When Staci and Rich Green moved to Chapel Hill from New York in 2004, they wanted an area that was convenient to town but also gave the couple and their twins some privacy.

Staci is a runner and bicycle rider, so she wanted a low-traffic neighborhood.

They found their dream home at 1200 Bayberry Drive, which is within hiking distance of the North Carolina Botanical Gardens and Mason Farm Preserve. The schools are close by and the bus stop is right on the corner, which has been great for her twins.

The close proximity to highway 15-501 makes the house easy to reach downtown Chapel Hill, UNC Hospitals, Streets at Southpoint mall, Research Triangle Park, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

The Greens have been busy over the past six years clearing the front yard, landscaping the street-side area and leveling space in the back yard so their kids could have friends over to play soccer, football and volleyball. They installed an automatic sprinkler system, so upkeep is easy during summer dry spells.

They also added a large stone patio. Trees and bushes that surround the backyard add to the privacy that being situated on an interior lot naturally provides in a cul-de-sac.

“We love that we can see our neighbors, but they are not on top of us,” Rich said.

There is room for a pool and hot tub on this spacious 2.85-acre lot. Yet for all of the outdoor beauty, Staci says her favorite room is the kitchen. It has been the main gathering area for her family and friends. It overlooks the family room and is open to the dining room and breakfast area.

“It’s a great room to entertain friends and family,” Staci said. “You can also see the greenery in the backyard from the kitchen, as well as from most rooms in the house.”

“I love the neighborhood,” Rich said. “We have great neighbors. And it’s been a great place to raise our kids.”

With the twins heading off to college this fall, the Greens say they feel it’s time to downsize and allow a third family to call this 5,448-square-foot house “home.”

Children living in this house would attend Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools: Frank Porter Graham Elementary, Grey Culbreth Middle School and Carrboro High School.

Built in 1999 by Jim Henry Builders, the four-bedroom, 3.5-bath stone and cedar house was designed by Mike Barclay of Portland, Oregon, a renowned house designer who regularly features homes in Street of Dreams, similar to the Home Builders Association annual Parade of Homes competitions in North Carolina.

Barclay’s homes are known as Northwest Contemporaries, modernized versions of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie homes. Barclay’s designs are all custom homes for individual clients. Many of his clients allow those custom designs to be recreated in other places.

Henry has been building Barclay-designed homes in the Triangle since 1990, the year after the Illinois native began his construction business in Chapel Hill.

Henry says he actually began his construction career at the age of 13 digging ditches for his father’s construction company in Illinois.

Henry works with structural engineer Rob Munach to assure the structural integrity of the Northwest Contemporary homes, which have large open spaces that require extra strong support beams compared to standard Colonial-style houses. Munach owns Excel Engineering.

Henry has also had a long-standing work relationship with Phil Moder, who rose in responsibility from framer to superintendent to master carpenter at Jim Henry Builders. Moder was the superintendent on the Bayberry home in 1999, which was built for Art Euler and Constance Blowers, who are now living in another Barclay-designed home in Lafayette, Indiana.

Moder built the decks at the Bayberry Drive house and, with Henry, oversaw the subcontractors from the pouring of the concrete basement walls to installing the cherry cabinetry in the kitchen and bath and the walls of Low-e (argon filled) Marvin windows.

The Bayberry house has a finished walk-out basement with huge patio. The main level has multiple decks and huge windows that bring the outdoors inside.

To see more photos of this house and the views it affords and to read a room-by-room description, visit www.TheSmartMoveTeam.com. To schedule a private tour of this $979,000 property, call listing agent Masha Halpern at 919-414-0337 or email: Masha@MashaHalpern.com

For more information about Northwest Contemporary and Craftsman-style homes that Jim Henry Builders are creating now, go to www.jimhenrybuilders.comor Jim Henry at (919) 968-4888.