Homecrafting Reflects Personalized Trend in Custom-Built Homes

For most Americans, a home represents the greatest single investment they will make in a lifetime. It is also the most personal asset in their portfolio, the “vessel” in which they will travel through life, raise a family, and build their dreams. But until only recently,  the idea of investing in a custom-built dream home belonged only to a stalwart few. It seemed like getting it just the way you want it meant running a gauntlet of choices.

Today, the custom home concept is winning over Northwest converts as one Puget Sound master builder is proving with a new concept called “Homecrafting.”

Instead of the look-alike construction of a large residential development, “Homecrafting” is the fine art of personalizing a home with individual preferences, from land use decisions, to custom entertainment and recreational choices, to the most uniquely livable design features. What's more, the homecrafting approach breaks the planning and construction of a  custom home down into manageable parts and a reasonable timeline. Building a signature home turns into a more relaxed and enjoyable process.  

As Dwight Martin of D.K. Martin Custom Homes defines it, “Homecrafting is the art of joining the dreams and desires of the owners, with the skills and creativity of the designers, and craftsman to create a home that is a pleasure and joy to live in.

The Custom Home Buying Trend

Many of today’s Puget Sound home buyers are becoming home builders, approaching their new home purchase as something they will grow with as opposed to grow out of.  “People are staying put longer and investing in a home based on their lifestyle," says  Steve Honnen, a Puget Sound broker for Caldwell Banker Bain who is also an architect. "That type of house will last longer for that particular family. And it will require less maintenance.”

Among the trends Honnen sees are “Great Rooms” or open floor plans that can change over time based on different furniture arrangements, and the custom use of electronics for security, Internet connectivity, energy controls and entertainment, particularly in the high-tech suburbs surrounding Microsoft.

A History of Homecrafting

Homecrafting has always been in the best tradition of home building with care. The spirit of homecrafting can be traced to the guilds of Europe, where amazing buildings were created that have withstood the tests of time. >From the simplicity of modern styling, to the layers of detail in a Victorian farm house, homecrafting melds the integrity of the design with the skills of the tradesman.

Dwight K. Martin has been “crafting” custom homes in the greater Seattle area since 1974. In fact, his family has a long history of construction and development in the Puget Sound area which dates back to the late 1800s.

Starting as a carpenters apprentice more than three decades ago, Dwight had completed many large homes in the Bridal Trails neighborhood of Bellevue by 1979. He has since built on parcels in the Union Hill area as well as a wonderfully serene Northwest community with nature preserve-like qualities known as Hidden Pond.

Homecrafting Starts with The Process

The D.K. Martin Website at http://www.dkmartincustomhomes.com outlines the Homecrafting process which follows four integral steps:  Consultation, Design, Budget and Construction.

Planning means everything. The Consultation process is the time to explore possibilities. At this stage, all ideas are welcome and preliminary budgets can begin to be estimated. 

For instance, there are many different materials to chose from. D.K. Martin has used  such exotic woods in construction as ironwood decks. mahogany railings. and black cherry cabinets. Ironwood is a very hard, heavy wood known for its durability in the Northwest climate.

From Consultation to Design

The Design phase is where ideas come to grips with actual cost specifications.  This is the point when materials, finishes and appliances can be coordinated, up front,  saving both significant time and costs.

Take heating the home for example. Should you put radiant heating in the floor? Or do you use a ground source heat pump, a high efficiency furnace that lends itself to radiant floor heating? When the weather turns warm, you’ll also be glad you thought about  air conditioning in advance.  

For Dwight Martin and his clients, it’s the custom touches that come out of the process that turn a house into a home. >From barrel vaulted ceilings, to heated bathroom mirrors that won’t fog, or from secret storage spaces to log ceilings with lodgepole pine ridge beams, Homecrafting makes each home one-of-a-kind.

High-Technology Creates the Electronic Signature

High-tech wiring for broadband Internet connectivity is a foregone conclusion in today’s custom home. A recent D.K. Martin home went further. For security purposes, the home added Internet-accessible cameras at the doors and an automatic door release to provide entrance from any phone without having to walk from the far end of the house to answer the door personally.

Technology can even tame Mother Nature. “We are doing hidden exterior shades that are connected to a weather station," says Dwight. "When the sun starts to shine in the windows the shades drop. If the wind comes up, the shades will retract.”

Of course, in the great Northwest, when the sun can hide behind the clouds for months on end, homecrafting can also bring the outdoors inside.  One interior atrium of a D.K. Martin custom home featured a waterfall with turtles right in the foyer and a 20 foot high tree looming under a natrual skylight. For those idyllic Puget Sound summers, a figure-8 pool with miniature bridge accents the D.K. Martin home out of doors.

It All Comes Down to Integrity

In the final analysis, while design features are both impressive and important, homecrafting means something that can’t been seen with the naked eye.

Dwight Martin sums it up most succinctly, “To us, homecrafting is described by one word: integrity. It means quality to the core.” 

With the plethora of choices that go into custom homecrafting, integrity is the one intangible that D.K. Martin homeowners agree make each of their homes a personally satisfying experience. It’s the singular quality that assures those personalized, homecrafted features will last for generations.