A stellar design-build team creates a couple’s dream home in Clear Creek Tahoe

The living room fireplace uses a combination of microtopping and a metal panel finish

Dan and Morrie Carmel’s home appears as a series of glass cubes in the forest. But look closer and the complexities of the architecture emerge, showcasing a house that is not just stunning, but intricately designed and expertly crafted. 

About five years ago, the Carmels decided they wanted a second home in the mountains, but, Dan says, the couple didn’t like the “architectural and visual chaos of Stateline and the lake.”

A friend suggested Clear Creek Tahoe, the flourishing private community between Lake Tahoe and Carson City. 

“It was love at first sight,” Morrie says.  

They bought a lot on the fourth hole of the community’s Coore & Crenshaw golf course in October 2020 and began working with Ryan Marsden of Marsden Architects the following January. Morrie had seen one of Marsden’s other Clear Creek projects that featured see-through elements.

“We told Ryan we wanted that, just more of it,” she says. “And Dan was set on the idea of a seamless inside-outside transition and feeling. Those were our only parameters, and then Ryan worked his magic and came up with his unique design.”

Matching Sonneman cubix LED chandeliers emphasize the home’s geometry while details like the ceiling cedar blurs the boundaries between indoors and out

“Light and transparency were key in the design,” Marsden says. “The two-sided nature makes for plenty of natural light and an energy to the spaces that connects to the outdoors.”

Marsden paired the couple with Jeff Miller of Incline Village’s Advance Design and Construction for the build, and the project broke ground in March 2022. 

Throughout the project, a running joke as the team made various decisions was, “Is this ‘más elegante?’”

“‘Más elegante’ was kind of an all-encompassing term,” Miller says. “This project had a very specific goal in mind. Having a common phrase for the house being ‘más elegante’ helped everyone understand what the expectation was.” 

Seen from the exterior, the home achieves its goal of transparency. The mountain-modern structure is composed of three shed roof forms, two of which are folded to form a butterfly roof; these contrast against three flat roof forms. 

“The large expanses of glass and simplified material palette, installed with great detail and craft, offer a minimal first impression, but the closer you look, the more the subtle details show themselves,” Marsden says. “There is also an elegance and restraint in the architecture, evoking a sophisticated and tailored feel.” 

The lowered firepit deck allows for a clearer view to the golf green from inside the home

Exterior detail work is exquisite. For example, the vertical and horizontal siding change direction on an outside corner, transitioning with a “negative reveal” corner trim, which allows the vertical siding to perfectly align with the soffit above. 

Tapered eaves minimize the perceived thickness of the roof cavities, which ultimately allows the soffits to appear to fold down the walls they intersect. 

“In general, this style of home puts the contractor under a lot of pressure,” Miller says. “Everything’s got to line up. That starts at the foundation. It looks simple when it’s finished, but execution-wise, you really have to have your mind set on the details and what it’s going to look like when it’s done.”

The front glass pivot door is 8 feet wide and 10 feet tall. Through the entryway is the open gathering area, comfortably scaled. “We’re two people,” Dan says. “We don’t want this cavernous space.” 

The couple chose matching Sonneman cubix LED chandeliers for the living room and above the dining table, which nods to the geometry throughout the home. 

The kitchen uses a Brazilian nera quartzite for the island and Turkish kalahari quartzite for the countertops and backsplashes. A scullery hidden behind the kitchen is, Morrie says, the “practical room,” where appliances and cookware are kept. Ceilings are a clear cedar.

An office includes custom cabinetry to hold the homeowner’s full-spectrum book collection while the high window brings in natural light

From the kitchen, a large glass pocket door opens completely to a covered dining space; a screen door system keeps bugs out in the summer while still providing airflow. The floor finishes run outdoors, strengthening the indoor-outdoor connection. Steps from the outdoor dining area lead down to a firepit and seating area. 

“I love how the outdoor firepit deck is lower than the covered dining deck,” Marsden says. “It provides a feeling of compression and release under that large, cantilevered roof as viewed from the kitchen—the floor drops away as you look out and opens up to that eastern butte and golf course view.” He adds that having the firepit lower minimizes views to the “visual shrapnel,” in the form of backs of couches and chairs. 

In the primary suite, a unique four-poster bed crisscrosses at the top. The en suite bathroom uses microtopping on the floors, walls and ceiling to create a serene, zen-like experience. Microtopping, completed by Verdi’s Evolution Industries, is a newer plaster-like product that, as Marsden explains, “allows for a seamless, monolithic-looking finish with no grout lines or seams.” 

Microtopping is most obvious in the primary bathroom but is also used in combination with a metal panel finish on the great room fireplace. While expensive, Dan asserts it’s worth it for the seamlessness and the ability to never break a solid plane. He’d first seen the material while touring homes with Marsden and Miller in Martis Camp. “I said, ‘Is this ‘más elegante?’” 

The primary bathroom features extensive microtopping to create a seamless finish

The couple enjoyed the design-build process. 

“They were opinionated in all the right ways,” Marsden says, adding they had a solid grasp of their goals but were open-minded and encouraged the design team to be creative. 

“I’m an engineer,” Dan says with a shrug. “I have opinions.”

Both Morrie and Dan requested offices on the main floor, but with plenty of distance between them. In Morrie’s office, lime-washed walls set the stage for a giant white wall unit. Built by Chad Stephens of Loomis’ S&S Signature Cabinets & Millworks, the shelves are organized by color, creating a rainbow of books and adding a burst of color to the room. Marsden jokingly calls the space Morrie’s “Zoom candy,” as she teaches online courses on financial crime intelligence for the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. 

Dan’s office, in contrast, is done in more muted shades of gray and accesses outdoor space. 

The house features almost 2,800 square feet of glazing. Marsden wanted to try a newer company, Awake Window and Door Company, for the narrow mull windows. While it seemed like a good fit, Dan wasn’t sure he wanted his home to be the product’s guinea pig. 

The primary suite includes a unique twist on a four-poster bed

However, Marsden says, “As long as there was a rationale, Dan would say, ‘I can always be convinced.’” 

Marsden argued the case, and the Awake windows made all the difference, particularly in the stairwell, where the biggest pieces come together without a structural frame.

“When you stand at the top of the stairs and look out, that’s all glass,” Miller says. 

That stairwell is as much form as function. “We wanted it floating, but engineering-wise it was a challenge,” Morrie says. 

The task was assigned to Marsden Architects project manager Kenzie Tillett. “I told her, ‘Make it a sculpture,’” Dan says. 

Tillett created a folding steel stringer with blocky, cantilevered wood treads. 

“Kenzie was tasked to dream big,” Marsden says. “It had plenty of engineering and logistical complexities, but the limits were pushed and the norms challenged. That can often make for cutting-edge design outcomes.” 

He credits Miller and his team for the execution. “Despite the challenges, they made it look easy,” Marsden says. “Much like all the other special details of the home.”

The home’s see-through nature and unique rooflines are displayed from the front entry

The lower level includes a media room, guest suite with views to the golf greens and a bunk room. Additional space turned into a ping-pong room and storage. “Even while building, this kept evolving,” Dan says. 

The media room opens to the backyard, where even the landscaping, done by New York’s LVF Landscape Architects, is symmetrical and geometric. “Some clients aren’t as open to bringing in a third-party landscape architect, but we feel it adds the cherry on top for the overall aesthetic and feel of a project,” Marsden says. “It took Dan very little convincing once we presented the rationale behind why this project deserved that extra touch.”

Throughout, the project highlights extreme craftsmanship. 

“The details are where it’s at,” Miller says. “Because if you miss even by a small margin, it becomes very apparent.”

For example, he points out the reveals around the window frames. “You don’t think about it,” he says. “If we miss, you see it. If you didn’t notice, then we did our job.”

Dan agrees: “I give Jeff a lot of credit for sweating the details.”

Stair treads cantilever off a unique steel stringer while a light cove detail makes the stairwell glow at night

Construction took about two years. In the meantime, the couple loved the development so much that they were married there in December 2021, in a small ceremony mostly attended
via Zoom.

“The homeowners are very happy and that’s really what we’re looking for,” Miller says. “It was challenging, but it was truly rewarding at the end.” 

“Ultimately,” Marsden says, “it was ‘más elegante.’”

Award: Mountain Modern

Building Design: Marsden Architects

Builder: Advance Design and Construction

Interior Design: St. Pierre Interiors; Homeowners

Landscape Design: LVF Landscape Architects

Square Feet: 4,615