Interior Design

DREAM DESIGN

By Carolyn Snyder Special to the Town Crier

Lana Portnov has, at last, built her dream house in Los Altos. She didn't pour the foundation or pound the nails, but she was on site for every step of the process - from the design to selecting all the building materials down to the last faucet and drawer pull. "I had an architect who helped me draw my ideas on paper, but I designed everything myself," said Portnov, whose goal was to combine traditional and contemporary elements in a harmonious way in a house that reflected her personal tastes and background.

The result is what appears to be a one-story house - sitting unpretentiously behind a wrought-iron fence and rose garden - that blends with the neighborhood.. What a surprise to learn it is 5,000 square feet (including a 1,7OO-square-foot basement) and has four bedrooms, an office-library, 4.5 baths, two family rooms, two kitchens, a sauna and a wine cellar. It was a long road to realizing this dream.

Portnov, husband Michael and daughter Inna came to the United States from Russia in 1990. They lived in San Francisco for two years before renting a house in Palo Alto and then, in 1995, buying a three-bedroom, one-bath house on South Clark Avenue in Los Altos. Husband and wife have backgrounds in information technology and telecommunications and worked as software quality-assurance engineers. Michael has since started his own businesses in Mountain View - the Portnov Computer School and the Portnov Insurance Agency. Lana, whose hobby is Internet marketing, works as a consultant. In 2000, the couple decided to rebuild. "But, as you know, the economy was falling down and the project was big and expensive," Lana said. "So we decided not to take a risk." Instead, they rented out the house and moved to a bigger house on an acre of land in Saratoga - "land we didn't know how to use," Lana said.

But her heart remained in Los Altos, and in June 2005, the Portnovs began their project anew. They scrapped the house on South Clark and began construction of her "dream house," completed last December. "Construction is not a simple business," said Lana, who acted as her own general contractor. The builder, Eugene Rotfeld of Design & Construction Management LLC, was "the big picture person," but she handled all the details, such as selecting and ordering the crown molding (it came from New York the mahogany flooring and the tile and marble used in the bathroom. And she did the lion- share of her work on the Internet, where she found the Swarovski crystal chandeliers used throughout the house (there are four just in the "ballroom" downstairs!), the contemporary bathroom fixtures and the kitchen appliances. "As a nonprofessional. I had to learn a lot of things about building materials and details." Lana said. "It became my full-time job."

A snapshot of some of the home's features follows. Double doors that form the 7-foot-by -8-foot front entrance are handcrafted from mahogany. The scale is in keeping with the nearly 12-foot ceiling in the entry hall.

The formal living and dining rooms are separated visually from the entrance hall by faux marble columns. A three-way fireplace serves as a decorative and functional "room divider" between the living and dining rooms.

All the bathrooms have heated marble-and-tile mosaicfloors - and heated towel racks. The towel racks are on timers. Sun tunnels provide natural light in the bathrooms. The master suite has a handcarved marble fireplace and "his" and "her" bathrooms. Parading across the fireplace mantel are seven stone elephants, a symbol of good luck in Russia. "You have to have seven elephants in order to be lucky," said Lana, who loves stones and believes in their healing power.

The master bedroom is painted pale violet - "a color that refreshes your body." From the mirrored master closet, a door leads to an adjoining room that Lana uses as her office. It has its own bathroom and could easily be converted into a guest suite by simply sealing off the door.

The state-of-the-art kitchen, which Lana calls "the heart of the everyday house," has a Miele gas range, contemporary stainless steel-and-glass exhaust hood, pressed-stone sinks and contemporan faucets and hardware. But the trappings are traditional - a caned wood fish from Russia hangs above the stove. The glass-front kitchen cabinets that contain china and crystal are illuminated with concealed strip lighting that runs vertically. A huge island in the kitchen is topped with JuparanaCreme Bourdeaux granite that combines "warm earth tones with cold colors," the color palette she used in the stone and tile work throughout the house. A pop-up shelf concealed in the island raises the food processor and its host of attachments to counter height when needed. Kitchen cabinetry is cherry, but the base of the island is alder, to match the built-in alder entertainment center in the adjoining great room.

A dumbwaiter, hidden behind a cabinet door in the kitchen, connects to the basement kitchen, the heart of the "party house."

A painted steel and wood staircase leads downstairs to this entertainment center, a huge room with a stage and dance floor, complete with disco lights. "It's like having a nightclub in your own house," Lana said. The bilevel ceiling is faced with mirrored tiles to reflect the lights from the crystal chandeliers.

A huge eat-at island in the kitchen/bar area is topped with Emerald Pearl granite. Karaoke is a favorite pastime. "We like to sing - it's a great way to get rid of stress," Lana said. Her husband's guitar is on a stand near the staircase. Here, too, is the wine cellar, sauna, a guest room and the "brains" of the house, a room that houses the electronics. For instance, there is music wherever you go in the house with the flip of a switch and, more importantly, a security camera that keeps an eye on everything.

"When you buy a house, you buy one that more or less fits your needs. When you build, you can build house that matches your needs," Lana said.

Lana has published a book about her home construction experiences, available online http://improvementhome.spaces.live.com

Lana Portnov compiled these tips for Town Crier readers who are thinking about remodeling or building: 1. Think about your future. How many more years are you planning to live in the house? 2. Make a list of things you don't like about your current house, for example, too small, needs additional bedrooms, needs bathroom or kitchen upgrade. 3. Ask family members to make a "wish list" of things they would like. Even think about your pet's needs. 4. Compare the features of your home as it is with your list and evaluate the differences. 5. Talk to professionals, real estate agents, contrac tors, builders and handymen to find out whether it is feasible to remodel using your list or whether it's better to start from scratch. 6. Be aware that sometimes remodeling vs. new construction won't save you a lot of money - in a big remodeling project, your budget is always open and almost unpredictable.