When design/build team husband and wife team, Steven and Patricia Minor bought this home in McCall Idaho in 1996 they began formulating their lifelong dreams for their new home. 307 Mather Road was originally built in 1947. The front of the structure faced the Payette River, an amazingly beautiful view. Over the past ten years Steve and Patricia have rebuilt a now beautiful craftsmen style home.
A key to their McCall Craftsmen remodel is incorporating the old into the new. In their living room one will find a large wooden beam that serves as a fire place mantel. This beam was one of the original beams from the ceiling constructed in 1947. In the living room and guest rooms you find tamarack wood flooring that is not found in any other part of the home. This is the original flooring from the home. This flooring is also used exclusively in the areas of the structure that were built in 1947. This shows the original structure of the home.
With the idea of keeping the old in mind, you will want to take a look at three old dead trees on the Minor’s property. When the three trees died on the front side of their property instead of cutting them down the dedicated readers had them transformed. These trees became the faces of Gandolf and Galadriel from Lord of the Rings, and Dumbledore from Harry Potter. They then hollowed out the top of the tree stumps and ran a water trip line up to the top to create a planter in each of the three trees. Just one small detail out of many you will find at the Minor house.
As builders themselves, it is important to the Minors that the homes they build are built to last. As I spent last summer in their employment I got to experience firsthand the detail that goes into each McCall Craftsman home. Each piece of wood siding that is put on a house is hand dipped and stained on all sides. This helps to protect it from the water.
I will never forget one of the first things that Patricia Minor said to me about the homes they build; she said “We want our homes to look as if they came out of the earth, as if they belong there”. So when viewing a McCall Craftsman home it is important to think about how it connects to the earth around it. When looking at the finished product you will notice lots of earthy colors.
At their home at 307 Mather Road their garage that is made out of river rock. It is easy to see how this fits into its surroundings when one remembers that the river is directly across the street at the bottom of a small slope. This almost gives their home an appearance that it is part of the rock along river. The rock perhaps was once covered up by a flowing river. Or at least that is the feeling you get when you look at the rock.
Above the garage and the river rock base the siding used on the home is light and dark browns. These are the colors of the earth. These earth colors are then accented with dark green trim. The green gives a sense of vegetation, a sense of life. The home seems to blend into its environment.
When looking out of the double doors in the 2009 constructed master bedroom the hall goes down in sections. This is because the Minor’s wanted to keep part of the natural slop of the land alive. Instead of building into the side of the hill or on top of the main level they chose to gradually slope the addition on the home up the hill it sets on. There will be two or three stairs and then a flat area. This gives it a more natural progressive climb. The slope finally reaches the top and enters into a lovely master bedroom. The white wood walls add to the craftsmen details. The bedroom is engineered for a lifestyle like all of Steve Minor’s homes he builds or remodels. You can see where the walls have been indented for a wet bar and a built desk/ TV stand. While the wet bar and the desk/TV stand are not actually built in the layout gives you the feeling they are part of the wall. I feel this is a fine example of the thought that goes into a Minor home.
Back tracking to the sloping hallway one can see two styles of flooring. The most appealing is the an oak flooring that is patterned with a circular saw, the oak floors are then coated and the knot holes are filled in with a black stain that is wiped off leaving the black to highlight the groves in the wood and then the entire piece is stained. While this is an outstanding detail one who looks closely will notice that the bookcase in that hallway is also made of the same wood as the flooring. This keeps a flow in the home. The Minor’s want everything to look like it belongs, they want their home to look as if the whole home is united. One should take in the entire home not just one section.
A funky detail to the Minor’s home is their staircase inside that leads down to their garage, this wall in keeping with the flow has wood paneling on the upper part of it. However, as one goes downward on the stair case it progresses into cement. In the last two years, Patricia got the idea to turn it into a wine cellar. With this idea in mind she painted the cement wall to look as if it were stone. This is just one detail that is shows the creativeness of the Minors.
A similar style to Craftsmen is that of Bungalow. This style seams to incorporate some Asian design or decoration into a Craftsmen home. One who looks at some of the artifacts in this home would find Asian influence throughout the home. This is because Patricia’s ancestors where missionaries to China. When one looks at the guest room you see Chinese tapestry and other Asian influenced artwork. This is once more an example of how the Minors have incorporated the old into the new.
When exploring the Minor home one can sense the love and dedication that has been put into this home. While what I have described may seem to some to be just a list of details, however, the fact is it this home demonstrates the passion that has been put into this home. Every time I visit the Minor home I find a new detail that I failed to notice in previous visits. These little details like an indent in the bedroom wall may just be an indent in the wall to some. However, there are thousands of these little details throughout their home. It would be impossible to count every specific detail in the home. The only type of people who could plan a home out to be so spectacular are true artists. They are sculpturists. They sculpture the homes they build one detail at a time. A beam here, an old piece of flooring there… all of these small details coming together to form a piece of history and a work of art.