 Balancing Act
BY BONNY OSTERHAGE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY VERNON WENTZ
To homebuilders and interior
designers, the opportunity to participate
in a Parade of Homes is
the equivalent of an artist’s being
presented with an oversized blank canvas
and told to “have fun!” The possibilities
are endless when the sky’s the limit. The
people who visit a Parade of Homes
expect to be wowed by the extravagant
and the unusual. Amenities and details
that might not be the norm in the average
home abound in a Parade home, and
the experience allows both the builder
and the designer to showcase their talents.
It’s almost like an art gallery exhibition — with one notable exception: This is
art you can live in!
This year’s Greater San Antonio
Builders Association Parade of Homes
took place in the Palacios subdivision of
the relatively new environmentally
friendly community of Cibolo Canyons
and was the first ever “green” Parade of
Homes to be held in San Antonio.
Building “green” can pose some challenges,
but custom homebuilder Mike
Hollaway and interior designer Toi
Haensel, owner of Class, Covers and
Color, didn’t let that stop them from
creating a 4,533-square foot home that
is as luxurious as it is functional and of
course, eco-friendly. “This is the first time we have built ‘green’ to this degree,” says Hollaway
who admitted that the task was not
without its challenges. “There were a few growing pains,
and it is expensive,” he acknowledges.
Together Hollaway and Haensel
rose to the challenge, and the end
result was that their creation was the
first of only two homes in the Parade to
be certified as “green.” Furthermore,
the home was awarded Best Site
Design, Best Master Suite, Best Water
Feature and Best Furniture.
Haensel and Hollaway have worked
together for many years, and their styles
complement each other beautifully.
Hollaway favors large open rooms in his
designs, and he is noted for finding
ways to bring the outdoors inside.“It expands the floor plan and the
way you entertain,” he explains.
Case in point is the large 10-foot
curved glass wall that spans the back of
the living area and offers an impressive
view of an outdoor living area, complete
with outdoor kitchen, a marble
bar with a large flat screen television  mounted on a wall, a seating
area, a breathtaking pool and a
separate spa with a waterfall
cascading down the slate wall behind it.
Hollaway’s other signature touch is the way he incorporates fire and
water elements, which he says he finds both soothing and peaceful, into his
designs. The pool in the Parade home features a volcano that can be activated
to spew fire while a 6-foot glass fountain in the portico entry also
boasts fire on top.
Hollaway’s approach is one that Haensel, who favors contemporary
looks, has always found easy to work with, and this $1.4 million dollar
Parade masterpiece was no exception. “The floor plan of this home dictated a contemporary design style,”
says Haensel who goes on to explain that contemporary does not equal
Architectural Digest minimalism. “In this case, contemporary refers to clean lines, big spaces and a combination
of fresh as well as vibrant colors,” she adds.
In keeping with that theme, Haensel combined the soft look of curves and
circles with a more stark linear design into the four bedroom, four-and-a-half
bath home and she worked from a color palette that was dominated by strong
shades of orange, terra cotta and gold, offset with soothing shades of green and
brown. Her inspiration came from the floor design of the front entryway.
“The entryway was the beginning,”
Haensel says of the Keltstone floor with its
concentric circle design. The circles were
etched into the floor and then inlaid with
penny rounds for an unusual finish.
“From there circles just became a
theme,” she laughs.
Throughout the home you can see the
circular elements from the curved countertop
in the powder room to the curved wall
that separates the toilet from the sink and all
of the curved ceiling and archways that factor
prominently in the design. Circular mirrors
are used as accents in the powder room
where hand-painted torn paper adorns the
walls, creating an unusual effect.
“I have used this technique for many
years,” says Haensel. “It is expensive, but
when you use it as an accent as I did here
it is not [cost] prohibitive.”
 One of the home’s best (and award-winning)
features is the Master Suite. A haven
in pale green hues and grass cloth, this is the
place to go to get away from it all. A study
leads to a master closet with floor-to-ceiling
storage, while a Zen room offers a cozy
nook in which to curl up and read or meditate.
The bathroom itself is home to a double-
entry shower with a curved outer wall,
a deep luxurious tub and even a coffee bar
and refrigerator. The bathroom leads into
the bedroom where a large curved window
offers an unobscured view of the outdoor
pool and living area.“A master suite should be relaxing,” says
Haensel, who also points out that the study
can also be accessed for the entry hall.“It’s perfect if you are conducting a
meeting because it is right by the front
door, and you can close the door that leads to the rest of the master suite,” she says.
Another of the home’s more unusual
and impressive features is what Haensel
refers to as the “prep” or “dirty” kitchen.
This is a separate “mini” kitchen off of the
main kitchen that houses its own set of
appliances and serves as an area for caterers
or a place to hide the dirty dishes
while entertaining. “This is a very big trend right now,”
says Haensel.
On the other side of the kitchen is the
children’s suite, which Haensel said is one
of her favorite areas of the home. Here, as
in the entryway of the home, Haensel let
the floor set the tone.
“The bathroom floor is a porcelain tile
called ‘cookies,’” she says of the jigsaw pattern
metallic tiles. The shades of green
and chocolate brown led Haensel to
cover the walls in a paper that incorporated
the two colors in patterns of checkerboards
and swirls. “Wallpaper is not dead,” she assures. “People are just choosing the wrong patterns.
This is fun and sophisticated.”
While the glass wall in the living room
is the most obvious of the glass elements
that Hollaway is known for incorporating,
there are plenty of other glass accents that
add to the contemporary feel of the
home. An etched 14-foot glass wall
behind the fireplace in the living room is
the backdrop for another flat screen television,
and tiny colorful glass tiles accent
the kitchen backsplashes.
Combining the colors and visual elements
throughout an open, contemporary
home can be a challenge; but for Haensel,
who has been in the business for more than
20 years, it’s really just a matter of keeping
everything in perspective and being aware of
the big picture.”
“Because the floor plan is so open, everything
you can see from the center of the
home must match,” she explains. “That
includes tying in the colors from the outside
because they are visible from the inside. You
can have more fun with the rooms that
aren’t visible, but they still have to blend in
some way. It really is just all about balance.”
And isn’t that what life is all about? In
this Parade of Homes creation, Haensel
and Hollaway seem to strike the perfect
balance between environmentally friendly
functionality and a timeless aesthetic
appeal — maintaining a steady equilibrium
and a sure sense of style.
|
