44th annual Corona del Mar Home Tour to showcase coastal city’s residences

Oct. 19, 2017 4 PM PT

Six homes in Corona del Mar and Newport Beach will be open for tours on Oct. 24 to showcase the neighborhoods’ design and architectural attributes.

The proceeds support Corona del Mar middle and high schools benefiting school staff and student programs such as the arts, science, English and history.

One stop on the tour is the Wagner house, a five-bedroom home within the Port Streets neighborhood.

The home’s owners, Brooke and Dave Wagner, fell in love with the two-story property built in the early ’70s and envisioned creating a home from the ground up for their family of five.

Since 2003, Brooke Wagner has conceptualized custom homes for clients of her design firm, Brooke Wagner Design.

She has been a featured designer in the Corona del Mar Home Tour, the Harbor Day Home Tour, and Newport Harbor Home Tour and her work has been featured in Dering Hall, HGTV.com and Luxe Magazine, among other publications.

“We wanted to have a lot of indoor and outdoor space and have a fun hang-out house,” Brooke Wagner said while standing in the entry of her home. “It’s a good mix of the modern and traditional.”

The interior designer, who graduated from Corona del Mar High School and Interior Designers Institute in Newport Beach, said she and the family had lived in the home for two years before remodeling it.

She brought in architect Chris Brandon of Brandon Architects to realize their vision.

The kitchen features a 10-foot waterfall marble island, handmade white tiles above a second farmhouse sink and open shelving.

Brooke Wagner said the backyard has become a meeting point for their children’s friends — often amounting to nearly 50 neighborhood children — who can walk past fruit trees perched on a hillside or swim in a pool equipped with a handcrafted diving board flown in from Belgium.

The living room, kitchen and dining room of Liz Torelli's home in Corona del Mar.

The 44th annual tour will also spotlight the Torelli residence, a two-story home above the Upper Buck Gully Reserve which underwent its most recent renovation in early 2016.

The house, which overlooks the canyon and ocean, was built in 1949 and has undergone a series of renovations.

“I saw it and said, ‘That is the ugliest house I’ve ever seen in my life,’ ” said Liz Torelli, who purchased the home with her husband, Andrew, 23 years ago.

Instead of tearing it down, the Torellis renovated the structure. Most recently they transformed it into a contemporary cottage with the guidance of Penny Smith, of Raili Clasen Design, and architect Cynthia Childs, both based in Corona del Mar.

The Torellis moved back into the property in November 2016.

The home features sliding barn doors, white shiplap, a floor-to-ceiling wine cellar and Torelli’s paintings, among other special touches such as souvenirs from the couple’s travels to Europe and South America.

The self-guided tour will begin with a light breakfast reception at Le Pain Quotidien, Fashion Island, and include a luncheon by Pascal Olhats at Sherman Library & Gardens, and an afternoon reception at Bliss Home & Design.