The Works

When Steven Dolloff first laid eyes on a secluded piece of land in Park West, a Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, subdivision, he immediately decided it was the perfect place for his construction company to design its next house. However, Steven, co-owner of Streamline Custom Homes, knew this next project would be his most personal and difficult one yet—building a new home for his family. “I just had to have it,” says Steven. “It’s one of the best lots in the area, and I knew it was the one.”
With his new task in mind, Steven made it his mission to ensconce every corner of his family’s new home with unique elegance. Such precision and detail, however, would take time. The house took approximately 10 months to build, but its superior craftsmanship is instantly recognizable even before you enter the front door. With its lush landscaping, all-brick exterior and spacious front porch—complete with rotund, white, 16-inch columns—the home stands out among its counterparts as a truly remarkable piece of work.
The interior of the house successfully blends traditional elements with modern styles, creating an alluring and exceptional residence from top to bottom. Each room is filled with elegant detail from floor to ceiling. The two-story great room is layered with Australian-cypress floors and is canopied with 20- foot-high coffered ceilings. Climbing the entire length of one of the walls of the room is a simulated stone fireplace, prominently displaying a plasma flat-screen television, just one of several throughout the home. Despite the room’s scale, it doesn’t feel intimidating and uncomfortable—a repeated theme throughout the home. “Although it’s a very big house,” Steven explains, “I didn’t want the rooms to be too big, or they wouldn’t feel cozy.”
The great room, in addition to the kitchen and master bedroom, has glass doors leading directly onto the rear porch overlooking the Wando River and the home’s 998-foot deep-water dock. “The house’s views are breathtaking,” Steven smiles. “You can see as far as Parker Island. My daughter’s room (on the second floor) has the best view. She can sit on her bed and watch the boats go by. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
The spacious home has five bedrooms, two of which are guest rooms, and eight bathrooms, with each bedroom having its own bath. “I didn’t want guests to have to wait to use the shower or bathroom,” Steven explains, “so I put one in every bedroom.” And while many guest rooms contain just the bare essentials—stark walls and a bed—Steven approached his with the same precision and fervor used on the rest of the house. “I wanted my guests to feel like they were staying at a bed and breakfast.” Steven made each room memorable, giving each room its own style. That includes decorating one bedroom with cheetah-patterned wallpaper and another with relaxing, ocean-colored hues.
While discussing his new home, a smile never leaves Steven’s face. Eager to discuss every detail, his excitement never diminishes, even when describing the width of the powder room door. “It’s thicker than most standard doors,” he explains, taking pride in such specifics that only his trained craftsman’s eye notices.
While many builders ignore the attic, or just lay enough sub flooring so that the room can be used solely as a storeroom, Steven saw beyond the area’s obvious available practicality and converted the level into livable space. “I wanted to get everything I could out of the house,” he says. And he did, transforming the attic into a playroom for his children, an office for himself and a theater room, complete with a 92-inch screen and popcorn machine, for his family. “You really do feel like you’re at the movies when you’re up here,” he says.
Steven says he and his wife, Laura, like to entertain, and they’ve certainly built a house perfect for it.
“Family and friends come over a lot,” he explains, “and a lot of them have kids. They go off and watch movies in the movie room or play in the playroom, while we enjoy the porch or great room. There’s something for everybody.”
Another distinctive feature Steven implemented into his house is its third, and imbedded, garage. While only two garage spaces are visible from the outside, Steven hid a third garage behind the main ones, creating a garage within a garage. The idea is reminiscent of a railway-style apartment in which each room is connected and can only be accessed by passing through the ones before it.
“My brother helped me think of it,” he says. “I wanted to keep my car separate from my kids’ toys and bikes so it wouldn’t get scratched and banged up.”
With so many unique features, it’s impossible to choose one room that stands above the rest. “I’m so proud of every room, even this little area in the foyer,” he says, gesturing to a small nook to make his point.
Instead of lining the main hall with a blank wall, like many houses, he decided to mimic the dining room’s entryway by indenting the adjacent wall approximately one foot and filling the newly hollowed space with the same archway and columns used in the dining room. “It gives it a sense of symmetry. I didn’t want just a blank wall on one side and the dining room on the other.”
Although the house is located in a subdivision, the wooded back yard provides comfort and privacy, ideal for intimate outdoor barbeques. “We spend a lot of time out here (on the back porch),” says Steven. The porch is designed for what he calls “outdoor living.” Comfortable wicker furniture lines the covered porch, and instead of typical wooden flooring, Steven expanded the Indian-slate copper tiles used in the kitchen onto the outdoor area. “I wanted it to look like it was a continuation of the kitchen,” he says.
To combat the numerous mosquitoes being outdoors can attract, Steven installed a gas-powered system to repel insects. “Because we spend so much time out here,” he reasons, “I didn’t want to close off the porch with netting.” Instead, Steven mounted the ceiling with barely visible, quarter-size jets timed to periodically emit repellent. “It cost a little extra, but it’s worth it.”
These jets are only one detail in a long list of extras with which Steven has adorned his family’s house. He was so thorough in not missing any detail that he frequently shows off his house, with its many luxurious extras, to clients as his company's’s premier show house. “We have other showhouses,” he says, “but nothing like this. I made sure to use the best of the best, and it gives people ideas of what they want in their houses. Whenever people walk through and say, ‘Oh, I like those walls. Can I get them in my house?’ ” Steven turns to them and says, “You sure can.”
Since its founding in 2003, Streamline Custom Homes has built approximately 65 houses, with another 50 homes and townhouses scheduled for next year. The company prides itself in streamlining the entire building process—hence its name. And it offers a staff home designer, architect and interior designer. With homes ranging from $500,000 to $3 million, Streamline Custom Homes mostly builds houses in the Beaufort, Isle of Palms and Mount Pleasant.
Although the Dolloffs just moved into their new home this past July, there are already plans for an expansion. Steven is currently finishing the above-ground basement, transforming the available 1,100 square feet into a game room and gym with wall-to-wall mirrors, and is adding an outdoor pool next year.
Steven says when building his family’s house he included many features, such as the elevator, to bolster its future resale value. But after all his hard work and detailed craftsmanship, he says he doesn’t plan on moving anytime soon, he just likes to plan ahead. “If I had to build it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

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