But designing and building homes is a fine hobby for missile engineer

By Kaye Ross, Town Crier Staff Writer

Living in Silicon Valley, you can find yourself pondering many questions that would seldom plague a resident of a less scientific locale. Now comes an answer to one of the more obscure: What does a rocket scientist do to relax?

Tammi Ayyagari, who has worked for Boeing for more than 30 years, likes to settle back and conjure up a house. It gives him something to do on the long flights he takes for business. No San Francisco-to-New York hops these. Ayyagari regularly flies 2,100 miles southwest of Hawaii on a C-5 transport to an atoll, Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, where he tests the missiles he and his employees design.

That is how Ayyagari devised plans for the meticulously detailed, smart-energy Craftsman home he is completing at 965 Lorraine Ave. in Los Altos. He started with a $500,000 property on a small lot and, over time, replaced it with a two-level home on a 1,400-square-foot footprint that has many of the luxuries of a much larger house without the higher taxes and maintenance headaches that generally accrue.

Ayyagari’s key strategy was to build down. He placed the master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms on the basement level. Each bedroom has access to the outside via sliding glass doors, which also bring in light to remove the rooms’ basement feel. The master bedroom and larger children’s room open onto patios that will be covered with arbors for privacy.

The lower level is not finished yet, but Ayyagari’s attention to detail is already evident. The master bedroom has a makeup mirror and built-in granite-topped dresser on one end, where “The Boss,” as Ayyagari calls his wife, can primp free from assault by the hairdo-ruining steam of a bathroom. A flat-panel LCD is planned for the wall opposite the bed.

The adjoining bath has a large soapstone shower stall - no grout to attract stubborn stains - and a Grobe pressure-balanced shower, with more than four additional shower heads and a hand-held shower option. The children’s tub and shower combination is all one piece up to a few rows of tile at the top of the shower.

“I know how it is. You say you’re going to clean the shower, but then you don’t get around to it,” Ayyagari said. “This way, it’s easy.”

Each room has a built-in study area for a laptop or computer, with shelving and network connections to go with it. Closets are organized with bi-level hanging space and some built-in shoe and storage spaces.

Also downstairs is a laundry and media room, unusual for a relatively small house.

Ayyagari used his expertise in avionics and dampening aircraft noise - he holds several patents - to ensure a quiet lower level. By layering various soundproofing materials, he created an environment in which a person can nap in peace in one of the bedrooms undisturbed by noise from even high-heeled pounding on the floor above.

As well planned as the lower level is, it’s the upper rooms that give the home its class and usability. The front exposure of the house is relatively narrow, so Ayyagari built the front door at the side. This allowed space for a one-car garage with a drop-down ladder to a finished attic, and a large living room window that looks out on a small front garden with flowers. It also meant that Ayyagari did not have to waste precious interior space on long corridors. When you enter the front door, you are in the center of the home: half-bath nearby, living room and formal dining room to the left, kitchen and family room to the right.

The ceilings on the upper level are 10 feet, lending an air of spaciousness and formality. Instead of carpet, travertine-tiled floors with granite insets cover the entire space. “You can vacuum and vacuum, and you never get carpet clean,” Ayyagari said.

The living area is dominated by the large window, and repeats the dining room color scheme in its trim and window moldings. Basket-weave sconces light one wall. There are so many electric outlets that extension chords will never be necessary.

The dining room has a coffered ceiling, tri-layer crown moldings and wide matching base trim in warm taupe. Ceiling lights are placed so that the main spotlight shines on the center of the dining room table, with lesser lights illuminating the entire eating area. Craftsman-style wall sconces in a basket-weave motif soften the overhead light so guests will look as beautiful as the food, Ayyagari said.

Between the kitchen and dining room is a small butler’s pantry that adjoins a full pantry and storage area organized with shelving.

The home’s piece de resistance is the kitchen-family room at the rear of the house. Ayyagari, who loves to cook, seemingly has thought of everything. The large center island with 36-inch four-burner stove and grill is made of soapstone. A dent from a dropped pan can be sanded out with ease, he said, and there is enough smooth, open surface for rolling dough.

“Four people can work on a meal at the same time in this kitchen without bumping into each other,” he said.

Custom-designed cherry cabinetry finished in maple fills the room. There is so much storage space that there are even two narrow drawers on either side of the stove for storing spices. The basket-weave motif of the living and dining room sconces is repeated in the drawer pulls.

There are two full-height dishwashers because Ayyagari hates to unload the dishwasher. Similarly, there are two ovens: a 30-inch convection-microwave stacked with a trivection oven. Below is a roomy food-warming drawer.

The family room is designed so that someone standing at the stove can see the large-screen television on the opposite wall. A wine cooler on one end of the island makes for easy access to drinks and spirits from the family room. A sliding-glass door opens onto a patio and small yard.

Ayyagari installed triple-pane windows and an air circulation system that makes each room one temperature, without any cold spots, so there is no space wasted by proximity to a drafty window. The roof tile absorbs ultraviolet rays during the day and heats the house with that energy at night. And a flash-heating system heats water without need of an energy-wasting hot water heater. A security system makes it possible to listen in on your home from thousands of miles away over the Internet.

For $3 million, Ayyagari will sell the home fully furnished and outfitted so a buyer need only bring his clothes. That price includes five years of exterior and interior maintenance. Ayyagari will work with buyers who want less than the full complement for a lower price.

Fit and energetic at 60, Ayyagari said building homes nail-by-nail is great physical exercise and very satisfying psychologically. His wife and son, who live in Seattle, help out, but much of the work is his. For a man who manages as many as 5,000 people for Boeing/Lockheed Missile Programs, it is relaxing to do everything yourself - no egos to massage, no screwups to hand-hold, no surprises that cannot be repaired.

It’s also a great way to deal with frustration. “Every nail has a name,” Ayyagari said, laughing. “Some names have more than one nail.”

For more information on the Loraine Avenue property, visit web.mac.com/ayyagari/iWeb. For user, type in friend. For password, use losaltos.

Potential buyers may also call Nadeen and Berlin Richard at Coldwell Banker, (408) 930-5360.