Lincoln
A one-and-a-half story with stone and lap siding, a blue island anchoring the kitchen, and vaulted ceilings that open the main level up.
Morning light floods the entry through sidelights and fills the vaulted ceiling before it ever reaches the back of the house. The hardwood floors are warm underfoot, and from where you stand at the front door you can see straight through the living room to the windows on the far wall. That kind of sight line doesn't happen on accident — it comes from setting the ridge height and the window headers at the same time during framing, so the volume and the light work together from day one. Quiet house, bare feet, nowhere to be yet.
The navy blue island pulls you into the kitchen the way a campfire pulls you across a yard. White marble countertops run across it and along the perimeter cabinetry, and the stainless hood above the range keeps the cooking zone from feeling buried under upper cabinets. Hardwood floors continue in from the living room without a transition strip, which means the subfloor had to be dead flat through both rooms before any finish material went down. The homeowner is just making dinner, but the space is doing a lot of quiet work to make it feel easy.
A walk-in pantry with adjustable wood shelves on white metal brackets sounds straightforward until you think about where it sits in the plan — right off the kitchen, tucked behind a door that keeps it out of sight during dinner. The corner shelving wraps the full depth of both walls. I would venture to guess this room gets used more than any other storage in the house, and that's kind of where the value is.
After the dishes are done and the house goes quiet, the primary bath becomes its own room entirely. Freestanding soaking tub sits near a large window where the last daylight comes in low. A glass-enclosed shower and white vanity with a vessel sink share the space without crowding it. The tile flooring and clean sight lines through to the closet beyond mean the homeowner moves through this room the same way every night — tub, shower, closet, bed — and the sequencing just works.
Late evening lands on the back patio. The stone fire pit sits centered on a concrete pad that steps down from the covered porch, and the lap siding wraps the house behind in soft gray with white trim tight at the corners. There's no grand outdoor kitchen or elaborate pergola here, just a circle of stone with enough room around it for chairs and conversation. From my perspective, that restraint is harder to get right than the alternative.