Paradise Found

You are hearing it first right here: John Schutz and Cindy Sims are getting married.

Shortly before our deadline, John, a chartered wealth advisor at Hilliard Lyons, shared his plans to propose to Cindy during their vacation over the Christmas holiday.

Cindy, who works in the logistics center at Bristol-Myers Squibb, was not aware of his plan, much less his decision to share it with us.

John is confident she'll be saying yes.

We feel secure in reporting this because, hey, they have recently finished building and decorating a really large house together. A house that exemplifies the wisdom in Susan Helfrich's little lesson for successful living.

To say their home is distinctive is an understatement, but it does reflect the couple's shared tastes.

"It's a ‘Tommy Bahama' house," Cindy says of the tropical nuances that envelope every room in the couple's 4,200 square-foot home in Victoria Manor.

"We love the (tropical) islands, the Caymans," she says, adding that her passion is for earthy tropical colors, and what John calls "The palm tree effect."

He says this lovingly; he and Cindy share an attraction for warm weather and sunshine; they have been taking their vacations in the Caribbean for the past several years. It's where they were when he popped the question.

The residential area surrounding Victoria National Golf Course is still largely undeveloped, but residential sites are going fast, given the lure of the golf course and the attraction of an undulating landscape made interesting in the aftermath of coal having been harvested there.

Diligent land reclamation in the previously scorched-earth environment has rendered this place, punctuated by small lakes and ponds, rich with vegetation and a measure of wildlife that would not have previously flourished in the area.

John says he was playing golf at Victoria National when he first saw the lot where the couple's house now stands.

This particular 1-acre lot, a third of which is too steep to actually do anything with, is the highest point in the entire 600-acre quadrant. It sits on a bluff overlooking the housing development and separated from the golf course in back by a deep ravine.

"We really weren't looking (to build)," John recalls.

"We saw a spec house in here, but I told Maggie (Maggie Vote, Victoria Manor real estate agent) that if I were to build in here, it would have to be on this particular lot. And I would want to design my own house."

Thing is, the lot was not for sale; it had been set aside by Victoria National developer, Terry Friedman for his own use.

Friedman ended up building on another lot, one offering lakefront access, at which time ownership of the lot shifted to David Crane, the general contractor who eventually undertook the Schutz-Sims project.

"He told us we could buy his lot if we let him build the house," John says.

This transaction took place on John's birthday last May. He broke the good news to Cindy at a party that night: "We're going to build a house together," he recalls telling her.

John found the house plans on the Internet.

He and Cindy enlisted the advice and design services of Bill Fortson and John Clements of BJ's Home Accents in Newburgh "almost from the beginning," John says.

After consultations about how the couple wanted to use the house, several changes were made to the original floor plan – primarily bumping out walls in the master bedroom and kitchen/breakfast nook to enfold the back porch while simultaneously giving them more wiggle room inside.

As theme-specific as Schutz and Sims are, they gave BJ's a fairly free hand in developing the interiors as construction of the home progressed.

"It has been very interesting to be involved with this home from the construction phase," Bill Fortson says. "We were in on all the decisions right from the blueprint stage, including decisions on window placement and design, and roof and exterior colors.

"We get to do this more and more often, working on the total project; it's fun because it's almost like giving birth to a child. We are there during the development and we get to see a graduated product..."