Balsam Mountain Preserve

Custom Homes

Balsam Mountain Preserve is proud to share a look inside some of the privately owned custom residences that are nestled inside our 4,400 acre community within a park. These homes are beautifully crafted and appointed, inspired by the natural settings and surroundings of the Blue Ridge mountains.

This year, the 60th family moved into Balsam Mountain Preserve, and there are currently 7 additional homes under construction, 5 of which started this year. As Balsam continues to mature into a living, breathing, self-sustaining community, more and more of these beautiful residences will appear, but with a density of only one home for every twelve acres, the mantra to “see but not be seen” will always be at the forefront of all new development activity.

The Walters Home

This 5,800 square foot timber-framed home, designed by New Energy Works and built by Clark and Leatherwood, is one of the greenest homes in the state of North Carolina. It is one of only two homes in western North Carolina to gain the prestigious LEED-H Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Perhaps even more impressive, the home recently earned the highest statewide accreditation point count of any N.C. HealthyBuilt Home Gold project in the history of the program.

The Allin Home

Designed by Thomas and Denzinger of Buford, South Carolina and built by Bronco Construction, this home captures a 270 degree view. A contemporary style that blends seamlessly with its mountain surroundings. A truly unique property in every respect, the architecture and furnishings of this home will leave a lasting impression.

Elegant Rustic Mountain Home

Designed by Architectural Design, Inc. and built by Morgan-Keefe Builders, this home exemplifies Balsam Mountain Preserve’s commitment to preserving and enhancing the community’s most prized amenity—nature. The home’s exterior features indigenous stone and natural and rustic building materials in hues that blend seamlessly with the natural surroundings.

Morgan-Keefe’s use of sustainable, energy efficient and healthy building technologies helped this home earn North Carolina Healthy Built Home certification. Innovative building practices include Icynene insulation, locally sourced natural materials, engineered lumber, geothermal heating and cooling, and an energy recovery ventilation and air filtration system.

The Hauser Home

The Hauser Home was constructed to take advantage of Balsam Mountain Preserve’s lush mountain living. Mark Sinsky Architetcs along with Morgan-Keefe Builders helped the homeowners create a natural outdoor living space that is reminiscent of a tree house, but much more resplendent with an outdoor fireplace, vaulted ceilings and multiple seating and dining areas.

The Ison Home

The Ison Home epitomizes the rustic luxury for which Balsam Mountain Preserve is known. Masterfully designed by Moss Creek and constructed by Morgan-Keefe Builders, the outdoors was brought inside by artfully incorporating stone, raw wood—even branches—in open, light-filled rooms. Panoramic mountain views provide a stunning backdrop for outdoor living spaces that are inviting on even the chilliest days with a beautiful stacked-stone fireplace.

The James Residence, Balsam Mountain Preserve

The James Home

The James Home blurs the boundaries between the indoors and out by combining strategically placed breezeways, rugged stone and wood architecture with indigenous landscaping to create the illusion that the home literally grew out of its surroundings. Exposed wood beams in the living areas imply that not a single tree has been disturbed. Architect Jack Davis and Morgan-Keefe Builders worked diligently to minimize environmental impacts throughout the design and construction process.

The Linsky-Levinson Home

This home was designed by The Architectural Studio and built by Clark and Leatherwood as a gathering place for extended Family and friends. It was designed to house as many as 30 guests for holidays and family gatherings. The entire family provided input for the design process, relationship of spaces, and selection of materials so that they home would reflect a part of each member of the family.

The materials were selected to provide for low maintenance for years to come so that the house could remain in the family, handed down from generation to generation. The house is the stage for the many family gatherings, regardless of how far apart they may live, as the generations mature and start their own families. Permanence, warmth and time spent together is the theme that dominates the homes floor plan, character and materials.

The Morse Home

Designed by Al Platt and crafted by Bronco Construction, this home, cradled by two mountain streams, embodies the natural setting of Balsam Mountain Preserve. The family room features a wood burning fireplace, vaulted open beam wood ceiling, and floor to ceiling windows. The bright open kitchen features a large center island with concrete counter tops. Not to be overshadowed by the beautiful interior, though, the outdoor living areas are truly one of the highlights of the home, featuring a large covered porch with a stacked stone fireplace. Another wonderful architectural feature is the approach to the home, which takes you over a rustic wood bridge that traverses one of the streams.

The Ossmann Home

The Ossmann Residence embodies Arts & Crafts principles while achieving a modern, open floor plan. The home was designed by The Architectural Studio to step down the site taking full advantage of the north and west views. The floor plan has several built in window seats, nooks and small tucked away spaces including a piano nook and library.

Built by Richard Lanning Construction, the interior features quarter sawn oak millwork by Rutherford Millwork/WISP, Inc. that includes wainscot, crown moulding and detailed cabinetry complete with leaded glass reminiscent of the 1930’s style homes the interior was modeled after. The home also incorporates environmentally sound principles such as re-claimed materials, geo-thermal heating and cooling, a high efficiency windows, and energy star appliances and system controls. It is “plug and play” ready to accept solar panels in the future to further offset the impact on the environment.

The Parker Home

The final product of this Architectural Studio designed home, is a blend of contemporary building forms; massing and open plan implemented using rustic materials such as re-claimed barn board flooring, black walnut cabinetry with black walnut and wormy oak trim and a post and beam structural system for the great room. Metal cable and turn buckles attached to the structural timber system complement the rustic nature of the home and provide additional structural integrity to many of the large open spans of the conventionally framed roof system.

The great room has an oversized wood burning fireplace with a monumental chimney dominating the great room and a hand crafted metal and wormy oak stair that passes along side the chimney on the way to the lower level and the small birds nest style loft over looking the library, foyer and great rooms. There is an outdoor shower just outside the master bath to take advantage of the fantastic mountain weather. The house also has a large walk-in wine cellar, outdoor patio complete with waterfall and outdoor kitchen.

The Zimlich Home

The Architectural Studio masterfully designed this home to emphasize the main “public” spaces such as the great room, kitchen, and large covered porch and patio areas, both with wood burning fireplace features. The sleeping quarters are more modest in size as much of the home is designed to enjoy the outdoors and cool summer evenings on the covered porch in front of a roaring fire.

The home, built by NewHeight Builders/Ryan Newell, is rustic in feel with lots of tongue and groove wood walls, washed with just enough paint to give plenty of color but diluted enough to still let the natural wood grain and texture shine through. The sleeping loft/bunk room features a sliding barn door to the great room below and custom built bunk beds for kids. The roof and exterior siding materials are cedar lap siding with a cedar shake roof. Native stone at the foundation and chimney complete this homes palette of natural materials and tie it into its natural surroundings.