When Jack Stout decided to build his dream house on 19 acres near Annapolis, he had in mind his childhood home -- a 1930s farmhouse in Falls City, Neb.
"When I was a little kid," he says, "I would go up several flights of stairs to bed, and that was the one driving thing in the [dream house] design."
It says something for his powers of persuasion that he got his wife, Wendy, to agree with him. Their architect, John Filkins of Copley/Filkins, couldn't believe at first that the couple wanted a master bedroom three floors up. He gave them what they wanted, but insisted on adding a dumbwaiter and a stairwell where an elevator could be installed if it ever became necessary.
The point of building a dream house is to get exactly the home you always wanted, but most people keep in the back of their minds that they might need to sell it someday. Not the Stouts. "This is our last home," Mr. Stout says. "It's not an investment."
How many houses, for instance, have a room and bath for dogs in the basement, with a shower installed low enough that the animals can be washed off easily? Or small windows in the stairwell at stair level -- lookout posts for the family cats?
Before Mr. Filkins started thinking about design, he asked the couple to cut out magazine pictures of houses, rooms or architectural details that appealed to them. He also had them carry around cameras to photograph homes they liked. "All of our pictures were from quite different structures," says Mr. Stout.
Finally the three of them sat down and started going through all the material.
The Stouts knew what they wanted in the abstract: large spaces, lots of light, a comfortable, relaxed mood. They knew what they didn't want: anything elegant or too contemporary. But they didn't come to the architect with set ideas about how to achieve any of this.
"There were two issues," says Mr. Filkins. "They wanted a bedroom on the third floor and a garage in the basement. 'Oh, my god,' I said, 'we have a tower.' "
Couple that with the Stouts' decision to build two large rooms with cathedral ceilings, and the basic -- and unusual -- structure of the house was decided.
Neither of the Stouts had any interest in a formal living or dining room. At first they wanted a library big enough to hold an antique pool table, but they found they liked the room so much as a family room they abandoned the idea. The library -- with its pressed-tin ceiling, custom-made bar, wood stove and expanse of windows -- they filled with the antique furniture they had collected and refinished.
The oak bar was built by craftsman Dale Pittrof, known locally for the quality of his custom woodwork.
A second family room, with a barrel vault ceiling, flows into the kitchen. This room has a view of a creek and is decorated in soft tones of peach and neutrals. Wicker furniture and lots of windows give it a casual, indoor-outdoor feeling.
The kitchen, following the same color scheme, is state-of-the-art, with a free-standing cook top and built-in appliances. All the colors are warm: The floors are cherry; the counter tops are pink and gray granite. Originally the Stouts wanted an all-white kitchen, but Mr. Filkins talked them out of it. With four dogs in the house, he felt a distressed, antique off-white finish on the cabinets would show less wear and tear.
On the second floor is Mr. Stout's large home office. (He designs paramedical systems here.) Besides the floor-to-ceiling scratching post for the couple's six cats, the office holds a built-in desk custom-made by Mr. Pittrof and all the latest computer equipment. The second floor's other room is an elaborate exercise area.
For the third floor, the Stouts decided they wanted a small master bedroom, just big enough to hold their antique bed and a couple of small pieces of furniture. Their hours are very different: Wendy Stout is an emergency-room physician and her husband works at home. But they don't disturb each other because the rest of the tower's third floor -- over half the square footage -- is taken up with separate dressing rooms and luxurious baths, including a steam room-shower.
There's a guest room and bath in the basement, near the room and bath for the dogs. But the Stouts' dream home isn't quite finished yet: The couple is in the process of building a small, separate guest house nearby.