Arts and crafts are usually reserved for kids at summer camp — but the student-designed arts and crafts style house now being built at Cottages at Hilltop begs to differ.

“They just did a really good job on it,” Jared York, president of J.W. York Homes, said of the student design team. “There was no reason not to build it.”

The 1,700 square-foot, two-story, three-bedroom house was the brainchild of Lauren Lee, Katherine Ward, Addison Ruffin and Margaret Reid. As part of a class project in the fall, the students created a house which could be used as part of York’s Cottages at Hilltop project.

“They’re not involved right now, but they shared their design with the builder,” said Megan Lee, the assistant professor in the textiles, merchandising and interiors department who taught the class. “The house is based on all of their floor plans, their color schemes and materials.”

Lauren Lee, a senior from Rome, said the group chose the arts and crafts style because it fit with the established neighborhood aesthetic, and because she was working on a separate project designing an arts and crafts style kitchen at the time.

“We felt like arts and crafts was the way to go,” she said. “We did a lot of research beforehand and incorporated it into the house.”

She said this style was used by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Megan Lee said arts and crafts was a fundamental design style. She said it involved characteristic woods, fixtures and colors.

“The students called it ‘arts and crafts revisited,’” she said. “They wanted to go back to a formal arts and crafts but modernize it on the inside.”

It is easy to tell the house’s style because of its characteristic features, but it has definitely been updated, Megan Lee said. She said the colors were a lot less dark than traditional ones.

 “We chose more earthy tones because they represent the craftsman style,” said Ruffin, a senior from Winston-Salem, N.C. “We talked to the client about what he wanted and what he thought would sell.”

Ruffin, the designer, said the house used bronze fixtures instead of chrome because it was seen as a more natural color, and incorporated horizontal design elements such as ceiling borders.

York, who graduated from the University in 2001, said out of the five designs submitted, the chosen design fit best with the existing homes.

Two weeks from completion, a house designed by four University students for a class project will feature environmentally friendly elements and an arts and crafts style. PHOTO BY JON-MICHAEL SULLIVAN.

“I thought they all did a wonderful job, but they either didn’t fit the lot or didn’t fit market demands,” he said.

Megan Lee said the other groups’ designs included an American cottage look, a secret garden theme and a modernized aesthetic.

“Whereas a lot of the other groups got a lot more creative, we wanted to stay realistic to what he could build,” Ward, a senior from Jefferson, said.

York said Cottages at Hilltop was a neighborhood of 30 houses characterized by a 3.5 acre green space, which will contain a park, walking trails and a community garden.

“All of the homes will be Energy Star certified at the minimum,” he said.

Megan Lee said Energy Star certification is different from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, but is a prerequesite to LEED.

“Energy Star certification focuses primarily on energy efficiency in the home,” she said, adding this includes insulation and appliances. “This is great because energy efficiency is one of our biggest issues in design.”

Reid, a senior from Annapolis, Md., said the group chose interior finishes and fixtures that were sustainable, but did not choose furnishing or layouts for the rooms.

York said he made very few changes to the original design, the most drastic of which was to remove an upstairs porch and increase the size of the master bedroom.

He said he enjoyed working with the students and would like to do so again should the opportunity arise.

“I would really love to get with Megan and have the students come out and see it,” York said.

Though he would not disclose the cost of construction, he said the house will be listed for $189,900 when it is completed in about two weeks.

Ward said their original design came in costing roughly $48,000, which was several thousand under budget. 

Lauren Lee said the group only recently found out the house was being built.

“You walk and it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I designed this place,” she said. “It’s kind of cool, I’m not going to lie.”