After the couple bought their lot, they needed a builder. Fred already had a detailed picture in his mind of just what their light-filled getaway would look like. He asked the club’s sales representatives for a recommendation. “After a lot of probing, I found out that Platinum Homes was their choice.”

After interviewing with Dave Reese, owner of Platinum Homes, Platinum assembled the design/build team and introduced the couple to Giesen and Kizerian. Reese’s family also owns a home in Pine Canyon, and Platinum Homes is building several projects there, including a family lodge concept home designed by Giesen.

Giesen met with the Westlands and showed them a detailed sketch he made of a mountain home months earlier. “‘That’s it,’ I told him,” Fred recalls. “This was what I wanted. We didn’t change a thing.” The sketch hangs in the home, with many of the couple’s other artworks they’ve acquired during more than 50 years of marriage.

“This was a great experience from start to finish—a very happy ‘arranged marriage,’” explains Fred, who commends Giesen, Kizerian and Platinum—in particular, the latter’s very able construction manager, Chuck Bebee, for collaborating as a team to build their dream getaway.

“I wanted a cabin that wasn’t dark inside or out,” Fred says. Their two-level “cabin” totals 6,451 square feet including the covered patio, three-car garage and mechanical space.

Giesen’s design combines strong materials on the exterior for a clean, rustic appearance: stone; cedar siding; copper and asphalt on the roof; additional copper on the dormers; and metal railings. The front entrance welcomes guests with a bridge over a pond and waterfall; tumbled Belgard pavers add to the gracefully aging look.

This look continues inside with features such as Douglas fir-exposed trusses manufactured on site for the high ceilings in the family/living room and foyer, and heavily distressed antique planks and sealed quartzite flagstone on the floors.

Kizerian’s work reiterates the Giesen/Platinum theme: “My focus for the Westlands’ home was on minimalist design to enhance its natural beauty—concentrating on using high-quality materials with varying textures to create spaces that are modern yet inviting.” She was inspired in her color and materials selections by the landscape: “Many of the details were influenced by objects that could be found right outside.”

The Westland home is not a “don’t-touch-it” showcase; it’s a home to be enjoyed and lived in. The living room has a large flat-screen television instead of focal-point artwork, for example. “We love to just put our feet up and enjoy,” says Fred, who happily admits to often falling asleep there in the early evening. And the sofas and chairs have many miles, and many miles to go.

“One day, shortly after we moved in, the doorbell rang,” Fred recalls. “Jackie answered. A man was standing there. He said, ‘I worked on this house and told my wife about “The Orphanage.” She is with me today and would love to see it.’”

Fred took them upstairs to tour the expansive room with four beds and a bath—an arrangement reminiscent of “Little Orphan Annie.” From their two children, the Westlands have five grandchildren, four of whom now occupy the “orphanage” when they stay: “The fifth one snores, so that one sleeps downstairs,” Fred says, with a laugh.

The downstairs powder room is a favorite of the Westlands and their visitors. Here, Kizerian placed a marble bowl and added undercounter lighting and handmade glass tile on the vanity and its surrounding area. “The tile highlights the arches in and around the vanity while staying within the natural inspiration for the rest of the home,” Kizerian says.

Fred’s the cook. The kitchen centerpiece is a granite-topped island counter: In one piece, eight men were needed to set it, he remembers. Framed in iron, a large light fixture over the counter is the work of two California artisans. Eight 100-watt light bulbs illuminate the island and antique tin ceiling.

Says Giesen, “You only have one chance to get it right: the design, the views and, most of all, client happiness. Successful projects are always the ones that the clients are crazy about. Ask Fred: He’ll tell you.”

To Learn More:
Pine Canyon Country Club, www.pinecanyon.net.

Platinum Homes, www.platinum-homes.net.