Wayne’s World : Pilar’s La Roca Has Whole New Look for Design ’92

Opening night on Broadway has nothing on opening night of a design house. The basic elements are similar: creative talents working in controlled pandemonium, temperamental prima donnas vying with calm artisans and late deliveries and unforeseen problems. But somehow it always comes together at the last minute, and the show goes on.

From Tuesday through Oct. 18, Pilar Wayne’s Newport Beach La Roca, Design House ‘92, will be on view to the public. Only eight years old, the house has been completely redone by 26 interior designers from the International Society of Interior Designers, Orange County, for the benefit of ISID charities and the Children’s Home Society of California, a nonprofit, multi-service agency committed to the child’s right to a secure home and healthy development.

“We got Pilar Wayne’s house through the Children’s Home Society,” said Steve Stein, co-chairman of Design House ’92. “ISID hadn’t done a design house in four years, so we felt it was time.

Pilar Wayne didn’t move out of La Roca till late June, so the designers really had to work quickly to get finished for the September opening.

A design house is a major undertaking for an interior designer and for the home owner. In this case, designers had to work within the designated color palette, and they had to have their ideas approved by Wayne.

“We thought it would be nice to take a modern adaptation of a classical Renaissance theme. We selected a tapestry that had classical colors and we pulled the color palette from that: aubergine, muddy greens, gold and other metallic tones, muted tones like taupe, off-white and black. We wanted to stay somewhat traditional in the house,” Stein said. The committee met with Wayne and her daughter, Aissa, to approve all their plans, and a budget was submitted because Wayne was paying for many of the major changes.

“We also got a lot of things donated, and many suppliers gave us materials at greatly reduced rates,” Stein said, “and then the designers also absorbed thousands of dollars of costs, as well as the time they spent on the project.”

Using the committee’s classical theme and color palette, the designers had to come up with ideas that expanded that theme. Still, each designer’s work was reviewed and sometimes altered to remain true to the motif.

“One complaint you hear about design houses is that the rooms don’t flow together naturally,” said Renee Kubiak, one of the designers. “We think this one really works as a whole and yet allows the designers a chance to be creative.”

Creativity is one thing that’s evident in the house.

The 8,000-square-foot house rambles over the lot and spills out onto a pool/patio area and to an elevated tennis court. Designers worked to make the house both livable and functional. For example, the kitchen, which had originally been a narrow, dark area, was expanded by greenhouse windows, trompe l’oeil touches and state-of-the-art Corian counter tops and Viking appliances by designers Evalyne Frost and Judy Carmichael. This transformed an almost dungeon-like area into an airy, comfortable place to cook.

Elsewhere the clever use of materials in unusual ways is evident. Judith Hasting and Mary Chabre papered the tennis pavilion’s concrete walls with tar paper and painted it to give both texture and a feeling of antiquity. Here, as throughout the house, artisans painted many trompe l’oeil accents to give that Old World feeling.

The master bedroom has cherubs frolicking on the ceiling while the entrance has a large mural--20-by-60 feet--that’s actually an oil painting stapled to the wall. It was painted by Cannon Bullock in Los Angeles and then brought and installed in the entrance, according to that area’s designer, Marlene Madsen. This creates a very grand illusion of walking through a forest to get to the living room.

Adjacent to this entry is a little jewel, the powder room that takes the classical theme one step further. Renee Kubiak sculpted the walls out of a contemporary, foam-like composite material that was hand-carved and painted to allow the face of Bacchus to emerge from the wall. A 700-pound French limestone slab was also hand-carved and molded into a free-form sink with a sculptured copper faucet that turns on when a hand is placed under it. The whole sink looks as if it is floating over a burnished copper drape.

Steve Stein’s design of the palatial living room sets the stage for the rest of the house and is both sophisticated and comfortable. Using taupes, off-whites and accents of black and gold, he created a room that welcomes guests to linger and look out to the Back Bay. The white carpeting is beautiful here and in other rooms, although it seems to be the one element in the house that is not very practical.

The presence of the late John Wayne, Pilar’s husband, is felt the strongest in the gathering room. Although he never lived in the house, this room is full of memorabilia from his movies, with the wide-screen television playing his films on laser disc nonstop. His Winchester rifle is on the wall, and pictures of him with his family and with other celebrities are scattered throughout the room.

The master bedroom designed by John and Claire Cubba is feminine and cheerful, with the bed at an angle for looking out at the water. The master bathroom contains hand-carved cabinetry designed by Ron Sanchez, president of ISID and co-chairman of the Design House. It is grand enough for Julius Caesar with its marble tub and counter tops, glass ceiling and marble pillars.

The upstairs artist’s studio with its added skylight is the place where the owner will spend much of her time when she moves back, because she is a versatile artist who paints both portraits and seascapes.

“I think the designers have really done an exciting job,” Wayne says. “It’s like having a brand new house.”

CHS/ISID Design House ’92 tickets are available through TicketMaster for $16. Children under 12 not admitted. It’s open from Tuesday through Oct. 18 and also will feature lunches, tearoom modeling and shopping at an on-site boutique for fashions, accessories and jewelry. Special accommodations for group tours can be arranged. Call (714) 542-1147 or (714) 577-1695 for more information.