The phrase ‘family home’ has more than one meaning to Addie Wilheit. An interior designer herself, she's also the daughter of an architect and saw this as an opportunity to build a family home that represented her family’s legacy. They envisioned something comfortable, welcoming, timeless and enduring.
This is our forever home. We wanted it to be a sanctuary for our daily lives but also one that could easily welcome friends and family; it was important that it could also be a sanctuary for them.
To find the durability necessary to handle life with busy boys and big dogs, without sacrificing beauty, Ms. Wilheit chose Traditional finish pavers in a custom color. Running through the home and out into the backyard living space, these pavers not only stand the test of time but get better as they age and patina. FireRock was able to source white oak hardwoods to compliment the interior pavers.
The European white oak floors and concrete pavers from FireRock have already had miles walked across them by friends and family as we add to the stories that make this house so special to us.
The visual cohesiveness in flooring is especially important because the large-scale steel windows flood the home with natural light and provide sightlines in every direction. Working with the FireRock steel team, Addie, her architects — her father, retired Architect Edmond Cheramie, and cousin, Anna Soniat of Soniat Architecture — and Burtz Custom Homes, collaborated to customize windows that suited the project, environment, and lifestyle of the family.
Addie, with her impeccable taste, balanced these modern features with salvaged pieces that added texture and warmth to the home. This included a 60-year-old Spanish cedar door from her aunt’s childhood home, 150-year-old barn wood from Michigan, and brick from an old cotton mill in Greenville, South Carolina.
My favorite part of the home are the stories that are a part of its design; like working with my husband on the vision and all of these special touches that added character to the home… All of these "old" things perfectly balance all the new elements.
To add to the warmth, both physically and visually, Addie chose a few different FireRock fireplace units to suite the different needs of each space. She needed a grand centerpiece to ground her double height living room. An oversized 60-inch conventional unit rises to the occasion; making the grand room feel warm and cozy, perfect for entertaining in all seasons.
In the family room, Ms. Wilheit has plush furniture and layers of texture to welcome her family in to relax. She chose another oversized 60-inch unit to best utilize the width of the surround, and provide the scale needed for a perfect movie night television.
Finally, in the outdoor family room, the team chose a traditional look for cozy fall nights watching football with friends. The 42-inch conventional provides a more intimate scale for easy conversation with a small group.
FireRock’s products aligned with what I wanted my “finished product" to be; which is a beautiful and elegant, but entirely livable and comfortable for our family. Four years later, the pavers and wood flooring look as good as the day they were installed; the steel doors and windows open the view from the house—and into the house—in ways that traditional doors and windows could not…we’ve seen the most magnificent sunsets through those windows and doors.
As her own project manager, Addie was enthusiastic to find a partner in FireRock that manufactured and supplied so many of the products she needed to fulfill her vision. We were able to be her single point of contact for four vital architectural elements and, we believe, the value of this great partnership can be seen throughout this stunning home.
Working with the FireRock reps and their support teams was a great experience. Everyone was very knowledgeable, helping us through procurement and installations and beyond.
Photography by Zachary Toth
