodied three-dimensional space.

Dillard-Jones embraces the concept of the idea home to inspire their clients and to bring a measure of comfort into the somewhat daunting process of building a luxury home.  The Idea Home is a vehicle for communication – it offers a visual reality and a sense of what could be.  It presents the finishes, textures, and fine details that define a signature Dillard-Jones creation.  When walking through a fully appointed space, the visitor gets a glimpse of what it might be like to live there: to wake in the morning, to eat a meal, to hang a damp coat and the dog’s leash after a brisk walk, or to celebrate a holiday.

In many ways, a Dillard-Jones Idea Home presents more than an example of a beautifully built fine dwelling; it is a preview of what working with Dillard-Jones and their associates entails.  It becomes obvious that such refined craftsmanship and subtle attention to detail could only be achieved by a team that builds a relationship with its clients, listens to their wishes, and pours those distinct elements into the finished product.

For their home in High Hampton, the Ryans found just that.  Once they opted to purchase a lot and build a home, their realtor introduced them to Dillard-Jones.  They toured a house in process at Lonesome Valley.  Impressed, the Ryans started doing their homework and shared several Zoom meetings to discuss what building a Dillard-Jones house meant. After a dinner with the entire team in Greenville, they knew they had found their home-building partners. Building principal Tom Dillard, principal architect Stefan Young with DOMA, and interior designer Baylie Weeks with Tribus Interior Design shared a relaxed meal with the Ryans that Candice believes set a more personal tone as the project progressed.

Over the years, Dillard-Jones has assembled a suite of aligned businesses to meet all the needs associated with their projects.  DOMA Architecture, Tribus Interior Design, and Village Millworks are core aspects of the Dillard-Jones process, which persists after construction with Dillard-Jones Services, an arm of the business that offers concierge maintenance services.  For Dillard-Jones, a turnkey experience means assisting even after the keys have been handed to their client.   From nascent concepts and siting of the home to stocking firewood before a holiday, they believe in what they describe as a “design-build-dwell-maintain” model.

The dwell aspect is what distinguishes their firm.  The Dillard-Jones team hopes that by considering every detail, from the dishes in the cabinets and extra towels in the linen closet, to orienting deck furniture toward the sunset, they can transform a luxury house into a warm dwelling.  Their goal is for the client’s first night to feel like home.

Candice and Courtney Ryan love the way their own dwelling was made to feel just like theirs: personal.  With both their children in college, it was important to make a home where they too would like to visit—one that was comfortable and welcoming for family, friends, potential family members, and their Labrador retriever Marvin.  They designed the kitchen with a view of the great room, as Candice loves to be in the kitchen but wanted to remain a part of their family’s sports-watching while doing so.  The “Carolina Room” is the Ryans’  favorite room in the house, although technically it is outdoors.  With a vaulted ceiling and multiple seating options, it flows seamlessly off the kitchen, offering impressive views of Rocky Mountain and High Hampton’s notable golf course.  A large fireplace, television, screens for summertime comfort, and heat to warm the winter months have made it the heart of their dwelling.  The home also boasts a large first-floor porch that connects directly to a generous lawn for all the competitive activities the family enjoys.  On this terrace level, there is a giant swing—a perfect place to nap, read, and take in the fresh air of the peaceful surroundings.

Candice says designer Baylie Weeks understood their family and how they wanted their house to feel.  Along with the architecture team, she created cohesion between the outdoors and the interior spaces, incorporating elements that reflect the family’s interests; for instance, there is a built-in bunk room with equine décor for their daughter and a sports motif for their son.  They love such details as the hidden bookcase in Courtney’s office.  With its expansive kitchen and pantry, golf simulator, home gym, outdoor kitchen, firepit, and easy access to nearby hiking and the golf course, the home perfectly adapts to the Ryans’ active lifestyle.

The Ryans’ High Hampton home exhibits a perfect balance of luxury with practicality, offering ample space for relaxation and productivity,  privacy and entertaining.  To see more details on its four generous bedrooms, impressive windows, engineered hardwood floors, golf simulator, and spacious kitchen with Sub-Zero/Wolf appliances and custom cabinetry, visit dillardjones.com/hh-idea-home or schedule a tour to experience the unique details that make this Idea Home a reality. Visit dillardjones.com.