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Omaha Magazine

Plains Living on a Mountainous Scale

Jan 03, 2016 01:13AM ● By Leo Adam Biga

While driving towards Waterloo, Nebraska, Jana Wheatley came upon a sign reading "Live a more fluid life,” touting a coming residential lake community to be named West Shores. She longed to live in nature. Taking in the lake, the beach, and empty plots, she envisioned the Colorado lodge-style home she ended up building there.

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She and her now-ex bought the lakefront property in 2004. She served as general contractor for the build, subbing out jobs. Working with budgets and subs was old hat, as she owned a grounds management business with her then-husband.

She describes the resulting four-bedroom, four-bathroom, 6,000 square-foot house near the western limits of West Dodge Road as "comfy, rustic, chic," adding, "We always kind of had an idea about what we wanted. I like simple. I don't like foo-foo."

Covenants prevented her from building with logs so she went with an exterior of cedar shingles and stone, and an interior with wide plank pine floors and ceilings, hickory cabinetry, granite counters, and variegated stone. The plaster walls are finished in a soft Texas leather. The rooms conform to her desire for "big, open, flowing spaces with natural light." The living room, dining room, and kitchen open onto each other, and light from multiple windows brighten and soften the space.

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She likes the unfinished floors' character in their flaws and scrapes.

"It's worn but it shows it's lived in, that people are having fun and it's not a museum. I want people to enjoy themselves here.”

The living room has an unimpeded lake view through sliding glass doors that lead onto a south-facing deck running the full width of the house. Her bedroom opens onto the deck and its 180-degree view.

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"There's nothing like watching the sunrise, and the sunset, and the geese flying over," she says.

Her bathroom features a free-standing deep tub and a tall enclosed shower. The bathroom and kitchen plumbing fixtures are Industrial Age antique-inspired. The floors everywhere are warmed by an in-floor water heating system.

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Her love of nature is expressed in a mammoth antler horn chandelier fixed high above the living room. A slightly smaller antler art piece hangs from the ceiling above the staircase, connecting the main floor living area and the lower level rec area, where a miniature horn fixture crowns the billiards table.

The mantles above the two fireplaces continue the horn theme.

"It just says Colorado to me," she says.

A hand-wrought iron chandelier sets off the kitchen island.

Her favorite space is a kitchen nook she calls "my little Indian corner" for its Native American wall art and traditional furniture designs.

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Southwestern-style pots and paintings add decorative flourishes.

The lower level offers more lake views.

"The house is like a frame to look outside and that's what I end up doing—gazing outside."

In the last 10 years she's added a son and lost a husband but she still has her home.

"Can you tell it's a labor of love? It's a piece of me. It's my dream. I'm having my Colorado right here." OmahaHome

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