Wonder Wall—Design Awards 2015 Gold, Residential Interior Under $100,000

Residential Interior Under $100,000

Beautiful Remodel, Gilbert, Ariz.

Project goals: Redesign and remodel a living room for clients who frequently travel and entertain. Their requirements included an integrated, 70-inch, flat-screen TV, a fireplace, built-in storage for at least 450 bottles of wine, and secondary seating for four to six guests.

Challenges: The clients wanted to keep the existing firebox, which made the redesign of the fireplace wall a challenge, as it was off center. Also, the layout of the entry and the hall that leads to the bedrooms and garage felt awkward.

Solutions: The remodeler created a fireplace feature wall that visitors see as soon as they enter the home. An arched doorway to the entry was added to give it a more formal look and widen the new wine room.

Three depths of curves break up the monotony of straight lines in the room and soften the visual impact of the large fireplace wall. The long stone hearth grounds the wall and functions as secondary seating. The clients can enjoy mountain views from a larger curved area of the hearth near the window.

The main curved wall is finished with a hand-troweled, five-layer American Clay plaster, with American Schist stacked stone below and Autumn Blend flagstone at the hearth. LED lighting subtly accents the wall and stone textures at night.

The clients can store more than 800 bottles in their new wine room.

What the judges said: “This project is a great example of bringing an existing space that is tired and outdated up to speed, while still allowing it to function the way it was intended—only better. The added wine room is not only functional for an avid wine lover, but also creates a cool focal point in the room.”