An iron sculpture on the wall next to a formidable oak front door hints at the interior of Bill Beyer’s contemporary home on Lake Thoreau in Reston, Va.
The sculpture – “Four Men Seeking Their Center” – features four figures aloft and reaching into the center of the circle. Standing on the threshold inside the door and taking in the vast open expanse looking out on the water, one discovers a circular diagram resembling a compass in the floor made of several different types of wood inlay –including walnut, yellow heart, wenge, and rosewood – with four Jungian archetypal symbols portrayed – the magician, lover, warrior and king.
“My house symbolizes the transformation every man goes through,” Bill Beyer said. “The hard exterior opens into the brilliant life that happens on the inside – a lightening and softening.”
The renovation started with a leak in the window overlooking the lake. Going from eight rooms on the ground floor to an open plan on multiple levels partitioned by a stone wall and fireplace, Beyer and his son took out any wall that didn’t have a support.
“We blew it up,” he said. “It was like getting rid of insecurities. I wanted to bring nature in. Show the simplicity of life.”
Beyer worked with designer Jerry DeSantis, of DeSantis Designs in Purcellville, Va., to unite the house with nature. He introduced elements of water, fire, earth, and sky into the space. The multicolored earth tone granite kitchen counter resembles a topographical map and the staircase leading upstairs was rearranged to face the water.
Large windows and skylights brighten the space. The red, brown and orange stones on the fireplace look like petrified wood and possess a flat, pastel-like quality.
There are long wooden staffs resting in an urn for the warrior impulse, a home theatre in the basement, iron gates, and “Mead Hall” chandeliers that have transformed a chopped-up man-cave into a man castle.
“This is my sanctuary,” said Beyer who works as a consultant. “I need a place to unload and expand my thoughts.”
DeSantis took a slab of laser cut anigre wood from Canada and created a bar across the living room area with a bowed natural edge to the front. To capture Beyer’s experiences as a triathlete, he designed and sandblasted a 10-speed bicycle into a glass partition under the staircase, and created “wavewood” designs in the doors and ceiling trim using curly maple and walnut. When lit by purple neon at night, the ripples create the atmosphere of being in the mountains.
“I consider myself an artist,” DeSantis said. “[Beyer] wanted the house to look like a castle and include touches of his personality.”
The upstairs guest bathroom is a work of art. The rust-colored shower wall, made of Chinese multi-colored slate, features a rain shower and a waterfall faucet that turns blue if cold and red if warm.
A renovation project that started as a leak in the window has continued into to the master bedroom and is still a work in progress that will eventually include a greenhouse.
“I’m creative and Jerry’s creative,” Beyer said. “We demolish a space and then we start talking.”
The journey continues.
