Parsons’ project

Dave Parsons has been building homes for clients for 28 years through his business, Parsons Construction Inc.

So, when it came time to construct a new house for him and his wife, Karen, Parsons could have designed it and erected it himself.

Blindfolded, upside down, with his eyes closed.

Instead, he did something most builders don’t. He sought the expertise of architects — Matthew Collins and Chris Olson of Spokane-based Nystrom Olson Collins.

“Most of our customers aren’t willing to engage the services of an architect,” either, Parsons says. “But if they truly want a custom home, they should.”

The Parsonses spent several months planning the home’s design and orientation with Collins and Olson, a step Dave Parsons says was critical to getting a finished product that works well for the couple’s day-to-day needs and takes full advantage of its view of Hangman Valley Golf Course. The result is an earth-friendly, modern-style house that follows the lot’s unusual terrain, stair-stepping down across the property organically.

“We really tried to work with that terrain, to celebrate what was there,” Collins says.

The lines between the home’s interior and exterior blur, thanks to several elements, including 58-foot-long exposed beams that stretch from the home’s front entrance, through the two-story living area, where they provide structural support, and out the back of the home, where they form a pergola that shades the patio overlooking the course’s 14th tee box.

The home consists of four pods with connectors between them.

The first pod houses the garage, where Parsons installed a special shower for Clara and Luna, the family dogs.

A laundry area connects the garage pod to the main pod. Just because it handles the dirty work doesn’t mean the space was neglected. A large window above the washer and dryer offers a view of an iron bridge on the golf course.

While planning the house, “the orientation was always on that bridge,” Parsons says. “You can see that bridge everywhere you are in the house.”

The home’s main pod is a two-story space that contains the kitchen, a dining area and a living room on the first level. An open, steel staircase leads to two guest rooms with a bathroom between them upstairs.

A floor-to-ceiling window-and-door system that opens like an accordion links the main pod to a large patio. On a warm day, the doors are pushed to the side and one can move inside and outside as if they were one continuous space.

To further emphasize the connection to nature, a wall of metal panels that frames the patio continues into the living room. The metal plane appears almost seamless, as though the window is the only thing cutting through it.

Knowing the exterior metal would corrode more quickly than the metal that’s inside, the Parsonses aged the interior piece with an acidic solution, giving it a time-worn patina. Dave Parsons did the work himself one day during construction.

“It was arts and crafts day,” Karen Parsons says.

On a smaller patio behind the living room, a fireplace is surrounded by a rock veneer from a quarry in Montana – a nod to the couple’s history since they married in the Treasure State.

“It’s fun to be able to incorporate your life into your house,” Karen Parsons says.

The kitchen has a sleek European feel, with cabinets built by Spokane Valley-based Coyote Creek Cabinets Inc. They’re made of golden-colored anegre wood, although the doors alternate between anegre, laminate and metal tambour, giving the kitchen a patchwork look that the couple designed themselves by coloring in a blank outline of their cabinet plan.

The lower cabinets are deep drawers rather than shelves. The upper cabinets have a horizontal shape rather than a vertical one, and they open upward, like the doors on a De Lorean sports car.

“The house is very linear,” Parsons explains. “We wanted that feel to carry throughout.”

The third pod houses a master bedroom, bathroom, exercise room and a reading nook. The bathroom has teak slatted walls and tiles that are smooth to the touch, but look as if they have the texture of linen or wood.

Just beyond the master bedroom, a bridge leads to the home’s fourth pod — a small guesthouse.

The home’s earth-friendly elements include concrete countertops and cork flooring in the kitchen, radiant in-floor heating, and the laundry room’s Marmoleum flooring, which is made from natural oils, rosins and wood flour and is biodegradable.

The roof is made with Structural Insulated Panels, which are engineered panels with a foamlike center that keep warm air inside during the winter and hot air out during the summer.

Thanks to the house’s energy-efficient measures, the family’s February heating bill was only $86.

The Parsonses also limited their home to 3,000 square feet — small for the neighborhood, but large enough to accommodate themselves and their three grown children when they visit.

“I didn’t want any wasted space,” Karen Parsons says. “We wanted to live in every bit of it.”

The house sits quite close to its next-door neighbor, but because of its design and orientation on the lot, the couple say they don’t feel exposed. To Karen Parsons, this means that with careful planning, developers can find ways to build high-density neighborhoods while still giving homeowners privacy.

The Parsonses hope to see more modern architecture in Spokane, and Collins says his firm is busy meeting an increasing demand for it.

“We’re committed to pushing that design,” Collins says. “It doesn’t cost more. It just has to be more thought out.”

During their 27-year marriage, the Parsons have moved 15 times.

“When we were little, my sister and I used to play ‘move’ instead of playing ‘house,’ ” says their daughter, Ellie, 25.

The family once left a house with only 10 days warning after a client who was talking to Dave about building a home decided he wanted the one the Parsonses owned instead — and he wanted it right away. The family packed up and left so quickly, they forgot the washer and dryer.

The Parsonses say the Hangman Valley home will be theirs for a long time, though.

Despite the common perception that modern design feels cold, Dave Parsons says, “this is the most comfortable home we’ve ever been in.” They attribute that sense to the heavy use of natural materials and the home’s livable layout.

The couple also say it’ll be easy to stay there as they grow older because the space is very open and most of the rooms are no more than a few steps up or down from each other.

The close-knit family has learned, however, that it takes more than brick and mortar – or rock, wood, steel and glass, in this case – to make a home.

“Home is wherever we are,” Karen Parsons says.