Reminiscent of the historic homes found on nearby Sullivan’s Island, this Daniel Island Park home, designed by local architectural firm DeWitt and Associates, features coastal contemporary styling with a galvanized metal roof.
After months of searching for the ideal community for their young family, Jeannie and Jose Fernandez admit that it was a chance stopover on Daniel Island that offered the ideal escape from the hectic lifestyle and brutal winter weather of the Northeast. Their home-hunting journey, which had taken the couple coast to coast—from North Carolina and Florida to California, suddenly came to an end.
“Friends from our Long Island neighborhood knew we were looking to move out of New York and invited us to visit their new home in Mount Pleasant,” explains Jose Fernandez, a former Wall Street trader. “On our way in from the airport, we decided to stop for lunch on Daniel Island. Intrigued by what I saw, I asked them to give us a tour. It didn’t take long for Jeannie and me to realize we wanted to live here.”
When the couple returned to New York, they began researching Daniel Island. What wasn’t to love? A portion of the city of Charleston situated between the Cooper and Wando rivers, Daniel Island is a master-planned community complete with residential neighborhoods, parks, trails, recreational amenities and its own charming downtown area that is home to a number of shops, restaurants, schools and offices. During one of their househunting ventures to the island, their real estate agent took the Fernandezes to a new section of the Daniel Island Park community, where Fernandez saw a home that looked familiar to him. “Who’s the builder?” he asked.
Above: Interior designer Caroline deVlaming Farrior chose furnishings to give the home a distinctive coastal beach style. The room’s shiplap walls were selected to flow seamlessly to the outdoor living space. Top: In the foyer, the board-and-batten V-groove ceiling, which was faux finished by local artist Aubrey Brackett, complements white oak varying-width floors finished with durable Bona Naturale.
It was Richard Jackson, owner and president of JacksonBuilt Custom Homes, a local company with a reputation for unsurpassed quality and a commitment to the highest level of customer service. Jackson, in fact, has 20 years of experience as a homebuilder.
Coincidently, the couple had bookmarked one of the builder’s beautiful homes on their computer when they first began researching the island a year earlier. “It was exactly the style of house we were looking for,” notes Fernandez. “Once we met the JacksonBuilt team, we knew we wanted to work with them. We knew moving to this home on Daniel Island was meant to be.”
The dining area features a vaulted ceiling accented by beadboard. Windows on three sides flood the room with light and allow for unobstructed views of the golf course.
Today, the Fernandezes’ coastal contemporary-style home overlooks a pond next to the 13th fairway of Daniel Island’s stunning Ralston Creek Course, designed by legendary golf course architect Rees Jones. Unlike their former center-hall Colonial-style home, complete with a number of formal (and mostly unused) rooms, the home features an open floor plan that captures the natural light beaming through expansive windows throughout the first floor.
“An open floor plan allows homeowners to truly optimize their living space, which is exactly what the Fernandezes wanted to do,” states Jackson. “This home will serve them as their children grow, it will serve them when they are empty nesters, and it will serve them in their retirement years. We believe a home design should be smart and efficient. The Fernandez home is a perfect example of that design philosophy.”
JacksonBuilt made decision-making easy. Fernandez says: “There are thousands of selections to be made in a home construction project like this one. For the most part, Jeannie and I went with the ones made by Allison Casper, the builder’s full-time professional designer. She really went out of her way to educate us on how to achieve the coastal living style we wanted. Not many builders have a designer on staff, and if they do, they are not the caliber of Allison.”
The kitchen features custom cabinets by award-winning cabinet designer Bryan Reiss of Distinctive Design. The kitchen also includes a china hutch, walk-in pantry and an integrated Thermador refrigerator/freezer. The unique backsplash from Melcer Tile adds texture to the space.
To the Fernandezes’ delight, their home was designed to make great use of the outdoors, making it seem much larger than it actually is. The comfortable family room opens onto an outside porch, complete with a traditional brick fireplace, motorized screening and modern flat-screen television. The porch is located just a few steps from a curvy patio and a grassy expanse of fenced-in yard, a perfect place for the children to play.
Inside, the family room merges with a bright expansive kitchen that connects, via a modified butler’s pantry, to a dining area where windows frame a glorious view. “Interior designer Caroline deVlaming Farrior did an outstanding job selecting furniture and a number of the final touches that brought the whole project together at the end,” says Fernandez. “Since we only moved a few of our personal items from New York, we entrusted Caroline to fully furnish the home while working with us from afar. We are so pleased with the final result.”
This page (from top): A second floor nook is a bright, cozy spot for the children to enjoy a book or a board game with friends; the master bathroom features a marble tile accent wall, frameless glass shower, freestanding soaking tub and heated tile floors. Opposite: With views of a tranquil pond, the first floor master suite is a perfect retreat for the homeowners.
Fernandez notes that the process leading up to his family’s move to Daniel Island was smooth. “Even from a thousand miles away, there were no surprises. The team at JacksonBuilt Custom Homes promised us total transparency throughout the project, and that’s exactly what we got. We were kept apprised of every detail and cost,” he says. “Thanks to their professionalism and dedication, we felt we had the entire team’s undivided attention, start to finish.
“And the follow-up since we moved in has been incredible. In fact, we consider Richard, his wife, Kimberly, and the whole JacksonBuilt team our friends and neighbors. I think that says a lot about how the process went.”
Patra Taylor is a full-time freelance writer in Mount Pleasant. See more of her writing at patrataylor.com.
