Stillwater House at dusk: a low stone and timber home with a long reflecting pool, set in meadow grasses below the Blue Ridge
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Fletcher · 2025 · Custom build

Stillwater House

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The home

Best Custom Home, 2025

a slower way of living

A single-storey house of limestone, oak and glass, set low in a meadow in the Blue Ridge foothills. The living rooms open onto a long reflecting pool that holds the evening sky.

Size
4,200 ft²
Built in
16 months
Delivered
On schedule
Contract
Open-book cost-plus

Drawing → doorstep

What we drew is what we built.

Stillwater House as built: limestone, oak and glass beside a long reflecting poolRendering · 2023Built · 2025

Drag to compare the rendering with the finished home.

A gravel path through meadow grasses to Stillwater House across its reflecting pool
01

The approach

A gravel path through meadow grasses, then the first view of the house across the water.

The garden room: limestone floors, oak beams, a window seat and sliding doors open to a green courtyard
02

Garden room

Limestone floors, oak beams and a window seat. Sliding doors open onto a green courtyard.

The challenges

What made this one hard.

  • Problem

    A 40-metre pool on sloping clay.

    Solution

    Helical piers and a sealed liner keep the water level and the ground still.

  • Problem

    Six-metre glass walls with no visible posts.

    Solution

    A steel frame hidden in the roof lets the glass run uninterrupted.

Samples of oak, rough limestone and dark steel chosen for the house
Materials, chosen in pre-construction
The project lead and an owner reviewing drawings on site inside the timber frame
On site, month 7
The kitchen: an oak island and a long limestone counter facing west toward the pool
03

Kitchen

An oak island and a long limestone counter, facing west toward the pool.

A stone terrace with a long table under a timber pergola
04

The terrace

A stone terrace under a timber pergola, used from spring to late autumn.

The build · 16 months

The build

  1. Fit
  2. Pre-construction
  3. Build
  4. Keys
  • The meadow site before ground was broken
    Month 3
  • Reviewing drawings inside the timber frame
    Month 7
  • The oak front door hung in the limestone wall
    Month 11
  • The finished house beside the filled reflecting pool
    Month 16

Planned 16 months · Actual 16 months · 4 change orders, each approved within 2 working days

The Whitmores’ terrace: a long table under the timber pergola
“They understood that we weren’t just building a house. We were making a place for our family to grow. Every detail felt like it mattered.”
Anna & James Whitmore · Moved in 2025
Best part
The weekly site walks.
Surprised by
No cost surprises. Not one.
Would we again?
Without a second thought.

Materials

White oak · Limestone · Limewash · Glass

  • White oakHand-finished doors, beams and joinery.
  • LimestoneHoned floors inside, split-face walls outside.
  • LimewashSoft walls that change with the light.
  • GlassSteel-framed glazing that opens the living room to the pool.

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