The Slater's Heart and Home
Rick and Tina Slater's new home, located in Teays Valley, is a stunning brick and stone creation overlooking a sweeping valley filled with the colors of nature. The house is surrounded by mature trees, creating the kind of place where one wants to stay a while. The timeless and elegant design defies the fact that this home is less than a year old.
With the two-story pillared foyer, the sleek Italian granite kitchen and the invitingly spacious rear veranda, it is evident that the family put their heart and soul into building their home. They have created the type of nurturing and comfortable environment for their family that has eluded them in the past. After finishing their new home-their third construction project in 13 years of marriage they believe that this time they got it right.
Rick, originally from Cross Lanes, is a CPA, a lead consultant and a managing partner with Simpson and Osborne in Charleston. He was named a Young Gun in 2001 and the 40th most powerful person in West Virginia in 2006 by West Virginia Executive magazine. Tina, a native of Clarksburg, is a self-described stay-at-home mom after giving up her career with Fox television station several years ago. They have two beautiful daughters-Tori, 12, and Mackenzie, 7.
The decision on how to build the house was a challenging one made by Rick and Tina as a unified front. The importance the Slaters place on family is everywhere evident in the way they designed their new home, from specialized countertops adjusted for the height of those who would be using them to the extra space added for family gatherings.
The girls were invited to be a part of the planning process and got to help choose fixtures for their private baths and paint for their bedrooms. Mackenzie chose Razzle-Dazzle Pink for her room, a color bright enough to match her personality. Her private bath is also vivid pink, "but," she diplomatically points out, "my closet is white."
Tori, much quieter than Mackenzie, chose to have her room painted in a color that more closely matches the rest of the house-Toasty. Where her sister decorated her room with a brightly flowered bedspread and several stuffed animals, Tori chose trendy stripes for her bedspread and plush seating for her friends. Like their father, who has decorated his tasteful study with his own awards, each girl's room is a showcase for all their cheering trophies and awards.
The rest of the house mainly reflects Tina's sense of warm sophistication and an idea that this family believes in quality over quantity. Nowhere can the house be said to be overdone or over-decorated, but the house shows an attention to detail and an understated elegance that suits the family's openness and lack of pretension.
Tina chose to repeat the same warm chic color scheme throughout the house- shades of golden brown and offwhite- invoking a sense of history and comfort that is unusual in such a new home. In fact, Rick says that even though they have only lived in this house a few months, already they feel much more "at home" here than they did at their last house.
Rick and Tina began looking at house plans in 2004, when they bought the stunning home site overlooking the Sleepy Hollow golf course. Rick, an avid golfer, was no doubt enthralled by the idea of living so close to the course. They looked at hundreds of plans but couldn't seem to find one that they both agreed on. Their destiny with this home was sealed when they each, on their own, chose the same plan, agreeing that the home would be perfect with a few modifications.
The Slaters chose James Rupe Custom Builders to build their happily ever after home and the eight month process began in November of 2005. Of the home, Rupe says, "I really wanted to custom build the house for the Slaters. With the property strategically aligned for both ample sunlight and needed shade on a high ridge in Teays Valley, their home is a very unique home consisting of custom-designed coffered ceilings, triple tray ceilings, and tremendous roof pitches to accentuate the exterior and interior look of the home."
With Rick busy at work, Tina coordinated most of the process, memorizing all their plans down to the placements of the electrical sockets. "Building a home is a full-time job," she says. She had to be available any time the builders had a question and often drove to the site several times a day. Sometimes she would have to correct a wall that was going up where one shouldn't have been or she would help create the templates for the granite countertops in her kitchen.
Tina's creative touch influenced every detail from the Italian ceramic tile to the gracefully created ceilings. "I really had fun with the ceilings," she says. She designed each ceiling differently, with varying sizes and shapes of recesses. One of her favorites is the stunning triple tray ceiling in the master bedroom. Another element she is particularly proud of is in the sitting area beyond the foyer: instead of the built-in bookcases that were supposed to flank her fireplace, she added graceful decorative iron grates slightly recessed into her wall.
Tori's favorite room in the house is the home theater room in the basement complete with projection screen and surround sound speakers. The Slaters made sure this room was well-insulated so the girls could watch movies with the sound turned up loud enough to feel the room vibrate while mom and dad are watching television in the next room without disturbance from the theater. The basement also sports a large wrap-around bar area complete with barstools covered in a fabric displaying playful martini glasses. They added a mini-fridge for the girls' snacks and there is plenty of room for entertaining.
Rick and Tina agree that their favorite part of the house is actually the charming stone and tile veranda they added to the back of the house. They enjoy sitting outside so much that they made sure to align their house and veranda to enjoy each moment to bask in the warming sun. They then decided to add an outdoor heater with a propane tank to keep them warm in cooler weather. Enhancing their outdoor gatherings is a speaker system that allows people on one end of the veranda to enjoy different music than people on the other end.
One of their most recent additions to the veranda is a stylish fire pit. Rick shares that he so enjoyed the process of sitting around a fire pit discussing and planning A Vision Shared that he had to get one for his home.
Rick and Tina do not take all the credit for their home, however. They are quick to point out what talented and professional people they had working on their house, many of whom they had worked with on previous homes and had developed a relationship with. They give high praise to their builder, Jim Rupe and to Dave Plumley of Creative Kitchens. Plumley worked with them every step of the way to make sure they were satisfied with the placement of the lights in the kitchen, the height of their kitchen counters and cabinets and the placement of their dishwasher. He even took into account whether they were right or left-handed and how they were mostly going to use the space.
Tina credits the C Gallery in Teays Valley for helping with many of the interior décor decisions. Their unique creative approach to design made them an obvious choice for this family.
Noble's Painting Company of Hurricane receives high marks by the Slaters, who were very pleased with their professionalism and attention to detail. The varied high ceilings and unusual designs make painting the Slater's home more time-consuming than more traditional homes, yet Willie Noble and his team rose to the challenge, taking their time on each room.
"I have worked with Rick and Tina for close to 10 years," says Noble. "They really appreciate the pride my family puts into each home. You can always count on Tina choosing many different innovative colors not found in many homes here. That makes it fun for us and we strived to make their house a showcase in Teays Valley." Some of those colors Tina chose include Gladstone Tan, Camel Back, Razzle Dazzle, Toasty, Chocolate Crème, Dover White and Raspberry Truffle, all Sherwin Williams duration matte paint colors.
To complement these paint choices, Tina chose to use exotic Brazilian hardwood floors throughout most of the house, and imported Italian Pietra d'Assisi and Pietra Salvia tile in the bathrooms, all from Lavalette Flooring in Huntington. In her kitchen, she chose imported Italian Delicatus granite from Bailes Glass and Granite in Charleston, a standout feature that combines the colors of the dark woods of her island and wet bar with the white kitchen cabinets. All fixtures in the house are Kohler and Moen Showhouse fixtures from Ferguson Enterprises in Charleston, and the lighting is by Minka Bellagio from Leonard's Electric in St. Albans.
"Tina and I are just so pleased with the final product," says Rick. "For me, I really wanted a cozy sanctuary to retreat to after long and sometimes exhausting days. Tina wanted a home set up for a variety of family, friends and business entertaining. The girls wanted a fun home where the options for them are endless. I'm not so sure about 'endless,' but their smiles give me all the answers I need."
As their new neighborhood begins to populate, the Slaters' only concerns now are putting the finishing touches (curtains!) on the home-"always a continuous process"-and making time to enjoy their new home.
