‘‘This exceeded any expectations I ever had about a bathroom. We had visited [a house in Barbours- ville] that was life-changing. It changed our paradigm of what a house is; it sparked our imaginations. We said, ‘What if you put a bathroom in the top of a turret?’
 The bathroom also has an unusual shape: Being the topmost floor of a turret, it’s circular. The coffee-colored marble floor is a step down from the adjoining bedroom. Tub, shower and toilet snuggle cleverly into the curved walls, and Smart snuggles into the tub. Lavendar-scented bubbles float through the air; sunlight hits the water. It’s all fairly over-the-top. Says Smart, “This is where I separate from the world.” |
“It’s very difficult to design a round room. We started with the tub; it’s on a pedestal to look out the window. Then I said, ‘I’m going to need a beautiful chandelier to cast my eyes on.’ The floor is Alice in Wonderland-ish—the depth and intensity of the color. And the little niche [in the shower] is so castle-like.”
“It’s large enough that I can do yoga and meditation in here, and I do all my reading and thinking in here. Right now I’m reading A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. She’s a very sensual woman.
 When you’re fortunate in the views your homesite commands, you might as well let the sun shine in. The house Melanie Smart and her homebuilder husband, Michael Boyes, recently erected on a steep Greene County hillside doesn’t skimp on windows; in the common rooms and master bedroom, the Blue Ridge vistas pour in through huge expanses of glass. And why stop there? The master bathroom has two windows of its own, looking into treetops and across an almost-too-perfect rural valley. |
“The sun sets right behind this ridge—that’s an exalted feeling. There’s tons of bird life out here. Three stories up, it’s like watching a fishbowl, with the swimming motions of the woodpeckers. Since I’ve moved here I know their calls—the finches, the woodpeckers, the cardinals.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. We kind of went crazy.”
