Architecture & Architects

Start with a Site

Joe prefers that clients have their building site selected before he starts designing their home, and he and Donna did have property -- the wrong property. After touring new and old French country homes in Tulsa, they decided the cottage they envisioned would look too new on their treeless, cornfield lot. So they found 1.6 wooded acres along the Cedar River. Often, he says, "...people will design a house and stick it on a lot, [whereas] this home is designed into the property," he says. "It was a major change, but it's perfect. We can walk to the river with the kids. There will never be any homes behind us."

Natural materials and French country details give the cottage a sense of place and that "been there forever" look the couple wanted inside and out. The cottage is clad in rubble stone quarried in Oklahoma and has typically French brick accents, shutters, sloping gables, and a rounded dormer. A courtyard entry with gardens and a fountain welcomes visitors.

Inside, flexible spaces fit the lives of the Ahmanns and their children, Talor and Alex. They've turned the formal dining room, included for its resale value, into a music room for Talor and her piano. They use the elegant great-room daily for relaxing and reading. The master suite, with a bay-window view of the backyard and woods, has a private corner on the main level. The children's rooms are upstairs, where they've turned a potential fourth bedroom into a study and playroom.

Better Homes and Gardens

FIND HELP FOR THIS PROJECT