Bigger isn't always better. Contractor and home designer Tom Edwards regularly designs and builds 5,000-6,000 square foot homes for clients. So, when it came time to build a home for himself and his wife, Gloria, he knew just what he wanted.

"Our home is 1,700 square feet, plus a garage and storage," said Edwards. "At the rear of our property we have a modular modified horse barn that gives us 500 square feet for our office."

Ingenious design makes both the two-bedroom, two-bath house and office space on North Third Avenue appear larger.

"Starting with the entrance, the front door is set into an alcove," said Edwards, who has lived in Napa since 1985. "This creates a room outdoors. You step immediately into the dining room. Tall ceilings and French doors to the deck give an open feeling."

When the couple bought the one-third acre property, all that stood was a square, concrete block home. With Tom's design skill and Gloria's art training, they transformed the concrete square into the front portion of their home, containing a full bath, living room, guest room and kitchen.

"Because of leach field and septic system considerations, including the well setback, we could only increase the size of the house by half again as much," explained Edwards. "We weren't allowed any extra bedrooms."

Most of the rooms have large windows or doors opening to outdoor living spaces, increasing the perception of the home's size. The side yard, with its bocce court, is where the couple most often entertains in the summer. The rear yard has a hot tub, a covered pergola that provides shade in the afternoon and raised planting beds for vegetables.

Custom touches

"I designed the bathroom cabinets in birds' eye maple, although the large white sinks aren't custom," said Edwards of the guest cabinet with its distinctive curved doors.

The home was designed as a passive solar house, taking advantage of the direction of the sun to keep the interior cool in the summer.

"We open the upper windows at night and any hot air is drawn out and makes it quite cool inside," said Gloria. "There's also hydronic heating in the floor which is great."

Hydronic heating systems use water to move heat from where it is produced to where it is needed. In this case, the hot water comes from the house's regular 50-gallon water heater, runs through pipes under the flooring and radiates up through the limestone floors.

"We have seven zones in the house and one in the floor of the garage," said Edwards. "The house is double insulated and all the windows are double. It's very quiet inside."

The design phase of his home took four to five months and construction took a year. They've been in the house for about four years.

Both the house and the office have lofts. The loft in the house, Gloria's yoga studio, is accessed by a spiral staircase, taking up a small footprint. The loft in the office has a steep staircase Gloria calls her Japanese Step Tansu. Reminiscent of Asian Tansu chests with multiple small drawers, instead of a traditional stair tread running the width of the staircase, this staircase has split steps, giving the feeling of climbing a ladder.

The kitchen is the centerpiece, literally and figuratively, of the home. Green glass backsplashes reflect light off the granite countertops.

"We used two types of granite, light and dark," said Edwards. "The cabinets have two stains, cherry wood in a burgundy stain on the lower and the upper cabinets are clear maple. It's called a mismatched kitchen."

The huge black granite island serves as a seating area and Gloria said it's the focal point of every party.

"We put the food on it and people just circle around, getting what they want. People love to congregate in kitchens and this one makes that easy. We open the house up and go into the gardens. This is a great house for entertaining."

The deep stainless steel farmhouse sink has a story all its own.

"The countertops took a long time to arrive," said Edwards. "Meanwhile, we installed a white ceramic farmhouse sink over the custom cabinet. Living in the country, we have well water and the minerals started discoloring the sink. Gloria didn't think she wanted to live with that, so we ended up ordering a custom stainless steel sink."

The couple calls the design of their home as "a farmhouse-style, modern hybrid."

"It's in keeping with the agrarian feel of Napa Valley," said Edwards. "It's a farmhouse with a modern twist."

Edwards finds he does most of his work in the Napa Valley, including his current project, designing a 4,000 square foot spec house on 10 acres off Monticello Road on Mount George.

"We're gutting the current house," said Edwards. "The views are panoramic, from San Francisco up the valley to St. Helena."

Is he tempted to move from his small house to such a spectacular one?

"No. This is a lovely neighborhood. It's been a treat living here."

Gloria agrees. "We used to live in a larger house. There's just the two of us. When you have a big house, you never go in to some of the rooms. This house is the perfect size for us."