Exterior view of Miko Watkins’ Garden Ridge home.
Clint Datchuk/Contributor
Elements. That’s what Miko Watkins wanted in her recently built Garden Ridge home: the four natural elements of Greek philosophy — Air, Earth, Water and Fire.
In the realities of home construction, those elements translated into a house filled with openness and light (Air), built with materials such as stone, wood, concrete and granite (Earth), with a backyard pool (Water) and a limestone-faced fireplace (Fire).
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“To me, having these elements in the home is calming and grounding,” explained Watkins, a retired Army nurse. “I knew I wanted them in my forever home.”
And she got what she wanted, moving into her $1.2 million, four-bedroom, 2½-bath house in July.
Working with Michael Bryant, co-owner of San Antonio-based Genuine Custom Homes, she designed a home that combines both Asian and modern influences. Asian to reflect her Japanese/Korean heritage, as well as her time stationed in Hawaii, and modern because she doesn’t like the typical Hill Country-style house.
“I wanted something different,” she explained. “Something that blends the indoor with the outdoor.”
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The main room has an asymmetrical ceiling for a more modern take.
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When Watkins first started planning her post-military move to San Antonio several years ago, she assumed she’d be buying an existing property. But the prices? Much higher than she expected.
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Then a friend showed her an Express-News article about another Army nurse who’d built her own custom home. Suddenly, the idea of building from scratch no longer seemed out of reach.
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Everything fell into place once she started discussing her wish list — Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Asian and Modern — with Bryant.
“It just felt comfortable talking with Michael,” said Watkins, who works from home as an informatics nurse, analyzing healthcare data to optimize patient outcomes. “It was like he was my friend just telling me stuff instead of trying to sell me.”
One of the first things you notice upon entering the house is that the central room isn’t overwhelmingly large. Unlike many newer Hill Country houses, the ceiling isn’t so high it seems capable of generating its own weather.
“I also didn’t want a perfectly centered ceiling,” Watkins said. “So we made the ceiling asymmetrical for a more modern take.”
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They stained the ceiling wood Kona coffee brown and installed luxury vinyl plank flooring that’s the deep red-brown of koa wood. While not intentional, the connections to Hawaii were nonetheless appreciated.
“I think the choices were more subconscious,” Watkins said with a chuckle. “But that is what I was exposed to for the four years I was based in Hawaii.”
Many of the kitchen features were more deliberate. The leathered granite used on the kitchen island, for example, resembles lava, a substance not unknown in the 50th state. And the flat-faced knotty alder cabinets and reeded tile backsplash have a definite Asian feel.
The home’s Asian influence is visible in the kitchen’s flat-faced knotty alder cabinets and reeded tile backsplash.
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A view of the small dining nook off of the kitchen.
Clint Datchuk/Contributor
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Also on Watkins’ mind when designing the kitchen: her friends.
“I wanted a gourmet kitchen, but do I cook?” she asked. “Not so much. Most of my friends do, though, so the idea is, okay, I’m inviting you over, but you’re going to do the cooking, right?”
Although the island has a small prep sink, they installed a standard size sink in a nearby countertop below a large window.
“Originally, there was just a solid wall there,” Watkins said. “But I was like, I’m always washing dishes by hand so I want to be able to look outside while I do that. Michael was able to change the plans and put in the window.”
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Perhaps the most eye-catching feature in the kitchen is the sleek, modern refrigerator. The upper has side-by-side doors, with the ice and water dispenser hidden behind one of them, while there are two drawers below, one for beverages and the other for frozen food.
To keep things looking sleek, Watkins chose a model with hidden finger pulls instead of protruding handles. The refrigerator’s front panels are colored glass that can be swapped out to complement the kitchen’s aesthetic.
“I set up mine to match the blues elsewhere in the kitchen,” she explained.
The primary suite bedroom measures about 16 by 16 feet — not huge by any means, but large enough to comfortably accommodate a king bed — while the vaulted ceiling gives the room a feeling of spaciousness.
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The adjacent bathroom has a wet room, with the tub and shower in the same space for a modern, spa-like aesthetic. It’s also easier to clean compared to the traditional bathroom layout.
The primary suite has an open-plan wet room with the tub and shower in the same space adding a luxurious, spa-like aesthetic to the home.
Clint Datchuk/Contributor
“What’s truly special is she has this modern, free-standing tub and then there’s this niche in the adjacent wall where she can keep her soap, shampoo, even her wine without having to put everything on the floor,” Bryant said. “Much more convenient.”
Motion activated lights running along the bottom of the bathroom cabinets act as a nightlights, and the electronic fireplace in the wall between the bath and bedroom can keep both spaces cozy on cold winter nights.
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Watkins is particularly happy with the utility/laundry room, which connects directly to her walk-in closet.
“Originally the laundry room was way over on the other side of the house, near the mud room and garage,” she said. “I’m glad we changed it because there’s a lot less walking this way.”
The setup is also great for privacy.
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“If I have guests staying with me, I just have to close the door to the closet and they can come in and do their own laundry,” she explained, adding, “and they’ll leave my stuff alone.”
The backyard pool was designed with a gentle progression of steps leading from the house.
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