In life, as in the home-building industry, timing is everything. For one family-owned homebuilder based outside of Portland, Oregon, the pivotal moment arrived in the form of an invitation to build one of six homes featured in the 2006 Street of Dreams home tour, which is hosted by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland. "We'd been thinking of building a new home for our family and when we were invited to participate in the Street of Dreams, we decided to capitalize on the opportunity," says Vitaly Martinov, president and founder of StoneRidge Custom Homes in Clackamas. "We decided to build a home that would satisfy our own lifestyle, and would showcase our company's abilities and expertise."

For Martinov, who moved from Russia 18 years ago, the home tour offered the perfect venue to show off his company's craftsmanship. Unlike most homebuilders that rely on subcontractors, StoneRidge has its own woodworking and cabinetry company so it can guarantee top-quality custom finishes. The company also does all of its interior finishes in-house. Collaborating with his interior designer wife Elena, Martinov takes great care in designing each floor plan and selecting the interior finishes. Elena worked with longtime friends and fellow interior designers, Victoria Kharitonov and Oliya Panfilov, in selecting furniture and creating color palettes.

Martinov purchased a lot in an exclusive community in nearby Oregon City and customized the floor plan for his family. "The exterior style is intentionally eclectic—a bit traditional like a European manor, and a bit modern and even a little Mediterranean in the rooflines and details," Martinov says. "We were striving for a unique look that captured the various styles we liked most."

"The home is on the scale of something you would see in Bellevue, Wash., or Southern California—it's not your stereotypical Pacific Northwest home," says Jason Gotz, president of Genesis Home Technologies. Upon learning that Martinov's company was participating in the Street of Dreams home tour, Gotz approached the homebuilder about handling the whole-house automation system and home theater. "We had admired StoneRidge's work for years, and when we learned that they had entered this incredible design in the Street of Dreams program, we asked if we could collaborate," he says. "Since StoneRidge handles all interior finishes in-house, we were honored to be one of the few subcontractors hired to work on the project."

The home's multitiered façade is articulated in stucco and stone that's reminiscent of a rolling-hilled landscape. The back façade features arched two-story windows that provide stunning views of a canopy of mature 100-year-old evergreens, and a series of exquisite water features including a waterfall that cascades into an infinity-edge pool. In honor of the majestic outdoor views and the abundance of natural light, Martinov named his estate "Bella Luce," which translates loosely from Italian to mean beautiful light or great view.

The sprawling 7,000-square-foot home serves as the primary residence for the Martinovs and their four children that range in age from 2 to 8. "We wanted a spacious, open plan with elaborate, detailed ceilings and lots of custom woodworking," Martinov says. Elena concurs, adding that the couple's foremost objective was "to create a beautiful, comfortable environment that would be accommodating to children and adults—a home that welcomes lots of informal entertaining with family and friends."

Throughout the residence, multiple televisions are incorporated tastefully into the dŽcor. The heart of the home, a capacious family room/kitchen that encompasses nearly 1,300 square feet, centers around the 50-inch Marantz plasma television, which is built into the floor-to-ceiling entertainment center that includes a working fireplace. The main conversation grouping, positioned directly opposite the entertainment center, has an oversized, crescent-shaped sofa of textured chenille that pairs with an oversize beige twill chair, and two deep-cushioned armchairs covered in lush, brown suede. The grand scale of the family room, which measures about 570 square feet, is amplified by a 10-to-12-foot-tall domed ceiling that's embellished with copper-toned detailing and a metallic, faux-paint finish. Luxurious silk draperies in a russet shade and sand-colored Berber carpeting signify the home's "grounded in Oregon" color palette of deep browns and lush greens. The greenish-beige toned granite surrounding the fireplace echoes colors in the adjacent kitchen.

A large Crestron touchscreen installed on a pivoting countertop mount in the kitchen serves as the home's master control center, but can also be used for surfing the Internet, or watching TV or videos. Here and in the family room, the Martinovs blanketed the walls and cabinetry in American cherry wood, eschewing the traditional red finish for a rich cognac shade that underscores the home's warm, neutral color scheme.

The family's favorite entertainment area, however, is the second-story recreation room and the adjacent home theater. "The entertainment area in the far corner of the second story is placed to give the illusion that it's a destination in and of itself," Gotz explains. Elena selected all of the wood finishes, lighting, and fabrics for the space.

The theater, complete with a 7.1-channel surround-sound system, is about 20 feet long and 16 feet wide, or 320 square feet. "Since StoneRidge is renowned for its expert millworking and cabinetry, we designed the theater around those capabilities," Gotz explains, alluding to the intricate crown moldings, wainscotting and detailed ceiling soffit, all articulated in gleaming American cherry wood in a warm, brown finish. Below the chair rail, the theater walls are clad in cherry wood paneling; above the rail, a painted, Venetian plaster finish mimics the texture of antiqued leather, which complements the tawny brown theater seating.

Guests enter the theater from the front of the room, where a 100-inch Stewart FireHawk screen is framed by symmetrical blocks of transparent acoustical fabric outlined in wood paneling. A pair of Triad Gold center speakers is concealed below and above the screen, with the left and right Triad Gold LCR in-wall main speakers positioned on either side of the screen, along with two Triad Silver in-wall subwoofers. The system's four Triad Silver in-wall surround speakers are surface-mounted on the right and left walls; two more are positioned in the rear wall panel's center, directly beneath the video projector. All were custom-painted to match the milk chocolate-toned Venetian plaster finish. The Middle Atlantic equipment rack is located in a room just outside the theater.

"Our goal was to maximize the seating capacity without crowding," says Gotz, who installed three rows of platform seating to accommodate nine adults comfortably. Another challenge involved positioning the projector, which is mounted within the ceiling soffit in the back of the room. "We needed to place the projector as far away from the screen as possible to provide optimal viewing distance but also because we didn't want it to hover atop the seating," Gotz says. "We ended up specifying a long-throw projector that was hidden away in a box to minimize the technological intrusion and not hinder aesthetics."

The theater is topped with an elaborate, trayed ceiling that is faux-painted with a night sky, and outfitted with a fiber-optic system of twinkling stars that fade in and out during the "theater" setting, one of several preprogrammed lighting control scenes. Additional illumination is provided with delicate rope lighting that lines the perimeter of the ceiling soffit, and wrought-iron and glass sconce fixtures that underscore the woodworking.

"It was a real pleasure working with a builder that is so adept at their craft," Gotz says. "Their expertise made our collaboration work extremely well; they were always quick to respond and never threw up any roadblocks." Obviously the judges concurred, awarding Bella Luce with the 2006 Best of Show award in the Greater Portland Street of Dreams.

Getting Technical
By Dennis Burger
You don't have to study the Bella Luce's equipment list very hard to come to one unmistakable conclusion: quality was of the utmost importance, but the budget wasn't unlimited. The theater, for example, features a trio of NAD Master Series components—the M15 Surround Sound Preamplifier, M25 7-Channel Amplifier, and M55 Digital Disc Player—all of which uphold NAD's reputation for uncompromising sound quality while pushing the feature set into new, cutting-edge territory for the company. But even with tank-like chassis and all the latest bells and whistles, the Master Series gear is still an undeniable value in its class.

The same goes for the theater's Triad Speakers: three in-room Golds up front, in-wall Silver/4 surrounds along the sides, and in-wall Silver/4 LCR speakers in back. And again, it isn't as if Triad is giving away speakers, but in their price range—in fact, within several multiples of their price range—it's hard to find better-sounding in-walls.

But according to Anish Button, marketing director for Genesis Home Technologies in Beaverton, Ore., an installer's relationship with a manufacturer and familiarity with a brand is just as important as the inherent qualities of the brand itself. "We may have a customer who's totally brand-oriented to one piece of gear—say a 'Brand S' TV. But we're going to do everything we can to help that customer realize that 'Brand S' isn't necessarily the best choice," she says. "We're not trying to shove a particular brand down anyone's throat; we just want them to be happy in the end, and they're not necessarily going to be any happier with 'Brand S' versus a brand that we know how to integrate. It may be a fine TV in and of itself, but how well will it work with this system? That's the crucial consideration."

Button says the biggest challenge with this installation was "the time frame, no question about it—trying to complete a working system in a show home when you only have a week for the final install is tough." She attributes her company's success to a lot of planning and a lot more know-how. "Unlike a lot of integrators, we have a certified Crestron programmer on staff, rather than outsourcing the programming. I think that's becoming rarer in the industry. One advantage is that it gives us is the ability to make changes faster. Another advantage is that our programmer has an extensive installation background, so he can help us track down problems—maybe an end isn't terminated correctly—all the little details that other programmers would overlook or say, 'It's not my problem.' It's like a golf swing: One little thing is off, and your game goes to pot. So having our own programmer with that knowledge is just invaluable."