Mountain Dream Home: How One Couple Found Serenity Building in the Hills

Hello. We are a couple who quit our jobs at a construction company after nearly ten years and started the second chapter of our lives in the mountains. My husband has a background in civil engineering, and I, the wife, majored in Construction Engineering. Now, the husband has taken over the black goat farm that his father used to run and has become a farmer.

We built the house here, with the regret of not being able to spend much time with family due to busy company life and for the management of the free-range farm located in the mountain.

We often moved long distances and desired a house that fit our lifestyle. Thanks to my father, who had been in the construction business for a long time, this was well realized, and we are delighted.

1. Construction process

We went through a somewhat unique process and form of construction. Thanks to my father, who had run a construction company for a long time, it was a direct control construction. My father planned the structure and durability himself. On the design side, I proceeded by directly ordering the presidents of my father’s business partners.

So it was smooth, but at the same time, there were many conflicts of opinion between my father, who mainly does practical things, and me, who mainly does design. Because it was my first directing, there were many gotcha points after receiving a result different from what I thought. That’s why people who built houses say they can make well if they build again.

Layout and structure (Piloti structure)

Our site is long from east to west and has a narrow width, so it was a big challenge for me, who wanted a south-facing house. Fortunately, a piloti design came out using the west mountain slope, and I am delighted in many ways. (The first floor using the hill becomes the basement, and the main first floor becomes about the height of the second floor.)

By lifting the house on piloti, we gained a more fabulous view and a lot of sunshine, and we could lessen worries about the entry of various pests and insects from the mountains. Lastly, I am delighted that it makes it possible to manage free(sudden) trespassing of strangers. Because we live with cats, we are very sensitive to the possibility of our cats going out of control when outsiders visit the house.

Our house was recently filmed for the EBS Architecture Exploration House, and the architect, PD, and writer all said it was unique to have a house lifted on piloti in the countryside. Living in the countryside is a good approach for young people at first.

The frame construction started in late summer and was completed when the autumn leaves were thoroughly dyed. My husband bought a drone to keep a record of the house construction. Our house is colder than the main town due to its geographical location, and it has a structure that is vulnerable to the cold because it is lifted on piloti and has many windows, so my father paid a lot of attention to insulation.

He ordered such good insulation material that the boss of the business partner would be amazed. He planned to make all windows, including fixed windows (aluminum), as double pane windows.

Because it has a reinforced concrete structure, we had difficulty bringing the ready-mixed concrete truck to this mountain. Thanks to the veteran foreman who had been at my father’s company for a long time and my husband, a civil engineer who worked as a site management supervisor at a construction company, I was at ease about everything that happened on site.

2. Exterior

The exterior material was initially thought to be brick. When we started building the house, as the price of raw materials surged, narrowing the price difference between bricks and stones, my father suggested changing to easier-to-manage stone.

I wanted stones in a white color range, but I knelt at a high unit price and chose a limestone recommended by my father. After construction, it goes well with the greenish mountain background, as my father said.

3. Floor plan

First floor plan

There are some modifications from the drawn plan, but the overall framework is the same. If you look at the floor plan of our house upstairs and downstairs, you will find something a little different from other houses. It is almost like a large studio with fewer rooms. This is a design perfectly tailored to our couple’s lifestyle.

Since we didn’t have children and didn’t do much other than sleep in the room, we didn’t like the apartment structure, which had a series of rooms. We are a thoroughly living room type of couple, and we didn’t even want a separate study for each person. I also do personal computer work in the living room.

So, we planned the living room to be relatively broad and open. Since I like to work in the kitchen, I planned a face-to-face kitchen to see the cats at a glance while working in the kitchen. Next to the kitchen, I planned a large workshop and multi-purpose room for me, who now became a home baker after baking for about seven years.

Second floor plan

The second floor is also a studio-type space (couple’s bedroom). It was not attractive to me to face the family room when you go up to the second floor based on the floor plan, which I had seen numerous times since my undergrad. Moreover, we have two cats who failed to live together, so we decided to separate the cats by floor just in case they could not live together after moving. So, we planned to split the stairs into a stair hall.

Thanks to the stair hall, a middle door could be installed on each floor, and a sizeable studio-type bedroom, which I wanted, was built on the second floor. The second floor is a more private space for our couple, so we planned a larger dressing room and bathroom. Now, let me show you the interior space of our house with a somewhat unique plan in detail.

4. Living room

Unlike the initial plan, we moved the large table to the living room and are doing many things on that table, including dining, personal work, and enjoying the farm scenery outside the window.

The table is a product by designer Eero Saarinen that I have wanted for a long time and was the first product I picked when I decided to build a house. So, it’s no exaggeration to say that the house arrangement was centered on the table. When it was delivered, I was a little surprised at the bigger table than I had thought, but as the time spent here is increasing day by day, I think I made a good choice.

The view I see every morning from the table gives me great strength. After moving to the mountain house, I realized for the first time how different and magnificent the sky is every day. And there’s a view that’s unique to our home, a view of black goats going for a walk in the mountains. It’s a space where you can zone out watching the black goats. Haha

There’s a main living space next to the table. If the first item I chose when building the house was the table, the first item my husband decided on was the fireplace.

We chose an oil boiler because the house is in the mountains, it’s cold in the winter, and city gas doesn’t come in. My husband thought it would be suitable for auxiliary heating. After moving in and the following year, the price of oil almost doubled, and our cats love being in front of the fireplace, so I think we made a good choice.

Our cat, who likes the number one man in our house hierarchy the most, often enjoys staring at the fire with my husband in this posture.

I like the still image that [Architecture Exploration House] sent me after a recent shooting that represents our family in front of the fireplace well. The picture below shows our house’s fireplace-joined-at-the-hip one and two.

Since moving to a house, I’ve had more friends visiting. That’s when a large table and a spacious kitchen come in handy.

5. Kitchen

After several moves, I found that a face-to-face kitchen suits me well, as I enjoy cooking. So, under a master plan of a large face-to-face kitchen, we started to choose furniture and appliances within that.

All the built-in furniture in the house, including the kitchen furniture, was custom-made. Among the kitchen furniture, I particularly sent the design I wanted for the island bar furniture to the furniture company in the sliced veneer series, which came out as I wanted. After building that in, it matched well with the hood I chose, so I feel good every time I look at the kitchen.

I placed the cat tower here so that the cats could fully receive and enjoy the sunlight that has come in deeply from the south since the morning. Sometimes, when preparing a meal, the cats that have climbed the cat tower look at me.

In the face-to-face kitchen, I planned the sink to face the outside and the induction to face the living room. Since I prefer the hood to go out directly through the pipe, I didn’t have many options, but after finding the Elica hood in the picture, I thought, “This is the one,” and purchased directly from Germany at the same time as the start of construction. I’m delighted with the design and the performance, and I’m using it well.

When choosing the induction, I looked for a product that would be safe even if the cats stepped on it rather than a performance, and I decided on the SMEG product, which I also liked for its intuitive design. As expected, our curious cat always sits on the induction like that.

This is my favorite dishwashing view. I planned a window by giving up the upper cabinet because I couldn’t give up that view. It’s the view that lets you feel the change of seasons first. I lost track of time when I sat on the floor and looked outside while cooking here and waiting.

6. Auxiliary Kitchen & Workshop

This place, an auxiliary kitchen-cum-multipurpose room, was designed with as much storage space as possible that was lacking in the central kitchen, and a sink and worktable were installed to become my small workshop where I bake with the door closed. I don’t like things being out, so I love that the auxiliary kitchen, which is hidden and spacious, compensates for the emptiness of the central kitchen.

There’s a WashTower and a food waste disposer in one corner. The WashTower also has shelves in the gaps above and on the sides, so you can store laundry detergents and items and handle tasks without an extensive moving line. The food waste disposer is one of the products I think I chose well after moving in. I am delighted to use it. I highly recommend the larger size, especially if you’re a house resident.

7. Bedroom 1

Now let me introduce you to the only room on the first floor. Before going to the room, I installed a Hang-It-All at the entrance of the vestibule to hang the accessories I take out lightly every day. When you open the stairwell door, you face the wall directly, and I planned the lighting to change the picture or photo depending on the mood or atmosphere. It hasn’t been long since I moved in, but the second frame is already hanging.

The bedroom is just a space for sleeping, so I didn’t plan any unique details. I planned for indirect lighting and a built-in wardrobe for storing bedding.

This place seems to be used more as a space for our cats to nap when the sun is shining.

8. First Floor Terrace

The last space I will introduce on the first floor is the terrace. Although I live in a country house, I am more comfortable and accustomed to living indoors, so the terrace is a natural healing space. Standing still on a nice day makes me feel refreshed, and these days, I enjoy drying the cats’ bathroom after cleaning on a sunny day and hanging laundry.

Let’s go up to the second floor. The staircase is finished with paint. The staircase and floor finishes were chosen as Mulbau wood on the recommendation of the carpenter.

9. Second Floor Master Bedroom & Dressing Room

The second floor is also planned as one large space rather than a room. The intermediary space often seen in regular detached houses where the stairs meet was unattractive.

Fortunately, since our house has a separate staircase, I could plan the studio-type space I wanted. I wanted to give the main bedroom a cozy feeling, so the second floor has a slightly different atmosphere than the first floor, with a lot of wood. (Wide wooden floor, wood point window frame, wood ceiling fan) I also chose furniture in wood tones and fabric.

I wanted to give an accent to one side, so after searching around and failing a few times, I finally completed it as I wanted. I could not communicate with the carpenter because I knew little about the delicate materials.

If you are going to build without a design company, you should study all the detailed materials and order them so you don’t waste time and money like me. In conclusion, the detail that I was delighted with was applying an oil stain to the veneer on the wall. The carpenter himself attached thinly sliced veneers one by one with a plane.

Because it’s one ample space, I think it will be good to change the space by moving furniture around (my specialty). I believe that an accented wall will also contribute to styling.

10. Dressing Room

The second floor is private, so I didn’t put a door in the dressing room. I only planned an arch-shaped passage since it’s easy to move around, and I feel good seeing the arch and the light inside. It seems like a good choice.

I custom-ordered all the built-in furniture in the house, including the dressing room. I also made a generous storage cabinet in the second-floor bathroom to match my style, so I don’t have to put much on the sink or go in and out to find one thing while doing makeup. It’s so lovely.

11. Second Floor Master Bathroom

The second-floor bathroom is divided into dry and wet areas with steps and a wall. I, who enjoy half-baths, have vowed to have a freestanding bathtub when I build a house after not being able to go to the sauna for three years due to COVID-19, and a bathroom of a size that would surprise the designer and the foreman was born. After moving to the countryside, I don’t go out much, so I consistently take a half-bath at home once or twice a week.

I was so tired of the fight with the water stains that always got stuck on the bathroom shelf, so I made a chin next to the bathtub so I didn’t have to hang a separate shelf, and I could put things on it. It is very convenient to use a bathroom separating wet and dry areas because now I can do it in one way: showering, doing my makeup and hair in front of the dry sink, and going straight to the dressing room to dress.

The bathroom tile is the same as the first-floor bathroom, which is not in the picture, but I chose a different color. The first floor has a narrow shared bathroom, so I used a bright tile. There is a spacious main bathroom, so I chose a color that gives weight. People around me worried that it would be too dark, but after sticking it, I liked it more than the first floor.

12. Second Floor Terrace

The last space I will introduce is the second-floor terrace. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer terrace life to yard life, so I plan to decorate this place more. I’m already excited to think about sunbathing on the terrace in the spring or fall.

But this winter, which was the first winter after moving, was so harsh that all the memories on this terrace I have are shoveling.

Because the house is in the mountains, it was inconvenient when it snowed, but I was also happy to enjoy the scenery and leisure that only our home can have. This mindset is essential for country living. (Although I still have a long way to go because I’m still in a hurry. Haha)

In Conclusion

The name of our house, which has a simple yet unique structure in a particular place, is Space, Heejae: A Place Has A Pause. We, who have been very busy with work, have always been thirsty for the time we spend together as a family. With the new start of life, I want to slowly find relaxation for my body and mind in this house built to match our lifestyle.

There are still many spaces to organize and unfinished spaces that I haven’t started yet, like outdoor spaces that I couldn’t introduce to you. I will teach them to you when I have a chance. Thank you for reading the long text. Please look forward to the changing appearance of our Space, Heejae.