DECOR GARDEN TRAVEL JUNE JULY 2013 Alfresco Living Homes That Graciously Welcome the Great Outdoors
This central courtyard finished with a fireplace and a relaxed yet refined seating area is the main outdoor gathering place for the California coast vacation home. California Mission Designer Barbara Scavullo Uses a Local Design Vernacular to Perfect This Beachfront Vacation Home WRITTEN BY MARESA GIOVANNINI PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW MILLMAN With primary residences in Connecticut and Florida and an existing vacation home in the Adirondacks, these well-traveled homeowners thought a West Coast abode would be the natural next addition. The couple, who often host their four grown children and their families, found their bliss on the Pacific Ocean with a property in Carmel Valley, California. The ten-acre lot was wooded and completely pristine, so they brought in the well-oiled team of Hart Howerton as architect and landscape architect, PH Winters Construction, and Barbara Scavullo, principal of ScavulloDesign Interiors, to craft their ocean-side retreat. These professionals had collaborated previously on other projects, including residences in the Santa Lucia Preserve, the gated community where the homeowners purchased this plot of land. [It s] a wonderful development, explains Scavullo. The goal of the overall development is to leave as much of the land as completely undisturbed as possible. Every piece of property had a homesite, which was a very limited piece of land two to two-and-a-half acres and only those acres could be touched at all. You couldn t do any clearing or building other than on the homesite, so the land around it is quite beautiful. In addition to being conscious of the land, the design needed to appreciate the local architectural style, and the homeowners quickly settled on a California 24 HOME BY DESIGN JUNE JULY 2013
HOME BY DESIGN JUNE JULY 2013 25
The great room is an open, multipurpose space with one central seating arrangement. Here, there s a place for every family member to rest, with two leather Gregorius Pineo Loire chairs, a custom sofa, and to the right, a regal walnut and leather Loop Lounge Chair by Therien Studio Workshops. Mission vernacular. It s a great property, [and there is] a great connection between the land and the living, says Scavullo. It s all these wonderful, natural materials stucco, terra-cotta, rough-hewn wood all of which appeal to the client. The designer worked directly with the architect to select the finishes and interior details, ensuring that the home was true to the California Mission style and that it also incorporated elements from the couple s recent trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This influence was ultimately realized in the tile work, ceiling designs, and Mexican craft decor, which the homeowner introduced. The 8,000-square-foot house is divided into two pavilions: the main house, which includes the self-sufficient master suite, and the guest house, which features four bedroom suites. The pavilions are connected by a breezeway and a spacious courtyard, where the family tends to gather. The homeowners visit six to eight times per year for several weeks at a time, and they wanted to spend their vacations enjoying the outdoors, so Scavullo and the team thought of everything, outfitting the exterior living space with a fountain, a kitchen with a barbecue and prep table, and a fireplace with a seating area. To make the courtyard as comfortable as a traditional interior, Scavullo used indoor-outdoor materials, but not typical patio furniture. The cream-colored sectional from McKinnon and Harris is topped with fabric from Great Outdoors by Holly Hunt. Petrified-wood side tables provide surfaces for serving, and, elsewhere on the property, bronze table bases with tile tabletops are treated for outdoor use. Other outdoor gathering spaces include the pool, located on a slope behind the house, and several casual seating areas on a deck that completely surrounds the great room. The interior of the home seamlessly integrates the outdoors, most notably by capitalizing on the breathtaking views. Every 26 HOME BY DESIGN JUNE JULY 2013
The sunlit game room doubles as a casual seating area for morning breakfast. A large, solid walnut tabletop is surrounded by coral-colored armchairs and lit by a glass pendant lamp from Formations. In the back, a vintage armoire stores dishware with style. HOME BY DESIGN JUNE JULY 2013 27
The design of this home welcomes the great outdoors through an extensive use of windows. There are exceptional views from every room in the main home and guest house even the bathrooms. 28 HOME BY DESIGN JUNE JULY 2013
ABOVE: The dining area is basically a glassed-in bay, says Scavullo, of the formal dining room that affords exceptional views of the Pacific Ocean. BELOW: The master bedroom also faces the ocean. The homeowners can soak in the view from their bed or private deck. room in the house has exceptional vistas of either Monterey Bay or stately oak trees. The formal dining room, located in the main pavilion, is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, and, because it faces west toward the ocean, it s the perfect place to soak in the sunset. When you re dealing with a house with an indoor-outdoor emphasis and you have a lot of windows, you don t want to [use] a lot of window coverings because you want to minimize the definition between the indoors and outdoors, says Scavullo. Instead, she incorporated window coverings into the design only when practical and necessary, including blackout shades in the bedrooms. Although lighting can affect the appearance of colors, the hues never change too drastically because the entire home features a natural color palette. The tones of the land around [Carmel Valley] are ochers and terra-cottas and very soft greens, and that really was the jumping-off point for the color palette, explains Scavullo. It s a very earthy palette; earthy, but not muddy. The designer blended these colors, used in fabrics, rugs, paint, and tile, with other natural materials throughout the interior and exterior of the home. Stone decorates the fireplace surround, while wood is used heavily on the floors, ceilings, and furniture. Pine and walnut appear with repetition, and the striking great room coffee table, from Mimi London, is solid spruce. The rough natural materials are complemented throughout the home with metallic elements, such as a bronze bathtub, brass-tack details, and stainless steel appliances. There is a great consistency throughout the house and throughout the exterior, says Scavullo, who captured the indoor-outdoor-living emphasis of this vacation home. That s one of my design aesthetics. I like a house to have continuity not boredom, but continuity. HOME BY DESIGN JUNE JULY 2013 29