It started out being a simple remodel but after the discovery of extensive dry rot, wood ants and faulty construction from the 1950’s, most of the house was torn down. With pictures taken while in Africa, many African books and the creative and artistic talents of Michael Hamilton and his sons, an African style mansion grew from the rubble of the torn down old house.
After a long search for someone that could build walls that served the purpose of a wall but didn’t look like one, 3-DPanel was found. Rod Murphy of 3-D Panel loved the opportunity to to use his product as a work of art. He found great pleasure in building a brand new wall that was to look like a 300-year-old wall as built by African brides out of mud, manure and rock. I won’t be around to see what it looks like when it is really old, but the new wall will still be standing for the next 300 years.
  Frank Pensanti of Pensanti Masonry Co. was given a picture of a fireplace and asked if he could duplicate it. He said that he could, but strongly suggested he had some better ideas. Given the blessing to go with his heart and knowledge of his trade, he went on his search for the perfect rocks to use and completed a fireplace that far surpassed the picture given to him. From there, he was cut loose to do many more rock features, each surpassing the other. Our African house even has Zebra rock.
   
 
  Selecting flooring was a challenge, as we wanted
something beautiful but also able to endure the
punishment that would be rendered by our dogs, birds
and party-attending humans. D’ Mundo Tile Co. came
to the rescue with rock floors laid to perfection along
with porcelain tile that looked like hard wood floors.
 
Naturally a large room with porcelain tile floors looks
great and is easy to clean but it also creates terrible
room acoustics. Abby Flooring solved that one by
carpeting the ceiling with an imported reed carpet.
Even with wall-to-wall people in the house, the carpet
absorbs all the echoing sounds.

 
OK, everyone hangs out in the kitchen so we wanted ours big, really big. Mastercraft Kitchens
proved to be masters at designing, building and installing the most amazing kitchen cabinets I
have ever seen. All function beautifully at the job they were designed to do and all look more
like fine furniture in an African mansion than a simple kitchen cabinet.
 
   
World famous artist and friend, Russell JaQues dropped by towards the end of the project and found us musing over what to do with the entry ceiling dome. The next day he was back with a cardboard model of his idea. The only problem with his beautiful work of art is that sometimes we find it hard to move people past the entrance, as they stand frozen with eyes affixed to the ceiling.
 
 

As mentioned earlier, Hamilton Builders which is Michael Hamilton and his two sons deserve
most of the credit for the fabulous results in creating this house that functions like a very
livable, comfortable home, but looks like a work of African Art. Besides being the most talented
people I have ever met, they are wonderful human beings. I Thank the Universe for sharing
them with me.
 
These are just a few of the fabulous artists I was lucky enough to have build our dream house.
If you intend to build anything and would like to know how to contact these people, I have a list.