Published April 7, 2005 in issue 0414 of The Hook

BY ROSALIND WARFIELD-BROWN

ADDRESS: 2986 Adial Road

NEIGHBORHOOD: Faber, Nelson County

ASKING: $689,000

YEAR BUILT: 1995

SIZE: 5,072 fin. sq. ft., 930 unfin.

LAND: 2.41 acres

CURB APPEAL: 9 out of a possible 10

LISTED BY: Dick Gilliland, Montague-Miller & Co. 434-361-1512

Everyone knows about Bed, Bath and Beyond, but how many of us have visited a house whose owner has actually gone so far "beyond" as to include the bed in the bathroom?

That's just one of the "firsts" we encountered on our tour of this unusual place. With its 16 sides, it bears a slight resemblance to the geodesic dome reviewed on February 26, 2004 ["Magical: You can see for miles and miles"], but that's where the similarities end.

Where to begin? The first-floor entry level (off a three-car garage) has two large bedrooms, a full bath, and all utilities: washer/dryer, huge cedar closet, and full-house propane generator (mainly for backup, but capable of keeping the place going off the grid). The former large garage has been converted to utility storage.

But while spacious and functional, this part of the house does not prepare a visitor for the amazing spectacle at the top of the stairs where another whole world is waiting. In this enormous space, two walls carve a bedroom and large bath from the living room/kitchen, leaving a 1,360-square-foot space.

A 20-foot-long granite counter above cabinets backed by glass bricks separates the kitchen area from the rest of the room. Floor-to-ceiling arched windows opening to the garden surround a wood-burning fireplace of granite hauled in from Vermont and designed expressly for the space. Off one side of this room is a glass-enclosed deck (heated with gas logs) that the current owners used as an office.

Up another flight, impressions are reversed. Here, what seems like miles of cherry paneling, cabinetry, and bookshelves create a large library, which-- with its massive fireplace of native stone-- seems more fitting for a ski lodge than attached to the airy 21st-century space below. The master bedroom is also here, and with it the one-of-a-kind 8 x 18-foot bathroom, complete with steam shower, maroon marble counters and fixtures (the WC in a separate room from the "living room/bath" space), and window seat.

Why someone would need to lie down in the bathroom remains a mystery, especially considering another little surprise up on this level-- an apparently state-of-the-art "meditation room" off the master suite.

Here's where the tour morphed from fascinating to wiggy: In the middle of this eerie (blue walls with purple up-lights) windowless space sits a contraption upon which one could imagine Dr. Frankenstein's creation reposing-- or a supine Barbarella waiting for the Orgasmatron to warm up. But in fact the gizmo is just a regular bed wired for surround-sound and presumably out-of-body experiences of every sort.

These unusual features are easily explained: The house was built by a former disciple of "Master" Charles Cannon, founder of the Synchronicity Foundation just up the road. But while all the new age gear conveys, the next owners will hardly need to hook themselves up to the bed's knobs and tubing in order to experience nirvana.

Just one look out the windows to the landscaped gardens, one nap on the bathroom chaise after a bracing steam shower, one gin and tonic in the deck's huge hot tub, or one cozy evening curled up with a good book in front of the library fireplace should provide plenty of real-world bliss.

Many agents market properties as "unique" or "one of a kind," but in our experience, this house is one of the few that can truly claim that distinction. It's not for everyone, but for the right well-heeled, slightly offbeat, nature-loving hedonist, it could be the chance of this lifetime.

PHOTOS BY ROSALIND WARIFIELD-BROWN

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