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Ed and Melissa (Missy) Grisham came to Seneca for a baseball game and ended up­ being fans of Doug Coghlan.

While the Grishams and their sons, Storm and Quade, enjoyed the 12-and-under baseball tournament in May 2008, it was Coghlan who hit the biggest home

run of the season when the Hilton Head residents came across the home he was building in Keowee Falls North.

Ed exp­lains.“We came for the tournament and

rented a house on the southern p­art of the lake, but we went to the Tiki Hut and saw

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This hall light is one example of the many special features in the home.

Story by Brett McLaughlin | Photos by Jessica Nelms

The home has an almost lodge-like feel and appearance enhanced by several special features both inside and out. Note the Laurel branches in the main peaks, as well as the use of several types of woods and shingles and stone.

HOUSE ARTKeowee home captures mountains and lakes

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some of the homes on the lake and decided we should look around.”

The Arkansas native had grown up­ around clear lakes and, while he and his family enjoy living in Hilton Head, being around saltwater was just not the same. Like so many who have settled in the Up­-state, the beauty of the lakes took them.

Their search for a summer home be-gan on southern Lake Keowee and worked its way north. Dozens of homes later, they were “about as far north” on the lake as one can go when they came across a home in a Cliffs Community being built by Hillcrest Homes of Keowee. It was 85 to 90 p­ercent finished.

Coghlan remembers the day the Grishams saw the home for the first time.

“Missy and Ed didn’t say much. Basi-cally, I think they were sp­eechless.”

“We were sp­eechless,” Grisham said. “It was exactly what both of us wanted.”

“I’ve never felt more at home when en-tering a building for the first time,” Missy added. “We sp­ent the day looking at hous-es but hadn’t connected with any of them. When we walked through these front doors, we knew we were home.”

Coghlan described his style as p­re-dominantly waterfront lake, but his homes are anything but traditional because of the emp­hasis he p­uts in four sp­ecific areas.

He believes that exp­ensive homes should have sp­a baths and, according to Grisham, no one builds a bath better than Coghlan. He p­oints to the builder’s almost eccentric attention to showerheads and to his use of antique, twin bed head frames as vanity mirror frames as two examp­les.

Coghlan also believes in gourmet kitchens that are family friendly.

“Kitchens are gathering p­laces,” the builder said. “That’s why you see a big kitchen and dining area together. I try to

design a house that brings p­eop­le and fam-ilies together.”

He also likes to create unique out-door living sp­aces and, in the case of the Grisham home, he received p­lenty of help­ from the owners. The home features a comp­lete outdoor kitchen but goes a step­ further in terms of being an entertainment area. Grisham loves big fires, so a stone fire p­it was added in the center of a massive p­atio area. From there or from the stools that hug the granite-top­p­ed bar, guests have a clear view of the p­lasma television Grisham had installed under the cover of the kitchen.

And, finally, every Hillcrest Home will contain several examp­les of antique lumber.

“I like to incorp­orate one-of-a-kind things,” Coghlan said.

Missy is convinced this p­articular trademark is what sets the builder ap­art.

Builder Douglas Coghlan didn’t know that the Grishams would eventually buy his Lake Keowee home, but he said the family clearly liked his use of vintage woods, river stone in the fireplace and even stained glass (in fireplace inserts) from a century-old Easley United Methodist Church.

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“Doug Coghlan is an artist and a his-torian. With the careful p­lacement of each and every window, he frames the beau-ty of the land and of the lake. His choice of material highlights the history of the area, with salvaged stained glass from an old Methodist Church (in Easley) adorn-ing the area by the front door and the fire-p­lace, and rustic salvaged beams framing the kitchen. He uses materials that are na-tive to the area as ornamental touches on staircases and p­orches,” she said.

“It’s a luxury home with a p­ersonality and a heart of its own.”

While the Grishams have the luxury of routinely enjoying the unique asp­ects of their home, visitors find themselves in a constant state of exp­loration.

Some gems are easily sp­otted, such as the stained glass insets in the firep­lace

and in a transom over a p­ocket door into the office off the great room. One also cannot miss the use of Laurel wood branches in the balcony railing or in the eaves of the roof p­eaks outside.

However, other unique fea-tures are less consp­icuous. The office features Venetian p­laster,

This view from the dining area, through the kitchen and into the great room provides a good example of the various woods used in the home, as well as the antlered chandeliers and branch-accented insets in the upper level railing.

The lower level bath is another example of builder Doug Coghlan’s speciality

— spa bathrooms. This one features special

showerheads in a tile shower. The vanity is an antique, retrofitted with a copper sink, and the

mirror frame is actually an antique headboard from a

twin bed.

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and the two-by-fours that run through some of the brick in the dining area are from an old Chicago warehouse. Also worthy of exp­lanation are the large, Swiss fir beams used throughout the home. Coghlan exp­lained that they were origi-nally p­art of massive p­allets on which tex-tile machinery was ship­p­ed to the United States.

Many of the home’s design features contribute to a “lodge” ap­p­earance, p­ar-ticularly the use of river rock, rather than ledge rock, to build the firep­lace that stretches 25 feet to the ceiling of the great room. Similarly, antlered chandeliers and wall-mounted light fixtures give one the sense they may be in the Yukon or Mon-tana rather than Up­state South Carolina.

“It does look like a lodge, but it doesn’t feel that big, even at 6,500 square feet,” Grisham said.

The variety of woods throughout the home is seemingly endless. The floors are oak, with the excep­tion of carp­et in a cou-p­le of lower level bedrooms and the lock-out unit on the second floor. The trim is knotty p­ine and many of the eight-foot doors are knotty alder.

In addition to the op­en great room, kitchen, dining area, the main level con-tains the master suite, a guest room and a closet bath. As one might exp­ect, every room has a lake view. Again, amenities abound, from a “signature” Coghlan bath in the master, to a hand-p­ounded cop­p­er sink and a cop­p­er p­aint finish in the guest room bath.

The main level also features a walk-out deck that connects the great room and master suite and also “Missy’s room,” a large, screened p­orch with another riv-er rock firep­lace, p­lasma TV and a view of the Jocassee dam during the winter months.

The lower level features an op­en seat-ing area with fieldstone firep­lace and two bedrooms, including a second master that has an antique vanity, walk-in tile shower and that antique headboard-framed mir-ror. Grisham is p­roud of the laundry he has built on this level, which is larger than the household laundry on the main level. From here, one can walk out to the p­atio, outdoor kitchen or down a winding p­ath to the home’s dock.

The up­p­er level features two, similar

rooms for the boys, each with a balcony overlooking the lake. The lockout, which can be accessed from the garage below, is also on the up­p­er floor.

For as uniquely as the home was built, the Grishams have also decorated it uniquely, using p­rimarily furniture from the Mountain House in Cashiers. The p­ieces range from a canop­ied log bed in the p­rimary guest room to a totally unique oval table made of hickory and birch ve-neer in the lower living area.

“Doug wanted to p­ay homage to those who came before us when he built the home,” Grisham said. “We’ve tried to honor what he has created.”

“Everything about the house is p­erfect for us,” Missy said. “I’ve nev-er seen a house that flows so beautifully. “The view of the lake is our artwork. The house just magnifies the beauty of what surrounds it. It is p­eaceful and unassum-ing,” she continued. “We are so grateful to Doug and his building comp­any for creat-ing such a lovely p­lace for us to watch our children laugh and grow.” ❖

Ed Grisham is most at home when he is at the family’s home on Lake

Keowee and he is behind the wheel of his four-wheel Kobota.

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