Sweetening the lot: value-added vista.

The .8-acre lot in The Sanctuary at Lake Butler Sound certainly wasn't a lemon, but it needed a little sweetening to be worthy of the $2.5 million house Jones Clayton Construction intended to build on it. Views from the landlocked site normally would be of neighboring houses, but that wasn't

A more inspiring vista was called for, And a floor plan that would take advantage of it. "That's the reason for the courtyard floor plan," explains custom builder Rial Jones. Though more costly to build, the rambling plan wraps a courtyard that has all the panache of a deluxe resort. "Every room but the dining room overlooks it," Jones adds.

With a 75-foot-long serpentine pool meandering its length, the courtyard transforms the site into a tropical waterside setting. The house straddles the pool with a second story bridge that connects the upstairs rooms of the main house with a home office above a guest suite on the opposite "shore." At ground level, a small footbridge spans the pool, linking the outdoor kitchen and dining area next to the house with the outdoor seating area and fireplace on the other side. A small spillway flows from a 4-foot Sheer Descent waterfall installed under the bridge.

For all its Old World style, the courtyard is firmly rooted in 21st-century convenience. Aqualink digital controls let the owner change water temperature, power the spa jets, fire up the gas pool heater, activate the fog maker, and turn on the outdoor lights all from inside the house.

The show home has been a thorough success for Jones Clayton. In addition to selling it before the show opened, the builder has contracted with eight buyers for similar houses. And, though the house was designed to provide privacy and views on an interior lot, most of those buyers have lakefront sites. They too want that extra feeling of privacy, Jones says.