Sweet Harmony: An Off-the-Grid Home in Idaho

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Perched atop a high, open meadow, the home faces south/southeast for maximum solar gain. Insect-proof, fireproof Hardiplank panels were individually treated with Livos light and dark stains, then randomly installed so that they look like wood. Photography By J.K. Lawrence

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It’s big, and it’s expensive. And while not everyone has the means (or even the desire) to spend five years and a bundle building a 6,500-square-foot home, this self-sufficient family sanctuary in Sagle, Idaho, proves that size and money don’t have to eclipse conscience and soul.

When musician and artist Andrea Lyman-Pinchera and her late husband, wilderness artist Stephen Lyman, set out to build their dream home on 104 pristine acres in 1988, green building was far from mainstream. “Because we were both very active environmentally, we really wanted to create a house that was gentle on the land, environmentally and socially responsible,’’ Andrea says. “It was early in the green movement—and what we found initially was discouraging. It was a challenge just to locate alternative building materials, and they were almost always very expensive. But we were really able to spend a lot of our money on the house, so we made a commitment to use it for our health and the earth’s health, even though we knew it would be a relatively pioneering effort.’’

Unable to find an architect familiar with green building techniques, Andrea and Stephen did much of the design and materials specification themselves. They called in a local architect to help them pull together the home’s various pieces: two art studios, five bedrooms, four and a half baths, two root cellars (wet and dry), a garden room, a mechanical and battery room, and a sky room for watching lightning storms. “We tried to keep down the size, but the house just kept getting bigger, taking on a life of its own,’’ Andrea says.

They built a foam-core model of the home and carried it to the top of a wide meadow at different times of day throughout the seasons. They turned it to catch the light, found the spot where sun would spill into the kitchen and where the front windows would capture the strong southern rays. They asked the land to guide them in siting the house, the pond, the gardens, and the road leading to them. “We’ve always felt that our house and the land it sits on is far more than where we live—it’s something we have a relationship with,’’ Andrea explains. “Everybody who comes out here has found these qualities of healing—more than physical beauty, it’s a deep beauty, a manifestation of what’s going on energetically.’’