CityView Magazine

Creativity fused with attention to detail illustrate that this house Creativity fused with attention to detail illustrate that this house was a true labor of love. think about organic architecture, and a family trip to Asheville’s historic Grove Park Inn sealed his building plans. Each detail, from intricate glasswork to cabinet design, shows Parks did his homework. His unique take on the traditional Craftsman pattern recurs in custom-designed transom windows, which allow natural light to flood the rooms. Nine-foot ceilings on both levels demonstrate unwavering attention to space as well as a keenness for consistency. Even the home theater retains the continuity of detail you would expect from a Frank Lloyd Wright house. System cabinets were covered in cloth to let sound and heat through but remain dominated by the overarching design elements. “Even though it’s a movie room, we went with the same flow and even used natural light,” Parks said. Having grown up in the family business, Parks Building Supply, Parks knows a little something about lumber. The upstairs balcony is made from ipé, indigenous Brazilian hardwood. Shakes, typically reserved for a gable, cover the entire house, and handrails are a bold 2-by-12 in size. From the mountains 26|June/July • 2009 of North Carolina, solid 12-by-12 and 8-by-8 beams were brought in to define the space around the fireplace. “Some people paint their windows,” Parks said, “but to me, stain work really shows off craftsmanship.” Creativity fused with attention to detail illustrate that this house was a true labor of love. Staircase railings borrow Mission elements from Stickley furniture, cherry molding is cleverly moved onto the ceiling, and a passion for pottery is made integral, as each bathroom sink showcases repurposed bowls from Pittsboro potter Lyn Morrow, her signature salamanders forever basking along the edges. Building on ideas from Sarah Susanka’s “The Not So Big House,” Parks demonstrated remarkable forethought in his use of space. Deep walk-in closets throughout the house clear the living space of clutter, while solid-core pocket doors glide in and out of the walls so as not to restrict anything behind them. True to form, Parks’ pride and joy is also one of the house’s humblest features – a booth tucked alongside the kitchen. “It encloses and captures whomever you’re sitting with and lets you be in your own element,” he said. And, of course, they double as space savers with plenty of storage underneath. Once completed, the house stayed in an almost pure state for the then-single builder. Nothing was hung on the walls, and the decorations amounted to one well-placed wooden fish. “Arts and Crafts is all about being simple and not getting too complex,” Parks said. Enter Caroline. When she moved in, Caroline Hart Parks brought color. With splashes of green, blue and aquamarine, she added a sea-like quality and, in the words of her husband, made his house a home. Her decorating style is of the intuitive, “I like what I like” variety, and set against the home’s linear structure, clusters of frames and photos feel less like tchotchkes and more like eclectic splashes of life. To her husband, Caroline offered up a few quick lessons of her own in the use of space. “He gave me the small sink and the small closet,” she said. “I had to tell him it doesn’t work that way.” As they have lived and grown together in the house, their tastes have melded into a

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