You can design a house without an architect. But you can’t design a great house without a talent for framing space and using it efficiently.
Paul and Martha Hafner developed those talents through their cabinet business, Hafner’s Fine Carpentry, and her kitchen and bath design practice. They have worked with several noted architects and builders over the years.
This house on Madison Court in Sarasota's Laurel Park neighborhood has just come on the market at $1.15 million through Linda Griggs of Michael Saunders & Co. Certified LEED Gold, it was designed by the owners and completed in 2012. (Staff photo / Harold Bubil)
They paid attention, and it shows in their house at 540 Madison Court in Sarasota’s Laurel Park.
The contemporary house, with just 2,200 square feet of air-conditioned area, is full of brilliant design touches.
And, it is highly energy efficient — certified as LEED-Gold under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.
It has tankless hot water, deep overhangs, LED lighting and spray-foam insulation. The electric bill is $75 to $125.
But with two teenage daughters, the Hafners say they need more space, especially for car parking in snug Laurel Park. So they have listed it at $1.15 million through Linda Driggs of Michael Saunders & Co.
Martha Hafner also says the couple are looking for a fresh project. Creative people are like that.
“We are a good team, and we are probably on to the next project,” Martha Hafner said. “And we need more room.”
This house on Madison Court in Sarasota's Laurel Park neighborhood has just come on the market at $1.15 million through Linda Griggs of Michael Saunders & Co. Certified LEED Gold, it was designed by the owners and completed in 2012. (Staff photo / Harold Bubil)
The house is the first one the Hafners have designed. They got help from the late interior designer Terry Rowe.
“He was a neighbor and helped lay out the basic floor plan,” Martha said.
The Hafners were schooled by working on projects for such architects as Toshiko Mori, a professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
“We worked for (master builder) Michael Walker; we’re in the cabinet business,” Martha said, noting that the Hafners worked on two Mori-designed houses on Casey Key. “We have worked in different spaces and studied.”
The house has a modern flavor, with a clean and geometric exterior and an open interior in which spaces blend seamlessly.
“I call it a two-story ‘atomic ranch,’ or ‘organic modern,’ ” Martha said. “We were going to build a modern house, but we didn’t want cold steel and glass. We wanted warm stuff. We wanted it to be homey.
“To me, the biggest compliment is when someone comes and sees it and they say it is nice and warm and comfy.”
The main floor, with white polished concrete punctuated with splotches of terrazzo chips, opens to a modest patio and the pool area, which is surrounded with lush landscaping that cleverly conceals a cistern.
“They have more talent in their little fingers than most people . . . ” said Linda Driggs.
“We spent a lot of time thinking about how to have this house flow between indoors and out, without any loss of privacy,” Martha Hafner said.
“We designed it for parties, and we have had lots of great ones. The kitchen is designed for multiple cooks, so there are two sinks separated by the dishwasher. And we have crazy storage behind the stainless backsplashes.”
A prominent design feature is an exposed steel frame. “The beams were not necessary,” Martha Hafner said. “We wanted them for the look. They are incorporated into the structure. They hold up the porch, a requirement in this neighborhood.”
As would be expected in a cabinet maker’s house, the residence has lots of storage space. Inside one of the two front doors, a cabinet with four doors is not what it appears. Storage is found on the left and the right, but the two middle doors open to reveal a home office.
Upstairs, the two teen bedrooms are a study in efficiency. Book cases from Ikea are used to support elevated bed platforms. Beneath the beds are spaces for reading and study.
“We wanted to build a simple structure for the economy of it, and because the houses surrounding us are fairly straightforward,” Martha Hafner said. “Our lot was not big enough for a true atomic ranch, to get the width, so we arrived at a two-story version.
“We then looked to the proportions of the surrounding homes. We have the little enclave of Owen Burns-built Florida Spanish bungalows just across the street. The shape and scale of the windows was derived from those homes.”
