Only a few months ago, the north side feature home for the Parade of Homes was still in the flat-field stage.
Today, the old-world Tuscan home is open to the public.
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The 2,930-square-foot home was completed in five months, several months quicker than most homes built by Tim Egan, who owns Suburban Homes.
All it took was "lots of blood, sweat and tears by everybody,” Egan said.
The annual Parade of Homes opens today. The event, sponsored by the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, provides potential home buyers and window shoppers a chance to tour 164 new homes for free from 1 to 7 p.m. daily through Sept. 21. Parade books with maps to the homes are available at metro area Lowe's.
Two of the event's high spots are its feature homes. Egan's home is at 9045 NW 147 Terrace in the Montereau addition, near NW 150 and County Line Road. Five other homes in the 1-year-old neighborhood also will be part of the Parade, Egan said.
The south feature home is at 12409 Healthfield in the Williamson Farms addition, near SW 119 and Meridian Avenue. Josh Simmons of Gemini Builders was the builder.
The feature homes showcase the latest trends. Egan's home includes a game-theater room, an outdoor living area and federal Energy Star certification, which means it is between 20 to 30 percent more energy efficient than the standard home.
When the features homes are sold, the profits become the main source of income for the operation of the nonprofit builders association, said builder Jim McWhirter, association president.
The builder and other professionals working on the feature homes donate at least some — and sometimes all — of their supplies and labor, he said. It is often a challenge to meet the Parade deadline, partly because using donated materials often means a wait, said McWhirter, who owns Gemini Builders.
"It's like a mad, crazy dash. Everything is done at once,” said Kaye Edwards, who was a consultant on some of the Egan home's design decisions, including the choice of a warm antique gold for the paint color.
Often, 10 to 20 people were working in the house at the same time; the landscapers worked at night, Egan said.
Kelley Farrar, who painted a movie-themed mural, worked until 2:30 a.m. two nights in a row.
"I worked some crazy hours to stay ahead and get it done,” she said.
"Everybody works as a team, and it's amazing that everything gets done,” Kaye Edwards said.
Some of the team members who helped get it done included:
•Renaissance Wood Co., 13401 N Santa Fe Ave.Doug Madden's company provided the immense 100-year-old beams in the main room and master bedroom. In addition, new lumber was used for a mudroom bench and a one-of-a kind architectural element near the front door.
The bench wood came from a "standing dead” Douglas fir from Montana, which means the tree died a natural death, Madden said.
The main-room beams are yellow pine and were once in a Kentucky tobacco warehouse. The bedroom beams are white pine and were in an Illinois flour mill.
"Each one of these timbers has its own story. They have a long, varied path to get to Oklahoma and get their second chance at life,” Madden said.
Madden said he bought Renaissance Wood in 2005, several years after it was started. It's a growing business, he said.
"It's a really unique industry — part green, with the recycling of the old wood that goes into the big, luxury houses,” he said.
•The Antique Garden, Bethany.
Kaye and Scott Edwards helped create the feature home's old-world feeling, partly with ceiling tin.
The Edwardses own The Antique Garden, which started in 1995 as a Bethany antique decorative accessories shop. The store closed, but the business took off in two directions.
Kaye Edwards worked as a decorating consultant on the feature home. She also provides home decorating for model homes and helps home sellers "stage” their homes.
Kaye Edwards said their company also creates ceiling-tin shelves, wall medallions and backsplashes for kitchens, which are shipped all over the country.
In addition, they are used in local custom-built homes. One ceiling-tin creation in the feature home is a stove vent. Another is tin that covers the barrel ceiling in the master bathroom.
•Wallace Mechanical, 525 Evergreen St., Edmond.
Owner Bobby Wallace said his company provided both the labor and plumbing materials in the feature home's slab and walls.
In addition, they installed a company-donated, $2,000 Rannai tankless water heater, which provides a "never-ending source” of hot water and costs about 30 percent less to run than a conventional unit, Wallace said.
A conventional water heater constantly reheats the water to maintain the desired temperature, Wallace said.
The Rannai tankless system uses a gas-powered heat exchanger to heat water on demand.
The homeowner usually has to wait about three to five seconds longer for hot water with a tankless unit than with a conventional heater. People don't seem to mind. The tankless system is becoming more popular.
"We've put in more in the last two years than the previous 10 years. We are getting more conscious of the environment and energy,” Wallace said.
•Andrews Lighting and Hardware Gallery, 3244 NW 23.
Andrews' employee Shelia Riggs said her company donated lights throughout the feature home, including a 20-light, wrought-iron chandelier hanging from the center beam in the main room.
The lighting, which complements the home's "formal, rustic feel,” includes an eight-light chandelier, doubling as a pot rack, over the kitchen work island.
Two small chandeliers — wrought iron with cream-colored crystals — act as bedside lights in the master bedroom. A red-and-white stained-glass light illuminates the upstairs billiards table.
Riggs said her company chose oil-rubbed bronze hardware for the feature home, which includes cabinet knobs and pulls, closet rods and door knobs.
•Kelley Farrar Murals, home-based business in Cashion.
Kelley Farrar painted some scroll work on a kitchen cabinet and a world map on the study wall.
But by far her largest project in the feature home is a four-wall mural of movie memorabilia in the game-theater room. The collage includes an old film reel, Scarlett and Rhett in an embrace and a large expanse of red movie curtains.
Farrar said she enjoys working in the areas where most homeowners are challenged, such as in the game-theater room, where most of the walls follow the slope of the roof line. While homeowners may be frustrated by an odd wall angle, "I can use them to my advantage, and people like that,” she said.
Farrar paints murals full-time, mainly in Edmond homes. She also works for several national corporations who fly her to other locations to paint murals.
Her business' tagline is "Where art hits the wall.”
•Integrated Options, 504 Harrier Hawk, Edmond.
Owner Fred McFadden installed the zoned audio system in the feature home.
The system is capable of operating throughout the house or in individual rooms, allowing a homeowner who is enjoying a song on his iPod dock in the kitchen to hit a button and continue listening in another room.
The system is controlled through wall panels in the main living area, the outdoor living room, the study, the master bedroom and bathroom, the game-theater room and the garage. Only the bedrooms meant for children are without the wall panels.
The system operates the theater room screen, the radio or compact disc players and iPods. Speakers are installed in the walls and ceilings and behind the theater screen.
"The sound really jumps out of the screen,” McFadden said.
A system like this would normally cost about $26,000, he said. A similar system could be installed in an existing home.
"Retro-fit applications are not a fear of mine and I have done many. They are just messy. You have to get up in those attics,” McFadden said.
McFadden said he has been in the home-audio design business since 2001.
"It's growing like a weed. People say the market slowed. Our market is definitely not slowed,” he said.
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Rhett and Scarlett in an embrace from "Gone with the Wind” is one feature of the mural that Cashion artist Kelley Farrar painted in the game-theater room of the feature home. by david mcdaniel, THE OKLAHOMAN
Parade of Homes North feature home
•Builder: Suburban Homes, owned by Tim Egan.
•Address: 9045 NW 147 Terrace.
•Neighborhood: Montereau addition, near NW 150 and County Line Road.
•Style: Old-world Tuscan.
•Size: 2,930 square feet, three bedrooms, 3½ baths.
•Price: $394,500.
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