Creativity Lives Here in Comfort
What was old is new again at the 2002 Philharmonic House of Design. Casa Cantante, a new Spanish Colonial Revival, Santa Barbara-style house, has been decorated by 24 members of the American Society of Interior Designers/Orange County. For anyone looking for ways to update a conventional wall or a traditional decor, this 6,000-square-foot house in Irvine’s new residential and golf community, the guard-gated Shady Canyon, is full of creative ideas. Informal in tone, the house appears comfortable and unpretentious, even with many designers showing off some of their latest innovations.
Although the house and development are new, the showcase’s chosen color palette harks back to Santa Barbara-style houses of the 1920s--indigo blue, smoky blue, cornflower yellow, light moss green, smoky green, terra cotta and deep copper brown. “You see these colors picked up in the accessories and details throughout the house,” says Beverly Stadler of Design Focus in San Clemente, who acted as the project’s design chairman. “Design elements are quite authentic here; they’re just freshened for today while still being true to the traditional motif. In terms of style, things are a little dressier than they would have been originally.”
The house sits on a hill on a 30,000-square-foot lot that backs up to a natural creek and looks out over the natural terrain of the canyon. Large windows throughout the house ensure that the out-of-doors is never long out of sight. The house has a red-tiled roof, arched windows, high ceilings and multiple patios. “All the designers are trying to show off something that is a little different but still makes sense in the realm of function,” Stadler says. Some of those functions are almost universal now, such as home offices and entertainment centers; others, such as Whirlpool’s $10,000 Personal Valet dry-cleaning machine in the room-sized master closet, are not likely to have mass appeal.
Stadler says the emphasis was on specialized finishes, evident in everything from wallpaper with a raised metallic design to trompe l’oeil western scenes and bas relief flowers on a bathroom wall.
The house’s entry and gallery walls, designed by Anna Shay of Solanna Designs, feature hand-done marmarina, an ancient Venetian technique that means “small marble” and involves putting ground marble into plaster, then hand-applying the mixture. Here, done by artisan Alie Varner over a drywall base, the finished surface is waxed a couple of times and appears instantly antique. “As the walls age, they calcify and return somewhat to their stone state, which gives them that ancient look,” says Varner, who works for Revcon Artisan Plaster in Laguna Beach.
The dining room, by Steve Stein of SLS Design Ltd., also highlights finishes. The ceiling, for example, has a faux finish with copper. Pearlized, taupe textured walls were made by putting wet kraft paper on the walls, wrinkling it, and then adding two coats of primer paint--a base coat and a glaze. Lighting fixtures throughout the house often echo traditional wrought-iron designs but are made in a contemporary mode.
Other ubiquitous design elements include stone and tile work. The dining room and the entry are done in white oak; the rest of the downstairs uses terra-cotta pavers. Upstairs floors are primarily distressed rustic light oak, except for the children’s room, which is bordered in wood with inlaid carpet on the floor. A small bathroom in the guest suite by Rebecca Pellitier of Elegant Environments features copper and tile inserts in the floor, as well as marble counters. The living room, by Mark Cutler Design with Pacific Design Estates, is a light cream color, and heavy beams in the ceiling have been hand-distressed. A cast stone fireplace coordinates with two-level draperies in linen and copper silk.
In the family room, designed by John Benecke, walls are copper-colored, with an upholstered niche for a flat-screened television. The standout in this room is the fireplace, which uses traditional terra cotta and ceramics in a lively new way.
“The fireplace wall is made of hand-fired, hand-made terra-cotta pieces assembled to my design. The ceramic hearth and mantle are glazed to bring out a bluish color,” Benecke says.
Sotera Townsend Interior Design did the kitchen with plastered walls with a sponged-on texture as well as colorful mosaic wall tiles with hand-hammered copper insets. The adjoining breakfast room, by Jamie Namanny of Interior Matters, has a pantry with shelves so high that a sliding library ladder was added for easy access. Both designers used the same fabric on bar stools and valances to unite the design.
The hobby room, by Candace Donnell Interior Designs, has a large table in the center that can be retracted or expanded for kids’ projects. “There are sewing and knitting areas because we do so much more in our homes now. We’re just showing some of the possible functions for a room like this,” says Stadler. The adjoining bathroom has a tree done in gold and green tiles on the bathroom wall.
The House of Design is open Tuesday through June 30, Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursdays until 8 p.m. Free design seminars are every Wednesday at 2 p.m. and Thursday at 6 p.m., and garden talks are held each Tuesday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20, with all proceeds benefiting the Philharmonic Society’s music education programs for youth. There is complimentary parking in the Irvine Spectrum Pavilion on West Technology and Horizon near Alton Parkway with a continuous shuttle to the house. Tickets and information: (714) 840-7542 or www.philharmonic society.org.
Kathy Bryant can be reached at kbryant@socal.rr.com.