It?s often the natural order of events for empty nesters to jettison a larger family home for a smaller, more manageable roost when the kids go to college. Not so for one Charlottesville couple. ?Most people at this stage shrink their footprint,? the wife acknowledges. ?We went in the opposite direction?we want to draw them back with their families someday.?
For the pair?he?s a biotech investor and she?s a retired investment banker?staying put in their Blue Springs Farm neighborhood was key, as they loved their home?s breathtaking setting. The lot, a 26-acre parcel cocooned by the forest on one side and wide-open vistas of the Ragged Mountains on the other, offers beauty in every direction. ?At night, the lights on the mountain houses twinkle and you can see weather patterns as they?re approaching,? enthuses the wife. ?Plus, our kids grew up here and played in those woods, so we have a lot of memories.? As their three boys grew into teenagers, however, the couple started to feel the limitations of their 1990s-era residence. ?We noticed that we were lacking separate spaces for everybody,? the wife says. ?When the kids had friends over, we would lose our main living area.?
She and her husband embarked on a renovation helmed by Dalgliesh Gilpin Paxton Architects with an assist by contractor John Diven of Shelter Associates Ltd. But the project?s scope quickly shifted. ?After we started the preliminary demo, we found there were major structural issues that couldn?t be resolved,...