Rooms With A View Design By Copeland-Mckennon Team Keeps Liberty Lake, Owners’ Budget In Perspective

Spec builders stake their livelihood on knowing which features will be popular with home buyers. Judging by recent home shows, what sells here is the traditional look: arched windows, decorative columns and dormers.

But there’s something to be said for the clean, simple lines of the modernist style. And architects Gerry Copeland and Nancy McKennon say it in a modest two-bedroom house they designed for a suburban Liberty Lake couple.

Jurors included the Copeland-McKennon design among seven citation winners in the large-house category of The Spokesman-Review 1995 Inland Northwest Home Awards.

“Large,” of course, is relative. And with only 1,884 square feet of finished space (plus another 832 in the unfinished basement), this house was dwarfed by most of the competition, which included three houses over 9,000 square feet.

What kept the house small were the owners’ needs and their budget.

“A lot of people think you need a separate space for every kind of activity,” says McKennon. “A room for this and a room for that, which adds up to a lot of square footage. But these people were willing to combine a bunch of activities in one space.”

“For instance,” says Copeland, “we tucked a study into the upstairs stairwell, and most other functions take place in the main great room.”

Materials, from the flush birch cabinets to the gray vinyl floors, were kept plain. Much of the exterior is clad in rough-sawn plywood with narrow vertical cedar battens.

One exception to the low-budget rule was the use of top-quality woodsash windows. How those windows were placed demanded considerable time during the design phase, Copeland recalls.

“Interesting window placement is a big thing in a house like this,” he says. “We tried to address the site issues very strongly, meaning the clients got the view (of Liberty Lake) everywhere they want it, while maintaining their privacy where they don’t want a view. There are no picture windows facing the street, because that would be silly in this instance.”

McKennon’s favorite feature is the master bedroom, with its French doors facing the lake. “It’s like you’re in a little tower,” she says.

Copeland likes the interplay between of the home’s two simple roof forms connected by a flat-topped, high-ceiling space. “This house is an example of good design done within an ordinary construction budget,” he says.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo Graphic: Floor plan of house

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HIGHLIGHT What kept the house small were the owners’ needs and their budget.