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Developers across the country know that a successful Street of Dreams home starts with making a good first impression. That’s why builders Gordon Root and Rick Waible used Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake for their show home at the NW Natural Street of Dreams outside Portland, Oregon. But when you ask Gordon’s wife Tracy Root, who was very influential in the home’s design, why she chose Nichiha, her answer gets at the very heart of the decision.
“The home is called Mon Coeur, which is French for ‘My Heart,’” explained Tracy. “I tell people that we just followed our heart with this. My family will actually live here; this is our dream home, so we wanted it to be beautiful.”
Each home on this Street of Dreams has its own personality and unique design style. Tracy said she chose a Hamptons-inspired home because that’s the style she loved. She knew they had to use shingle-style siding to achieve the timeless look.
“However, things weather differently here in the Pacific Northwest than they do on the East coast so we had to be careful,” she explained. “We decided to avoid cedar because it changes color and can look splotchy over time. Left to the elements, cedar can also cup out and mildew. Plus, we wanted an authentic cedar impression but I wanted to avoid the ‘stamped look’ that is more common with other cement board shingle siding products.” Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake gave Tracy the rich, classic look she wanted.
| Sierra offers ½ inch thick construction & dramatic shadow lines.
Maintenance was also a consideration. This unique 8,263-square-foot home was designed as a multi-generational family home for the sandwich generation, explained Tracy. “We have a carriage house connected to the main home by a breezeway, with quarters for my parents so they can live with us. So while the home appears large, it was designed to meet the needs of children, parents and grandparents, all living together.” With three generations under one roof, the Roots will have their hands full so they didn’t want a large house covered in siding that they had to worry about. “We wanted our home to be low maintenance over time,” explained Tracy.
There are five homes total in the Street of Dreams, and all five are different. “This home was originally designed to meet our personal goals, since we will be living there, but it also needed to meet the standards of a Street of Dreams home,” said Tracy. “We’ve been doing this for 20 years; my husband has been on the board of the Homebuilders Association and I’ve attended these over the years, so we are very familiar with what succeeds in this type of project.”
First is innovation, said Tracy. “You want a home that will be a bit of a trailblazer. The public naturally gravitates to what’s new—that’s why they visit a Street of Dreams. If you feature a good quality product or a design style, it naturally sets a trend.”
Already, the project is generating attention. “So many people have stopped, and we even had one local designer come to tell us how much she loved the siding,” said Tracy. “It helped us create what I call ‘a new old home’ with a recognized, classic feeling.”
She added, “You also want the home to be memorable; you want to make it worthwhile for people to come see these homes. People go to the Street of Dreams to be wowed. Hamptons-style homes are stately, not fussy but very simple and elegant—the Nichiha siding complements that—and our interior features a French Farmhouse style. I like to say that this house has an old soul because of the style. We have a great chance to win some industry awards with this house because it has a warm, welcoming feeling inside and out.”
Siding and design of the house provide the first impression they wanted to make, Tracy said. “The Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake siding was a perfect choice; it provided the ideal backdrop to our success and we are beyond thrilled.”
CHALLENGE
A featured home in a Street of Dreams has to impress but its products also have to perform. The Root family wanted cedar impression shingle siding product for their Hamptons-style exterior. There were other shingle-style siding products available, but they fell short on looks. Plus, this busy family needed a material that would hold up to the elements, but was low maintenance. They didn’t want to face problems down the road due to weathered cedar siding.
SOLUTION
Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake’s shingle-style siding complements this traditional Hamptons-style exterior, and since it provides reliable durability, the Root family can count on years of trouble-free performance.
RESULTS
The Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake siding was turning heads before the Street of Dreams show even opened to the public, as numerous builders and designers stopped to ask about the product.
Contractor/Developer: Stafford Homes & Land LLC
Location: West Linn, OR
Product: Nichiha Sierra Premium Shake
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