It was show time in Las Vegas.
Not the kind of show that pops into your mind when you think of the Nevada gambling capital. In this case, the spotlight was on a show home.
The Easy Living House was built to debut during the 50th annual convention of the National Association of Home Builders. The event, Jan. 21-24 in the Las Vegas Convention Center, drew more than 65,000 people.
Many of the conventioneers took a detour some 10 miles southeast of the Strip to see the 3,409-square-foot Easy Living House, sponsored by Home Magazine and the Masco family of companies.
Built by Frank Kocvara of Desert Oak Development of Las Vegas, the four-bedroom home is priced at $242,000, and is loaded with extras.
It incorporates the most popular “intelligent house” features-security and lighting systems, zoned heating and cooling, and a whole-house entertainment system.
The back yard has a lap pool, which uses far less water than a traditional swimming pool; it also serves as a decorative reflecting pool. A built-in gas-grill is perfect for outdoor barbecues.
“We wanted to design a home that could be built anywhere, using imagination and ingenuity to create a comfortable, low-maintenance living environment,” said Gale Steves, editor-in-chief of Home magazine, which features the Easy Living House in its March 1994 issue.
“This house is in Las Vegas, but it could just a easily be in New Jersey, Florida or Kansas,” Steves said.
Nevertheless, it does exude a distinctive Western appearance, from the red tile roof to the Navajo rugs.
Much of the furniture is from Lexington Furniture’s American Country West collection; Lexington Furniture is a Masco company.
Designed by David Lorimer and Roger Basinger of Lorimer-Case in San Diego, it is decorated in a rustic style.
Appropriately, the show home also is known as the “Wild West House.”
Masco-sponsored market research showed that 65 percent of new-home buyers are move-ups-people purchasing their second or third home. Two-thirds of those buyers have children.
So designer and author Mary Emmerling created the interiors of the Easy Living House for what may be a typical move-up family: a married couple with a 9-year-old son, a teenage daughter and an older child living away from home. She emphasized the use of current popular colors: gold, red, blue, brown and black.
The effect is a rather homey ambience. The home almost seems “lived in” even though it is a model.
The Easy Living House focuses on a popular current trend-an increased emphasis on the concept of a “family living center.”
In the last decade, kitchens have become recognized as part of a home’s social center. The social hub of the Easy Living House revolves around the kitchen, the family room, the breakfast room and a snack bar in a bay with a view of the back yard.
The kitchen’s long center island provides plenty of space for the family to cook together.
Anchoring the family room is a fireplace and a 10-foot-wide, three-section home theater. Concealed within the center are speakers, a VCR, stereo and a 52-inch television.
The living and dining rooms were planned as places that are expected to be used more than once or twice a year. The living room, located in the front of the house, was designed as a place for private conversation and reading, away from the hubub of the family gathering areas.
The home has a balanced mix of shared and private spaces.
The first-floor master bedroom has access to the lap pool through glass-pane doors that also brighten the room.
A staircase leads up to a special feature of the master suite-a second-floor loft that overlooks the two-story bedroom.
This adult retreat is warmed by a traditional Southwestern beehive fireplace. The gas fireplace has direct vents to the outside and does not require a chimney.
A big-screen television is in an alcove beneath the staircase.
The master bath includes a step-up whirlpool tub and a glass-enclosed shower. A separate compartment houses a combination toilet/bidet.
A second-floor bridge overlooks the foyer and family room, and separates the two children’s bedrooms (one decorated in a bunkhouse motif) from the guest bedroom and a home office. The children’s bedrooms share one bath.
The bath for the guest room and office has a humidity-sensing fan that starts automatically as needed. The home office has a built-in niche for a computer and storage.
Samuel Cypert, director of communications for Masco Corp., said the idea for the Easy Living House dates back two years.
Masco wanted to showcase some of its mainline products and needed a house that wasn’t in the super-luxury category, he said.
