The story below is from our May/June 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
A Roanoke boomerang and his family build a dream home in Roanoke County.
Bob Sowder Photography
Vishak John grew up in Roanoke, and knew the valley would be a great place to raise his young family. Vishak’s parents are still here, and he and wife Sandy Chacko wanted to raise their kids near at least one set of grandparents.
“When a job opportunity came up here that was a good fit, we felt it would be the right time to make the move,” says Vishak, who joined the Vistar Eye Center as a retinal surgeon in 2017. Wife Sandy, a dentist, also found a great opportunity in town with Cross, Lavinder, Quinn and Park Family Dentistry, and they moved with their then two-year-old son Isaac and five-year-old daughter, Alina, from Winston-Salem.
In North Carolina, the couple had the opportunity to personalize fixtures and finishes in a spec home already under construction. When they made the move two hours north to Roanoke, they bought a lot in The Ridge development in Roanoke County, and decided to take on the enormous project of working with builder Alexander Boone to bring a dream home to fruition. While you often hear that couples argue and struggle through the stress of building, the Johns sailed through it, mostly due to their clear and shared vision of what they wanted the house to look like, and how they saw it functioning.
“We love to entertain family and friends, and though COVID put a stop to a lot of that over the last two years, this house can accommodate a crowd of people and we really built with this in mind,” says Sandy. “Vishak and I like the same aesthetic, we are drawn to the same things style-wise and that made choosing so much easier. We had fun making selections in the house.”
The couple lean into a French modern look, favoring a calming, neutral palette with a dash of color for a youthful energy, befitting a young family. To carry out this vision, they worked with designer Jennifer Ainsworth, who designs for clients through Ethan Allen and her own Foxglove Interiors in Winston-Salem. Ainsworth helped with everything from the initial design plans to the furnishings, and the end result reflects the couple’s careful attention to the details.
The exterior of the home is fashioned in white brick (Hamilton, by General Shale) with a turret, arches and wood-stained double entrance doors, along with a circular drive. These elements together impart a casual elegance and French influence that carries on once you cross the threshold. In the two-story entry, a crystal and aged silver chandelier warms the space, lending a vintage vibe. To the right is a formal dining room, wallpapered in a muted aqua trellis pattern from Thibaut, and dark wood stained table and chairs, some of the only furniture that traveled with the couple from their previous home. A neutral rug from Ethan Allen grounds the space, which is flooded in light from a triplet of windows.
Across from the dining room is an office with glass French doors, which, for now, is a playroom for the couple’s children. Books, toys and a sink-in sofa create a welcome space for the kids to dream and play. When they are older, Sandy hopes to upgrade the room into an older kids’ hangout, a space where they can be with friends or do homework.
While the family spends some time in the front rooms, especially when entertaining, the back of the house is where they really live. The avid cooks minded every detail when designing the large kitchen, going back and forth with the builder and kitchen designer until they got it just right.
“Alexander (the builder) cautioned us that there was a lot of space between the sink and the stove area, but we wanted the space,” says Sandy. “He spent a month designing the kitchen with us to make sure the layout was just right to fit our needs.”
The kitchen is a cook’s dream, with a 48-inch Wolf range, warming drawer, plenty of counter space and an expansive island that can handle school projects or a buffet spread. Hidden storage racks for pots and lids, as well as spices, keep things close at hand but the counter clear. Creamy cabinets with a subtle gray wash are topped in a neutral toned granite, which plays nicely with the muted gray walls, as the open floor plan is painted throughout in Sherwin Williams’ “On the Rocks.”
Creamy subway tile comprises most of the backsplash, but an interesting glass tile with a floral motif creates a subtle focal point behind the range, playing off the sparkle of the cabinet hardware and giving the mostly neutral space its verve.
Open to the kitchen is the family room, where a TV over the fireplace is flanked by built-in bookshelves. Twin tweed sofas and two accent chairs from Ethan Allen invite you to sit, while tufted leather ottomans can be pushed together and topped with a tray for serving, or pulled apart for seating a crowd. A neutral geometric rug visually warms the room, while colorful pillows provide contrast.
Adjacent to the kitchen is a breakfast table, where kids spread out art projects and homework, and the family eats casual meals together. The mountain views from here are stunning, and the windows have been left bare to enjoy them. Beyond the breakfast table is a sunroom that carries on the views, with a triple French door that can be closed off from the otherwise open floor plan for reading, relaxing or taking a phone call.
“It’s a nice place to sit with another couple, it’s perfect for entertaining a small group,” says Vishak. A neutral sofa and two chairs in a lively green and cream fabric in a Greek key pattern, and a floral ottoman provide comfortable seating, and a separate HVAC ensures the temperature is always right.
The upstairs houses bedrooms for the couple’s children, a guest suite, and a primary suite with a boutique closet that would thrill even the most discerning clotheshorse. The closet, which is a bridge from the bedroom to the bathroom via double sets of French doors, has built-in hampers, a hidden ironing board, and drawer dividers in the island for accessories and jewelry.
The primary suite bathroom is wallpapered in an Anna French for Thibaut paper with an iridescent finish, lending a sparkle echoed in the crystal cut knobs that don the twin vanities. Also in the primary suite is an office, separated by a pocket door, that has endless potential to become a sitting room, library or exercise room in the future, as the couple’s needs change.
“We wanted this house to have a timeless feel, and neutral finishes that we’d never grow tired of, so that we can make small updates over time in furniture or accents,” says Sandy. “We’re so thrilled with how the house turned out, and even when we go away on vacation, our kids are always happiest to arrive back home.”
The story above is from our May/June 2022. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!