Often in fine home building, it's not just what you see that counts.  It's what you don't see .  This is the philosophy that's helped set Distinctive Restoration, Inc., of Monkton and owner Tim Holloway above the crowd.

      "Somebody looking at the final product doesn't know the steps involved behind the scenes," says Holloway, "but if you didn't do it, it would show."

      That philosophy means taking time, for example, to prestain or prime the entire piece before installing a section of wainscoting.  That way, if there's any shrinkage over time, those gaps will go unnoticed.  Little things, maybe, but they all add up to a superior final product.

      Today, Holloway directs a crew of three to five workers, doing everything from historical restorations, to various remodeling projects, to new homes.  And lots more, including: kitchens, additions, bathrooms, architectural millwork, decks, office furniture, custom cabinetry, mantles, and bookcases.

     "We do a lot of work on older houses, as our name would imply," states Holloway.  "But we can work on a modern house one day and a 200-year-old home the next.  We're prepared to do everything from replacing the sills underneath a house to final details like crown molding."

     For a client in Charlotte, Holloway completely restored three complete rooms in a 110-year-old Victorian Vermont farmhouse: the front hall, the kitchen and a living room complete with a window seat (more about that later.)

     "The place was pretty run down," she says.  "When my husband and I decided to get married, we wanted to hold the reception at the house, so we had to spiff it up." Enter Holloway and crew.

     "When we first met, he struck us as someone with a lot of integrity," she recalls, "someone we could trust." So a deal was soon struck, and the results were all she expected and more.

     "People walk in here and think this is 100-year-old cabinetry, even though it's new.  It's pretty amazing.

     "Tim matched everything so well, right down to the moldings.  We wanted a staircase, so he found an old staircase that he had taken out of a home in Vergennes, and in it went." She recounts that Holloway salvaged the original "leaky" windows from the farmhouse and used the old wavy glass in the glass doors for the tall Victorian cabinets in the remodeled kitchen.

     As for the window seat, it turned out so well that it has not only drawn raves from the passerby, but also caught the eye of television commercial production company which was o ut scouting possible locations on a fall day last year.

     "I went to get my mail at the end of the driveway one day," she remembers, "and there were these cars all around." Upon investigation, she learned it was the crew out shooting for a perfume company, and they ended up posing their spokesperson, actress Priscilla Presley (yes, Priscilla PRESLEY) on the porch in front of that window seat.  Watch for it.

     Another client for whom Holloway built a complete new home in Monkton, was equally enthusiastic about the results.

     "Fortunately," he says, "I heard about Tim and decided he was exactly the builder I was looking for, because of his combination of construction and design skills.  I found the entire project both satisfying and pleasant.

     "It was an intensive partnership, and the result was worth it--a home of unusual aesthetic appeal, top-quality construction and overall livability, all achieved within the general cost parameters Tim and I had agreed upon.  To say that I am pleased with the outcome would be a gross understatement!"

     Once again, the results were a product of Holloway's eye for design and attention to detail.  Although built on a footprint of only 900 square feet, space is maximized.  The main living area is on the second floor to take advantage of a spectacular 15-mile view to the southeast, including a large living room/dining room enclosed on the southeast and part of two other sides by an expanse of large glass windows, all surrounded by a 10-foot-wide deck.

     Projects like these, and the accolades Holloway has received from these and other clients, are the result of years of experience and a varied backround.

     After growing up in Monkton and graduating from Rice High School, Holloway's sister told him about an opportunity to travel to the Maine coast and work on a former fishing schooner that was being restored and converted to a passenger boat.

     "I'd always puttered around in my father's duck decoy shop," says Holloway.  "And my father likes to sail.  He had a small sailboat we had worked on when I was growing up." So working on the schooner came naturally.

     Built in 1926 and named the J & E Riggin, the schooner had more recently had her rig removed and a motor installed, and was used as an oyster dredger in Chesapeake Bay.  Now it was being returned to its original calling as a sailing vessel--to be used for seven-day cruises along the Maine coast with 26 passengers and five crew.

     "I started out puttying seams, the real nasty stuff," Holloway recalls.  "By the end, I was doing trim work with the rest of the crew.  I worked on that until it was up and running, and crewed on it for the rest of the season."

     He migrated back to Vermont, working on boats at the Shelburne Shipyard for two years, and then was lured to the West Coast in the early '80s when a friend invited him to come to San Francisco and help design and build the interior of a 40-foot yacht.

     It was there that Holloway began the transition to carpentry work in homes, rather than just boats.  And it's also where he met his wife, Joan, who is an accountant and handles the finances for Distinctive Restoration.

     Joan feels that working on boats prepared her husband for the intricate remodeling and restoration work he does today.  "Everything on a boat is custom," she points out.  "Nothing's square.  Nothing's level."

     At this point, the work had shifted more and more toward things like remodeling kitchens and making cabinets.  " I woke up one morning and realized I hadn't worked on a boat in a while," Tim remembers.  "Things had just sort of steered in another direction.  And I found out I liked it."

     The couple moved back to Vermont, and Tim's career continued to evolve.

     "Once you start doing custom kitchens, you have to learn how to install them and do all the things that go with them.  Electrical work, drywall, whatever." That led to doing larger remodeling jobs and, eventually building complete houses now and again.

     Having returned to his roots in Vermont (Monkton, specifically), Holloway eventually brought another carpenter on board, then a couple or three more, where things stand today.

     "Tim's always focused on having a real high-quality team," says Joan, noting that skills can be taught, personality can't.

      Adds Tim, "We're choosy about picking responsible people who present a good image…whom clients are comfortable having in their house.  After all, the customers may know me from the design and estimating phases, but they don't meet the crew until they show up for work and we start tearing up their home."

     Although Distinctive Restoration, Inc. can take on any project, new or remodel, large or small, Holloway admits a special fondness for Victorian homes, especially those built in the Queen Anne era (one of a half-dozen different Victorian subcategories, lasting about 1880-1910.)

     The challenge of working on these older homes, says Holloway, is blending in the requisites of modern life while at the same time maintaining authenticity.   " A lot of the details are there," he observes.  "You take that and combine it with the wants and needs of the owner."

     For his latest Victorian project, look no farther than Holloway's own home, a Queen Anne which he and Joan are gradually constructing on a dirt road in Monkton, surrounded by trees with a brook flowing through the property.  It features not only the recognizable gables and turrets of a Victorian, but interior features like small-paned glass in the cabinets and above-door transoms.

     But whether it's Victorian or modern, or anything in between, Distinctive Restoration can build it--and design it, too, in their CAD-equipped office.  Design capability, Holloway feels, is a big plus for him and his clients.

     "Having that continuum definitely makes it smoother," he says.   "I meet with the customer and find out what they want, a wish list.  Then, we take the space available and start developing a plan.   We'll go through it until it's what they want, at a price they can afford.   Then we'll build it."

     Congratulations to Distinctive Restoration, Inc. on being selected as Builder of the Month.  You may reach Tim Holloway at Box 9, Monkton, Vermont 05469, or by calling (802) 453-5155.