When It Came to Building a Dream Home, the Fourth Time Was a Charm for a Hot Springs Couple
Sometimes you have to try something more than once before you get it just right. In Sara Barnett’s case, it took building four houses before she finally felt at home. “This time, I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like,” she says of her lakefront Hot Springs home. Barnett took her vision to architect David French—a friend from college with whom she had worked on a previous project—and he brought it to life. “The first set of plans was perfect; he captured exactly what I wanted,” she recalls.
What she wanted was a sleek, contemporary home that took full advantage of the property’s expansive views of Lake Hamilton and the Ouachita National Forest beyond. Steel windows, rough-cut limestone quarried in Texas and bamboo accents give the home a decidedly modern, yet natural feel.
“About halfway through the project, I started to have second thoughts, like I had gone too far,” she says. “I didn’t want it to look like an office building sitting on the lake.” But she persevered with the plan and trusted French’s ability to execute a warm, modern home for Barnett, her husband Robert and their combined six adult children, who visit frequently.
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