THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504250461
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN MILES, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Down an unassuming, half-mile dirt and gravel driveway in rural Isle of Wight county, lies a two-story, stone and wooden cottage, with separate ``maid's quarters,'' surrounded by 10 acres of woods on the northern tip of Lake Prince.
The driveway, with bone-jarring potholes (more easily traversed in the owners' four-wheel drive vehicle), is flanked by long, plowed furrows, soon to be sprouting peanuts.
In fact, the fields, just a mile from the Suffolk line, are leased by a farmer who literally pays peanuts to use the land.
The property owners, Donna Daniel and Roy Stuart, started the house 10 years ago as a weekend residence. It took three years to complete. It was ``something to do,'' Daniel says.
They still don't live here full time but the house is a good example of how to allow a home to meander into styles and moods as far as the owners' imaginations can roam.
A split-rail fence, made from old railroad ties, marks a course through the spring flowering trees. A wrought iron gate, hung from cobblestone pillars, looms in front of the buildings.
The yard is abundant with dogwood, shrubs and flowers, including more than 1,000 red tulips. Squirrels and deer romp among the trees and wildflowers.
A cobblestone path and steps bring you to what the owners' consider the primary house's back entrance. The path to the maid's quarters turns from cobblestone to slate. Another long path winds around the house, toward the lake.
The property includes a dock on Lake Prince with built-in benches and stands about six feet above the water. A hand-operated winch is attached to the dock for raising boats. The walkway to the dock is guarded by neighborhood street-style street lamps to brighten the dark, rural nights.
The owners are definitely outdoor-type people. As a testament to that, more than 5,000 square feet of deck, which ``just kept growing,'' according to Donna Daniel, encompass the two buildings on three sides.
The wandering expanse of deck contains benches, picnic tables, a raised stone barbecue pit and a screened-in, poly-sided gazebo with a wet bar.
The caretakers, including a state trooper, live in the maid's quarters, which has a fireplace and combination den-kitchen-eating area.
The table is coral-colored marble, and the cabinets are hand-decorated by Daniel. The cabinets are green wood with leaves and flowers, crickets, a lizard, and an unfortunate fly, who happened to soar into her artwork in progress, embedded in poly-resin that covers the face of the cabinets. The cabinets in the main house are decorated with flowers and butterflies.
The maid's quarters has one bedroom and bathroom. A door in the hallway leads into a large pantry, in turn leading to ``the cave,'' which leads to a three-car garage. The cave resembles its namesake, with ``stalactite'' projections of plaster and faux rock walls.
The caretakers use it as a game and exercise room and storage area, complete with a couple of pin ball machines, pool table and electronic card game table.
Daniel and Stuart decorated their home in an eclectic style, each room with a unique plastering technique and theme, as well as custom-built shoe moldings, cedar closets and solid wood doors with cedar frames. The downstairs has a den, half-bathroom, bedroom with large walk-in closet with ventilated shelving, bathroom and sunken Jacuzzi.
The front room has huge windows, vaulted ceiling with 8-by-10-inch ceiling supports, a stone wall with a fireplace, and two entrances to the outdoors.
The kitchen has a dinner bell, ``so everyone would know when dinner was,'' Daniel says. Wall tiles are adorned with vegetables and flowers.
The den has a fisherman's theme, with a lobster pot table, a sailboat rug, a three-dimensional sailing painting with overlaid boat rigging rope, carved dolphins, hand-painted eggs with water fowl and assorted other designs. Harpoons hang on the wall.
The only items that seem out of place are a replica of the Wright brothers' plane, which hangs from the ceiling, and a home theater system.
Most of Daniel's and Stuart's collection of diverse ``treasures'' were given to them or made for them from diverse friends. ``Each room-piece has a story,'' says Daniel, ``We're pack rats; we will not throw away anything that anyone gives us!''
The sunken Jacuzzi room was definitely designed for pleasure. The sky-light and multiple glass doors and windows allow for a tremendously open-air feeling. A half-bathroom is in one corner; a juke box fills another. A third corner has a built-in fish pond, with a manatee carved from lava rock sitting amongst the koi fish. A bar stands nearby.
The second story is also very open and light, with almost every room in the house having a waterfront view.
``I planned it that way for the scenery and because I'm claustrophobic,'' says Daniel. A loft overlooks the front room from the top of the stairs. The upstairs bathroom is equipped with a pedestal sink and a pull-down light fixture, for her son's reading pleasure, Daniel says.
A grand antique bed frame adorns one of the upstairs bedrooms, an heirloom from Daniel's family. The bedroom also has two entrances into a huge cedar storage area.
When Daniel's niece first saw the large area, she ran to her mom saying, ``Aunt Donna's got a playhouse for me!''
Although Daniel and Stuart had a lot of fun concocting their unique weekend house, or houses, they have recently put the property on the market with Leading Edge Realty. They enjoy their full-time antebellum house in Chesapeake, and don't wish to retire to such a large dwelling.
But, they'll always have their memories, and, says Daniel, a faint belief that they may build another home in the future, perhaps when they once again ``need something to do.'' However, they won't take on such a large project next time. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Gary C. Knapp
Donna Daniel and roy Stuart started their rural estate 10 years
ago...
The deck...
by CNB