This rare, modern Sacramento home has Folsom Lake as its backyard. Take a look
One of Bruce and Lisa Bodlak’s favorite features of their lakefront home in El Dorado Hills has been watching their kids grow up freely exploring nature.
After all, Folsom Lake and its trails are part of their backyard, so the children were inclined to spend more time outdoors than in front of screens.
The couple’s rare, 5,000-square-foot, single-story modern home, 30 miles east of Sacramento, is for sale for $3.4 million.
“I loved waking up knowing that my kids couldn’t wait to go outside and go exploring,” Lisa said. “They’d take the ATV, pile all their friends in it, go drive around ... My daughter raised 50 chickens. My kids got to have that kind of experience.”
Hiking along scenic trails and fishing, swimming and kayaking in the lake are all part of the experience of living on rural Fredlena Lane in El Dorado Hills, the couple said.
“We went from always looking out the front door ... to (here) where they can explore freely,” Bruce said.
Secluded on 3 acres
The secluded property unfolds across three, mostly flat acres and hooks up with trails that lead down to the lake, a two-minute walk. Because it backs onto protected state land and is flanked by sprawling neighboring properties, the residence feels even more cocooned in privacy.
The lot sits back on New York Creek Cove, a popular spot for boating and fishing on the south fork of Folsom Lake.
In front of the house, a gated courtyard welcomes visitors with a modern streamlined water feature and “low-maintenance” koi pond, according to Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, the brokerage holding the listing.
The upscale interior design of the house is just as impressive as the outdoor space. The Bodlaks purchased the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house in 2014 for about $1 million, according to public property records, and renovated the home to the tune of another million.
The open-concept floor plan is augmented by high ceilings, high-end finishes and custom woodwork throughout. The interior is spotlighted by expansive windows, exquisite crown molding, Restoration Hardware lighting, custom furniture-grade cabinetry, designer tile treatments and wood-grain tile flooring.
Among other highlights:
▪ An oversized office with access to a covered patio and an attached library with built-in bookcases.
▪ Luxurious primary suite offering outdoor access and a spa-like bathroom with a Hydro Massage tub featuring oxygen and light therapy, large walk-in shower with multiple shower heads and a walk-in closet with floor-to-ceiling built-ins and shoe walls.
▪ Gourmet kitchen appointed with Thermador professional-grade appliances, eight-foot, double-door wine refrigerator, 12-foot Carrara marble slab waterfall island, breakfast nook, informal dining area under a vibrant Restoration Hardware chandelier, two walk-in pantries and expansive windows for lake views.
▪ A great room with a dramatic stone fireplace and access to an outdoor covered patio with lake views.
▪ Formal dining room, big enough to accommodate a 12-foot table, with recessed lighting and views of the front courtyard.
▪ 1,000-square-foot theater and billiards room with platform bar seating and built-ins.
Future versatility
Bruce Bodlak’s vision for their home always allowed for future versatility. The turnkey home offers buyers the options of enjoying its luxury amenities now or jumping into any number of possible upgrades, such as building a guest house on the upper property, adding a bedroom, dropping in a swimming pool or converting some of the 9,000 square feet of lawn into a vineyard or tennis court.
As it lies now, the grassy area is ideal for lawn games, outdoor weddings and large parties.
Bruce installed a $75,000 agriculture sprinkler and drip system to pave the way for putting in a wine vineyard or adding more fruit trees. There are four mature citrus trees on the property already.
The expansion possibilities attract an even larger pool of potential buyers, according to listing agent Angela Dameri of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services.
“This could be a couple with no kids, who just wants to be kind of off-grid and just have a nice view, or it could be somebody (who) wants to expand and turn into multi-family,” she said. “Somebody who buys this (might be) living in a subdivision when they want to get into some open spaces.”
The grounds are punctuated by a quaint and picturesque historic water tower from the days when a farmer owned the land in the 1940s, Bruce said. The structure can still be used to collect water, according to Dameri.
Bruce meticulously built the 3,000 square foot garage with a 13-foot ceiling to match the contemporary architecture of the rest of the house. The spacious garage offers a showcase or a work space for car collectors. It’s wired for electric vehicle charging. There also enough space to convert a section of the garage into a game room or in-law suite.
The sellers are prominent figures in the media buying and advertising industry. Bruce and Lisa Bodlak founded Express Media, having started the company in 1999 and working out of their previous home’s garage before growing the firm into a $40 million business based on annual billing.
The couple decided to move to be closer to their adult children in Tennessee.
“They had a very good vision... and they imagined this being a legacy home for them,” Dameri said.
