Entertaining at home in Redding
January 20, 2020
Text by Lisa H. Speidel   Photography by Laura Moss   Produced by Karin Lidbeck Brent
There are plenty of people who say their house is good for entertaining, and then there are those who actually use their house to entertain. Builder Ryan Fletcher definitely falls into the latter category.
When he bought an old apple orchard in Redding, five minutes from where he grew up, he set out to build a house conducive to hosting company year-round. âI wanted a place that people wanted to come to and hang out at,â he says. His quest was successful. Every weekend the guest bedrooms are full of friends from high school, college, or Fletcherâs time in the Marines. âThey call it their hotel; my girlfriend and I even had custom robes made for everyone [imprinted with the name of our street].â
To make the house crowd-ready, Fletcher went with an open floor plan centered around an oversize stone fireplaceâa perfect backdrop for cozy winter gatherings. A seventeen-foot-long island in the kitchen is primed for morning coffee and conversation. And then thereâs the temperature-controlled wine wall separating the family room and dining room. A lovely semi-transparent feature that retains the first floorâs open feel, of course, but itâs also highly functional: âWe go through a lot of cases of wine,â says Fletcher with a laugh.
When it came to incorporating cool design details, Fletcher admits one of the perks of owning a high-end residential construction company is his exposure to myriad architects and designers. âI took ideas from various projects,â he says, ânone of this came from thin air, and I didnât recreate anything.â The ceiling detail came from a house in Darien, the open-tread staircase from a project in Rowayton, and the custom-milled, character-grade white oak floors with an oiled finish from another house in Fairfield County. The floor-to-ceiling corner windows in the family room are based on a design by renowned architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen.
Another perk? Fostering relationships with architects like Christopher Pagliaro of Christopher Pagliaro Architects and designers like Tina Anastasia of Mark P. Finlay Interiors, the latter with whom he partnered on the soft goods and overall aesthetic. The aim was classic with a modern bent. âNothing thatâs edgy,â says Fletcher. âI wanted it to be timeless.â Anastasia, whom Fletcher credits with helping to soften and modernize the design from its original man-cabiny roots, was also intent on making it personal. She worked with him to pull images that reflect his travels and passions, including skiing and boating and jaunts to Lake Tahoe. âWe wanted to bring Ryan into the house,â she says. âItâs easy to change the vibe with artwork and take small risks.â
There were no risks taken on the exterior, however. A builderâs house must be bulletproof. âThereâs not a piece of wood on the house thatâs going to rot,â he says proudly. And while itâs common for those in the trade to critique their own workâthe mudroom could be slightly bigger, the house could be greener (all those beautiful windows are to blame), and the timeline could have been faster (âWhen youâre building your own home,â says Fletcher, âyou come lastâ), thereâs no time for any Monday morning quarterbacking.
After all, Fletcher and his girlfriendâwho, as fate would have it, he met through Mark P. Finlay Interiorsâhave parties to throw.
Project Team
Architecture: Christopher Pagliaro, Christopher Pagliaro Architects
Interior design: Tina Anastasia, Mark P. Finlay Interiors
Builder: Ryan Fletcher, Fletcher Development
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