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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 9A
Luxurious houses in Chateau Elan open for tour
WILLIS RESIDENCE
The Willis residence in The Legends at Chateau Elan is 18,000
square feet, and includes an indoor basketball court, seven-car
garage, movie theatre and children’s beauty salon.
Photo by Kerri Testement
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
For the seventh year, the doors of
some of Chateau Elan’s most exqui
site houses will be open to guests
who want to stroll through luxurious
private homes.
The “It’s A Wonderful House”
Holiday Tour of Homes at Chateau
Elan will be held Friday through
Sunday, Nov. 21-23. The event will
include self-guided tours through
two houses in Chateau Elan, a design
er showhouse, and dining, shopping
and musical entertainment.
Tickets are $25 each, with all
proceeds benefiting the Gwinnett
Children’s Shelter — which serves
more than 6,000 youth through com
munity outreach and education pro
grams. The shelter also houses more
than 200 young people each year.
Since the tour started seven years
ago, more than $800,000 has been
raised for the Gwinnett Children’s
Center — making the tour the single,
largest annual fundraiser for the non
profit organization.
Brian Willis is opening his latest
residence in exclusive community
of The Legends at Chateau Elan for
the tour.
His former residence, also located
in the gated community, was fea
tured on the tour in 2005.
A builder who has constructed
about 100 houses in Chateau Elan,
Willis said he takes ideas from each
customer’s house and uses them in
designing his residences.
“It’s fun to show off the stuff I’ve
learned over the years,” he said of
his residence, which took two years
to build.
And some of those details include
finely-crafted woodwork, beautiful
glass tile ceilings and a state-of-the-
art home security system.
But guests can’t help but notice the
more obvious features of the 18,000
square-foot residence — like the
indoor basketball court, children’s
beauty salon or video arcade.
The top level of the house is dedi
cated to Brian and Michelle Willis’
three girls, ages 15,10 and four.
That’s where the “bunk room” is
located — a large room designed
with six bunk beds, a kitchen and
an entertainment area for the girls’
sleepovers with friends.
But the lower level of the house
appeals to adults.
“This is definitely my part of the
house,” Brian Willis said.
An avid fan of the University
of Alabama, Willis decorated the
extensive basement with memorabil
ia from the school and other sports
items. There are also movie posters
from flicks such as “Top Gun” and
"Backdraft.”
"I’ve got a little bit of my era,"
Willis said of the decorations.
Overall, the house features 47 tele
visions and three projection screens,
including one in a movie theatre.
Ed and Brenda Zimbardi also vol
unteered to open their home in The
Legends at Chateau Elan for the
annual tour.
Under the roof of their
12,000-square-foot house, five chil
dren — ranging from ages two to 18
— find themselves spending most of
their time in the family kitchen. The
house also includes seven bedrooms,
a poker room, movie theatre and a
pool table area.
And it’s not unusual for the
Zimbardi children to bring their
friends to the house, too.
"The house is big enough that
we don’t know how many people
are here sometimes,” joked Brenda
Zimbardi.
It’s also difficult to keep a spot
less house with five children, while
operating their own businesses, she
added.
The Zimbardis operate
FulfilmentCentral.com, which
offers a full print-on-demand com
pany specializing in the information
market. They are also involved in
AtlantaWealthBuilders.com, which
has a real estate investment show on
several Atlanta area radio stations.
“One of the reasons we feel like
we’ve been successful is because
we like to give,” Ed Zimbardi said.
The family is also planning to host
an additional fundraiser for the
Gwinnett Children’s Shelter after
the tour of homes.
Chateau Elan’s annual event will
also include stops at a designer show-
house and in Creekside at Chateau
Elan, where there will be a cafe,
shopping among 18 local merchants
and a decorated model house.
The designer showhouse will fea
ture almost 20 design firms high
lighting their top talents. The design
firms will be from a variety of loca
tions — from Hoschton to Buckhead
— and will be available at the 10,000
square-foot designer showhouse.
A special encore presentation of
only the designer showhouse will be
held on Nov. 28-30 at a ticket price
of $10.
More than 80 local sponsors and
advertisers, along with 400 volun
teers, will take part in Chateau Elan’s
tour of homes.
Lynn Price of the tour of homes
said those involved in the annu
al fundraiser support the Gwinnett
Children’s Shelter.
“It’s a community project that’s
well supported,” she said.
Price recommends that guests wear
comfortable shoes for the tour.
For more information, or to pur
chase advance tickets, visit www.
itsawonderfulhouse.org.
Brown named Teacher of Promise'
Katherine Brown, a second grade
teacher at Bethlehem Elementary
School, was recently awarded The
Georgia Council of Teachers of
Mathematics “Teacher of Promise
Award.”
This is an annual award that an
awards committee selects from
the nominations made by Georgia
Mathematics educators. Brown
was selected on the basis of her
outstanding classroom strate
gies that she uses when teaching
her students. She has served as a
model classroom for Bethlehem
Elementary School showcasing
best practices in a standards-based
classroom using the Georgia
Performance Standards and
Investigations.
“Katherine’s opening, student
work time, and closings in her
math lessons are exceptional,”
said Karen Murphy, Math Coach
for Bethlehem Elementary School.
“She differentiates her instruction
for learners, she is knowledgeable
about math concepts and teaches
KATHERINE BROWN
with creative, hands-on learning
activities to develop children who
love math.”
Last year, Brown was also
chosen to be video taped by the
Georgia Department of Education
for their website highlighting out
standing math teaching practices
in Georgia. She has a master’s
degree and is currently working
on her Ph.D. at the University of
Georgia.
birth announcement
Alaina Gail Jordan
Barry and Cindy Jordan of
Toccoa announce the birth of a
daughter, Alaina Gail Jordan,
on Oct. 22, 2008, at Oconee
Memorial Hospital, Seneca, S.C.
She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces
and was 19 inches long.
The grandparents are Ray and
Brenda Jordan, Toccoa, and Mike
and Kathy Vandeford, Winder. The
great-grandparents are Alfred and
Helen Burnette, Toccoa.
Lighting of Chateau set Nov. 28
Chateau Elan will hold its annual “Lighting of the Chateau” on
Friday, Nov. 28, from 3-7 p.m.
The family-friendly event will include special activities and fireworks
at the end of the event.
Tickets are sold for $1 each for carnival-style activities, included giant
slides and moonwalks, a petting zoo and pony rides. A puppet show by
Peter Hart will be featured. Santa Claus will also make an appearance.
Christmas Meal for Seniors Dec. 6
The Auburn-Carl Lions Club
will conduct their annual Senior
Citizen Christmas Supper on
Saturday, Dec. 6.
Beginning at 5 p.m., a chick
en stew supper will be served.
During the meal Christmas
music will be performed by the
Wayne Bartlett singing group
and door prizes will be given to
conclude the evening activities.
The public is invited to come
and enjoy the food and fellow
ship.
The Lions building is located
on County Line Road behind
Fire Station #4 in Auburn. No
reservations are needed.
For additional information, call
Terry Dover at 770-962-0210
or see any Auburn-Carl Lions
member.
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