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Waterfall
This was an unbelievable challenge and I couldn't be happier with the results. The people who built our home – Paragon Homes I can't recommend them higher – were also building a massive show home at the same time they were building ours. Just to get it out of the way, our home is NO WHERE near the size of the show home that includes this waterfall.
John Wiesner is the brains behind Paragon Homes and he showed me the plans for their massive show home while he was building our home. He said he wanted a large water feature in the living room. I quizzed John about how he was going to build the water feature of weeks – how was he going to do this and that, what materials he was going to use and such. John one day finally said – why don't you just build it for me!
So I tackled the waterfall. It took two months, but the results are stunning. The water fall is 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide. The water cascades down sheets of copper. The water first falls 3 feet and catches in a small ledge than cascades down another 6 feet. The water is captured in a foot deep reservoir at the bottom.
There are rope lights running along each side and across the middle arch and the top arch. The lights playing off the water and copper give the waterfall a real dramatic effect at night.
The waterfall was just one of the many unbelievable features in the beautiful house. The house won the Peoples Choice award during the 2004 Parade of Homes event in Billings.
Below is an article from the Billings Gazette about the home with a picture of John and his wife Deb in the house – please notice the waterfall in the background.
A peek inside a $1.75 million home
Builder gets carried away with what started out to be $650K house
By LINDA HALSTEAD-ACHARYA
Of The Gazette Staff
Viewed from the front entrance, the home's size is deceiving. Once inside, visitors are wowed by the 10-foot waterfall and the 17-foot window opening out to a pine-studded coulee.
Last fall, 10,000 people trooped through John Wiesner's $1.75 million home, which took first place in the Parade of Homes. Wiesner is a builder and designer and owner of Paragon Homes in Billings.
For the most part, people who sink a million dollars into their home aren't so inclined to invite the public in for a showing, particularly once they've moved in.
"It's like going into a movie star's home," Wiesner said. "It's difficult. It's their domain."
After the "wow" entrance at Wiesner's home, one glance to the right reveals the first twist of the four-story spiral staircase as it encircles the four-story elevator. Another glance draws the eye to the intricate railing from Italy -- crafted of beech wood, with each rung carved into a double-helix reflecting the curves of the staircase.
The 3,000-square-foot main floor has only one bedroom, but the spacious master quarters flow into a sitting room with fireplace and a bathroom suite that would eclipse the size of most bedrooms. In the kitchen, cherry panels blend top-of-the-line appliances with the cabinetry. Behind the kitchen, the same cherry cabinets line the laundry room, which could easily double as a second kitchen. Out in the finished garage, even the vehicles enjoy the benefits of heated floors.
Wiesner's "theater experience," which he says cost "almost the price of a house," is situated on the bottom level. Velvet, scalloped theater curtains frame the 123-inch screen, and stealth acoustics buried in the walls rival a standard movie theater.
"I can get this cooking and never hear it upstairs," he said.
Wiesner started the home intending to sell it but got carried away. When his $650,000 home grew to $1.75 million, he decided to take advantage of the capital gains tax break -- there's no capital gains tax on the first $500,000, provided he and wife Deb live in it for two years -- and will postpone selling it for a couple of years.
"I didn't do it for the tax gain," he said, noting that the profit margin on homes, even exclusive homes like his Rehberg Ranch property, is not that great.
Still, he's already putting out feelers because it takes a year or two to sell a house like this, he said.
Meanwhile, prices keep going up. He figures the house has already increased in value $40,000.
Contact Linda Halstead-Acharya
at 657-1241 or lhalstead-acharya@billingsgazette.com .