A Peek Inside 210 Belden Hill Rd., A “Just Right” House

The house at 210 Belden Hill Rd. is a very unique house. Custom designed and built just two years ago by an owner who’s sad to have to part with what he says is a perfect fit, it’s the kind of home that will make someone not only feel comfortable all the time but also realize some pretty substantial energy savings.

The 3,400 sq. ft. home is currently on the market for $1,895,000, and according to some of the sales materials, it’s a home that was “constructed with a tremendous amount of integrity, attention to detail and focus on sustainability.”

The home, built with obvious Arts and Craft influences and an updated Nantucket cedar shingle style, is very green. Not only does the geothermal HVAC system that heats and cools the house work without the use of fossil fuels, but the way the timber frame house is built helps keep the house so insulated, the owner says there are no drafts.

“There are no ‘cold spots here and warm spots there.’ It’s such a tight house that, with the first floor radiant heating as well as blown air, I’ve gone the last two winters with probably that blown air coming on only 3-4 times. For that first floor to stay warm by solely radiant floor heat is remarkable and a testament to how well it’s insulated,” he says.

That geothermal heating and cooling system has a huge impact on energy costs as well; the highest average monthly energy costs have hit only around $250. That’s right, only about $250 a month.

But what the homeowner loves the most is how comfortable and “just right” the home is. It was actually built following some principles laid out by architect Sarah Susanka, a proponent of the “just-right house” philosophy.

“It’s the idea that houses have been getting bigger and bigger over time, and yet people are less and less happy in them,” the owner explains. “They congregate in one or two rooms. When architects and scientists do research on the types of places where people feel comfortable, it’s not in the colonial type rooms, which tend to be very big, lots of sheetrock and tall ceilings. Humans don’t do well in those types of places; they like to be in cozier places, with window seats, where the ceiling drops. They like to see wood, not tons of sheetrock. They like stone, and natural materials. In designing and putting the house together, we tried to  design it where every part of the house was used.”

The structure of the house is the timber frame that you see. There are no 2x4s behind the walls. What you see is actually the structure of the house, with a Douglas fir frame and 10-inch white oak wood floor. The hallmarks of the “just right” philosophy include many built-ins and fewer rooms. Instead, each space within the home is meant to be lived in daily, with larger more centrally located areas for group gatherings and smaller more intimate private spaces for sleeping, reading and working, including multiple lofts and window seats.

“Even when the house is sort of full, and I have my whole family over, when there’s 15 or 20 people in it, it lives so well. There are separate areas of the house for people to retreat to and feel separate enough, but they’re not so far away. It’s really meant to be lived in, that’s how we designed the house, and it makes it super comfortable to be there,” the owner says.

The four bedroom house is as beautiful as it is functional, and it’s just as enjoyable outside. According to the owner, the saltwater pool gets quite warm because of how it’s sited on the property. The house was built to fit well into the surrounding nature, he says, enveloped by the natural beauty.

“With Bradley Park not so far away, the sense of nature is far-reaching. I have two dogs, one is a very lazy yellow lab and the other is a knuckle-headed golden retriever mix. There are big birds of prey, like hawks, and my golden will sprint the length of the backyard, back and forth, barking at the sky. He thinks he’s chasing these big hawks across the sky! My yard is fenced, but beyond that we see the deer coming by. When you’re sitting in the back yard, it’s a pretty serene place.”

The homeowner is only moving because of a job change, and he’s sad to leave the house.

“If I could press a button and the house would turn into a suitcase and I could bring it with me, I absolutely would. It’s really nice to be so happy where you live. I feel such little stress living here.”

For more information, contact the realtor who represents the home:  Lisa M. Bender via email or by phone at 203.246.6986.