By June Mathews
Situated amid the natural beauty of Vestavia Hill’s Forest Creek neighborhood, created with the skill of a seasoned craftsman and refined by a strong attention to detail, Birmingham Home & Garden’s 2023 Inspiration Home lives up to its name.
The house is loaded with imaginative ideas for anyone seeking to build a home, upgrade, renovate or simply add a touch of something different to their surroundings.
Designed by David Smelcer and brought to life by builders John Mark Rives and Eric Waite of RW Development, the home is located at 2717 Vestavia Forest Drive.
Birmingham Home & Garden’s 2023 Inspiration Home was brought to life by builders Eric Waite and John Mark Rives (from left) of RW Development.Tier 1 sponsors for the project are Ferguson Bath & Kitchen Gallery, Triton Stone Group and Cottage Supply Company.
With its Alabama natural stone complemented by weather-resistant James Hardie siding, the facade of this traditional five-bedroom, four-bath beauty is a reflection of its environment. The meandering creek for which the quiet cul-de-sac community is named runs nearby, and mature hardwoods grow in the neighboring forest.
As for the yard, Jennafer Collins of Green Space LLC used native plants to create a pleasing blend of nature and landscaping. By then, Rives and Waite had already provided a functional touch by ensuring the home and its future residents not only enjoyed, but were served by its natural surroundings.
“We were intentional about how we placed the home so that the backyard is like an extension of it,” Rives explained. “We envisioned kids playing in the backyard, and it’s so much more advantageous having them where you can see them rather than at a lower level.”
To give the home its interior personality, a team of award-winning vendors and designers was assembled, and each became responsible for an area of the house. The challenge, however, was to not only bring innovation, style and even a bit of whimsy to every space possible, but to develop a plan that flowed from room to room.
“Cohesiveness was key to connecting the spaces together,” said Rives. “Having the home look like one designer did it was important to us. We wanted it to look and feel like one home, not like a showcase house where every room is done in a different style. We put a lot of trust in the designers and gave them free rein to do what they needed to do.”
An underlying palette of neutral tones throughout the house serves as a subtle backdrop for carefully curated art in a variety of media, spectacular lighting fixtures, eye-popping wall and window treatments, and colorful furnishings that combine functionality with style.Neutral Tones, Eye-Popping Treatments
An underlying palette of neutral tones throughout the house serves as a subtle backdrop for carefully curated art in a variety of media, spectacular lighting fixtures, eye-popping wall and window treatments, and colorful furnishings that combine functionality with style.
Main level living not only encompasses a fabulous eat-in kitchen – check out the range hood covered in Venetian plaster – an elegantly understated dining room and a comfortable, family-friendly great room, it also has adjacent outdoor living space accessible through panoramic 16-foot sliding glass doors, as well.
And in case the future owners of the house are concerned that the furry, four-legged members of the household feel at home, in a quiet corner of the main level laundry room near the kitchen is a built-in pet crate, made comfy with a custom cushion that coordinates with the wallpaper.
Upstairs and downstairs, the Inspiration Home affords plenty of room for family members or guests to spread out, relax and enjoy life. The upstairs loft and nearby bonus room are perfect spots for playing a board game, working a jigsaw puzzle or just having a quiet visit with friends. For rowdier gatherings, the downstairs den can accommodate ballgame watchers, video game players and golfers treating themselves to a round on the golf simulator.
But for all the new ideas you’ll find in the Inspiration Home, you might also be inspired to revert to some old favorites. Anyone who loved the heyday of wallpaper and shades of blue in upholstery and home accessories during the 1980s and 90s will enjoy seeing those trends adapted to 21st century tastes.
“This house has something for everybody, but I think it’s really meant for somebody who wants to find a place they can love and live in for a long, long time,” said Waite. “It’s for somebody who sees it and with certainty says, ‘This is our forever home.’”
The 2023 Birmingham Home & Gaden Inspiration Home located at 2717 Vestavia Forest Drive in the Forest Creek community of Vestavia Hills is currently for sale. For more information contact listing agents Mike Wald, 205-541-0940 or Hayden Wald, 205-919-5535 with RealtySouth.
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