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Big Lake House

7,600 Square-Foot Custom Home Overlooks Istokpoga

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

A view from the second floor of the bar and living room area of J.D. and Barbara Parker's 7,600 square-foot house that faces Lake Istokpoga in Lorida.

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By Bill Rogers | Highlands Today

Published: May 18, 2008

LORIDA — It has three bedrooms and two baths, but J.D. and Barbara Parker's new abode is far from being a run-of-the-mill home.

Especially considering the 7,600-square-foot custom home, which overlooks Lake Istokpoga, has a full-service bar upstairs, a 45,000-kilowatt generator and some really interesting amenities in the workshop – a vertical tanning booth and a urinal with a flat-screen TV above it.

The Parkers, who live in West Palm Beach, have been coming to Lake Istokpoga for 20 years. The house that was on the property was torn down and replaced by their eventual retirement home.

"They picked out an idea, and we just built around their idea," said Darren Kopta, owner of Kopta Construction Inc., the contractor for the seven-figure project, which took almost two years from the design work to the completion of construction.

"It was designed for our lifestyle," Barbara said.

"We entertain and have barbecues and pool parties," J.D. said.

The only room upstairs includes the bar – with a 52-inch TV – a pinball machine, slots machines and video games. The foot rail on the bar is a bronze and iron mixture that was handmade by an artist in Wyoming, according to Kopta.

"I had to have a bar and a view of the lake," J.D. said. "The views of the lake are breathtaking. It is so tranquil and peaceful."

The view from outside that room can be enjoyed from a narrow screened area that measures approximately 5 by 30.

There is a larger patio below that with a pool table.

An outdoor kitchen is adajcent to the screened pool, which has a waterfall and a small slide. A 52-inch TV that pulls out from a raised cabinet is located in a corner.

Many of the materials in the home had to be ordered. Kopta explained that he and the Parkers attended several supplier shows. They found the eight-foot interior doors in the house at one show.

"As luck would have it they did these doors, but they didn't do them in 8-foot," Kopta said. "They flew a guy out from Arizona down here, and we went over what we had to do for the doors. The Parkers got to pick their wood, their style and color and the company put this together. Now the company has gotten into Florida."

Kopta said he learned a lot while building the house.

"It tested you all the time because of everything not being standard," Kopta said about the project. "Then you would have to work with the people that were making the stuff and say 'look this is all the room I've got to work with' plus everybody not being around. We're communicating back and forth a lot on the phone.

"I'm tickled to death with it," Kopta said. "I love it. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this job; it has been exciting for me to do it and to work with them (the Parkers). I think they are just as excited as I am."

"What I liked about it was the product knowledge that you gained," he added. "If you can take anything away from a job it's the knowledge that you have gained at the end of it. Every custom job design build that you do is that way."

Kopta, who specializes in custom homes but also does commercial and residential remodeling, said he wanted to thank the Parker's neighbors on Heron Drive "for putting up with us and waking them at 6 a.m." at times.

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