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" Some couples &amp;quot;build&amp;quot; their houses; Jose Tavel and Cara Cummins actually built theirs, and they have the war stories to prove it. Consider the steel staircase that nearly plunged to the ground as they were hoisting it up, or the time Tavel was installing a deck -- and realized he was horribly allergic to the wood, leaving the task to Cummins with help from his three sons, Christopher, Nathan and Graham, who range in age from 15 to 22. &amp;quot;They were really good sports,&amp;quot; Cummins says of the boys.   Occasional snafus notwithstanding, the home was a sophisticated do-it-yourself project realized through plucky, budget-minded resourcefulness and green awareness. It helped that Tavel and Cummins are both architects. They founded their practice, TaC Studios, in 2001 and have since designed homes, restaurants and caf\u00E9s throughout the area.  The two often take the path less traveled: &amp;quot;First we started our firm, then we built the house, then we got married,&amp;quot; Tavel says. The lone modern building on a quiet, leafy street, the three-bedroom home and office spreads out on three floors of 1,500 square feet each plus a 200-square-foot roof deck. Inside, the design features clean, crisp lines and industrial details offset by warm wood finishes and city-sleek furniture tempered by African and American folk art. The house doubles as the couple&amp;#039;s office, making it a ready showcase for their clients. &amp;quot;Modern homes can seem cold,&amp;quot; says the Havana-born, Atlanta-raised Tavel. &amp;quot;People are always afraid they can&amp;#039;t live in one because they have lots of stuff. Well, we have stuff, too.&amp;quot;  The talented couple started with an empty canvas: a vacant lot sandwiched between two 1920s duplexes. The house that had stood there was long gone. What arose in its place is a simple yet handsome building of tan cement stucco and mahogany siding that, even before its completion, became something of a local tourist attraction: &amp;quot;People would drive by, circle around and ask to see inside,&amp;quot; Tavel recalls. &amp;quot;They were looking for modern houses but didn&amp;#039;t know how to get them,&amp;quot; adds Cummins.   The house merges her starker inclinations with Tavel&amp;#039;s preference for color and texture. The bargain-savvy couple bought their sleek Arco lamp for $50 from a former neighbor, and Tavel built the living room media cabinet, giving it an unusual mica facing. Above the cabinet, a grid of posts jutting out from the wall was intended to support shelves (see What the Pros Know), &amp;quot;but we had enough shelves, so now it&amp;#039;s conceptual art,&amp;quot; Cummins says with a wink.   The first floor holds the garage and an office space designed for easy conversion to an in-law unit. A stair leads to the spacious main level, with its Brazilian-walnut floors and open red-oak-veneered kitchen bracketed by the living room and dining room, both of which open onto ipe decks. The rear deck descends into the backyard, which is covered in gravel to withstand Aldo and Gin-Gin&amp;#039;s canine antics and shaded by stands of bamboo. Most of the materials are sustainable, from the concrete floors to the woods -- mahogany, ipe, Brazilian walnut, red oak. The kitchen features stainless steel, Silestone quartz countertops and energy-efficient Miele appliances.   There&amp;#039;s also evidence of improvisation throughout the house: Framing the couple&amp;#039;s collection of American folk art, the dining room shelves were made of planks used during construction. An Eileen Gray table and a Le Corbusier chaise longue sit across from dining chairs handed down from one of the couple&amp;#039;s restaurant projects. Beneath an installation made from a neighbor&amp;#039;s tree cuttings, a reclaimed-teak dining table was bartered from PierceMartin, a former client, as was the living room&amp;#039;s salvaged carousel horse.  Joining two guest rooms on the third floor, the master bedroom, with its skylit walk-in closet and mosaic-tiled bathroom, offers similar juxtapositions: an antique Indonesian wall panel-cum-\u00ADheadboard and TaC&amp;#039;s own prototype contemporary wicker furniture mixed with more folk art and a painting by Cummins. Reinforcing the home&amp;#039;s green conscience, generous (and sometimes quirky) windows maximize daylight; many materials were recycled and/or locally procured; and the layout encourages passive airflow.  Tavel and Cummins still see their home as a work-in-progress. But one thing hasn&amp;#039;t changed. When the couple hosted their wedding party, the house wasn&amp;#039;t quite finished, so they felt free to graffiti it -- specifically, its temporary stair treads, onto which they wrote lines from a World War II-era Valentine&amp;#039;s letter Cummins&amp;#039;s grandfather penned to her grandmother. Afterward, the treads were to be replaced with more permanent ones. &amp;quot;But we just haven&amp;#039;t had the heart to do that,&amp;quot; Tavel says. The replacements are sitting in storage. What the Pros Know  For shelving, Tavel and Cummins wanted something sturdier than the usual available systems. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;ve always had problems creating shelves that were strong enough to support our books and art,&amp;quot; says Tavel. &amp;quot;They weigh more than people think,&amp;quot; Cummins adds. So to ensure strength and safety, the couple devised a solution that lies within the wall. The secret rests in an off-the-shelf, six-foot-tall steel angle (essentially, an extruded 90-degree corner). One face is bolted to a two-by-four wall stud. To the perpendicular side, Tavel and Cummins welded square steel tubes that would act as the shelf brackets; picture a ladder split down the middle, with the angle as the ladder leg and the tubes as the rungs. Corresponding holes were cut from the drywall, which the designers slid over the tubes before patching it up. The entirety was painted the same off-white color to &amp;quot;create a floating sensation to the shelves,&amp;quot; Tavel says, &amp;quot;while sustaining any load we ever place on them&amp;quot;. Click here to see the resources. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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