From House To Home

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Like old-fashioned tailors, Debbie and Ernest Martinez of Bar-M Construction, Inc., build houses specifically for their clients.

A few at a time, each one comes to life through a process of gradually adapting the forms. The builders begin with the land itself and carefully site the home to capitalize on prevailing weather conditions and the most dramatic views.

Three-dimensional renderings help their clients imagine the home before it is built. A virtual design is created. Spaces are detailed or rearranged until each piece of the pattern falls into place.

Because of its simple geometry, Pueblo-style architecture adapts to their method as well as the high desert landscape. “We’re attracted to homes with character,” is the explanation that Debbie gives for their fascination with this unique genre.

Homeowners Linda and Jim Gulley sold a real adobe home in Corrales and moved to Alamogordo several years ago. Hoping to recreate the spirit of their historic adobe, they called on Bar-M Construction for help. While joking that she’s not exactly nostalgic for “sitting in a room somewhere” and having “sod fall through and hit you in the head,” Linda is glad she found builders who have mastered the style. And unlike true adobe, the modern interpretations offer energy efficiency and better value, which conserves resources while presenting a laid-back, meditative home.

The primary elements include weather-resistant synthetic stucco, stamped and stained concrete, glass block windows, tile floors, and custom wood finishes from alder. To keep an authentic voice, the builders are always on the lookout for distinctive architectural details such as antique wooden doors, adobe brick accents, real wood vigas, and smaller latilla trim pieces.

A curved pony wall protects the front entrance. From the foyer, the home opens into the great room, which features a kiva-shaped fireplace in one corner. There are no hallways in the three-bedroom, two-bath home, so the blueprint is compact and efficient.

For the Gulleys, building their home was only part of the process. The entire time they built, Linda was busy deciding which furnishings would make the most powerful statement and how she could use color to enhance her desert landscape. Each of her pieces tells a story; from the way she accidentally reunited the estate pieces of a black lacquered buffet cabinet, with the matching black lacquered table, to the heirloom Mexican blanket that forms a runner across it. In the end, her basic goal was to square southwest elements with a more modern line before adding a touch of Oriental styling.

Each May, Linda and Jim celebrate their anniversary by visiting the “Mayfair” juried art show. They always enjoy it and try to come home with a fabulous piece of art, pottery, or ceramic. Wall niches in the entrance foyer and a stair-stepped half wall between the dining areas are good places to display their favorites.

There is simple ceramic flooring everywhere except the master, but by alternating the predominate pattern each room has its own footprint. Most of the home is painted muslin-colored stucco, but there are colorful accent walls throughout. From Persimmon to cool blue and plum in the bedroom, the accent walls are a fundamental component of the decorative palette.

Architecture and home building, like family heirlooms, helps bridge the gap between old and new. The simplest geometric forms have to continually evolve to support the changes that progress brings and still be able to travel backward to their historical precedence.