USA Houzz: California Dreaming in a Modern Hill-Set Home
An American family created a customised contemporary space outside the city, to suit their modern tastes and active lifestyle
More than a decade after falling in love with a wooded property in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills in the USA, the Vanni family purchased the land from a friend and hired designer Matthew Lechowick to build their dream home on the oak-studded hillside. Lechowick helped make their dream a reality in the form of a custom-built, light-filled hillside eyrie. Set in a semi-rural town, the home is in a region of farms, ranches and wineries.
“This is the ultimate family home for Ryan and Melissa and their four boys to grow, relax and entertain in a modern yet inviting space,” Lechowick says. The final product is a comfortable, energy-efficient oasis with a dash of sustainability – this summer, the garage will get an eco-friendly green roof planted with succulents and other vegetation.
“This is the ultimate family home for Ryan and Melissa and their four boys to grow, relax and entertain in a modern yet inviting space,” Lechowick says. The final product is a comfortable, energy-efficient oasis with a dash of sustainability – this summer, the garage will get an eco-friendly green roof planted with succulents and other vegetation.
For the active, travel-loving Vanni family, their home in the hills serves as a peaceful oasis. Melissa writes a food blog and recently published a children’s book about healthy eating, and Ryan is CEO of a marketing and branding company in Sacramento, California. Ryan and the boys are avid road cyclists.
With the main entrance and living area on the second floor, treetop views dominate through multI-panel glass slider pocket doors – accenting the Vannis’ love of indoor-outdoor living. The expansive doors and windows provide views of the craggy peaks of the Sierra Buttes in the distance. Creating large portals to the outdoors was a big part of the design plan. “Siting the house was carefully considered so these types of views would come through in the final design,” Lechowick says. A staircase leads to the lower level.
Sofa: Room & Board; flooring: Artistica in ‘Riverbend Oak‘, Mohawk; ceiling fan: Haiku
Sofa: Room & Board; flooring: Artistica in ‘Riverbend Oak‘, Mohawk; ceiling fan: Haiku
The challenges of building on a hillside with dense vegetation required “major foundation and retaining wall work,” Lechowick says. It also called for features designed to meet strict state fire-protection requirements for building in a fire-prone rural area. That included sprinklers inside the house, and fire-resistant exterior siding of stucco, and shou sugi ban wood – panelling that utilises the traditional Japanese technique of charring wood to make it fire- and insect-resistant, as well as attractive (shown here near front door).
Using high-quality windows and insulation solved the challenge of meeting local regulations for energy efficiency, Lechowick says. Wood-framed windows were installed, as well as a thermally broken aluminium style – constructed with a barrier between the inside and outside frames to prevent energy loss. The glass for both types is metal-coated Low E2, required for windows installed in new homes in California.
Windows: Western Window Systems and Sierra Pacific Windows
Windows: Western Window Systems and Sierra Pacific Windows
In the main living space, an open floor plan, 4.8-metre-high ceilings and a neutral palette let the treetop views take centre stage. A built-in gas fireplace, oak floors and ceiling beams warm up the living room’s industrial-modern furnishings, which include a walnut perforated screen door console designed by Lechowick. Rustic meets modern in the dining room, where a matt black aluminium pendant light with a gold metallic internal finish hangs over a reclaimed-wood table created by a local furniture maker.
Dining table: Steve Tiller, Reclamation Art + Furniture; dining room drum pendant light: Circus, Lumens; ceiling fan: Haiku; console: Hidden Media
Dining table: Steve Tiller, Reclamation Art + Furniture; dining room drum pendant light: Circus, Lumens; ceiling fan: Haiku; console: Hidden Media
Eye-catching geometrically shaped ceramic pendant lights suspended by textile cables hang over the island, which is topped with honed quartz. The Aspect pendants were designed by Schmitt Design in Sacramento and produced by a small ceramics studio in Southern California.
A striking black subway tile splashback behind American black walnut cabinets and open shelving is the kitchen’s focal point. Lechowick used the wood horizontally, which he says “helps visually connect the doors to read as one volume-piece.”
Honed benchtop in ‘Pebble’: Caesarstone; splashback subway tile: Emser; oven and stovetop: Bertazzoni; dishwasher: Bosch; refrigerators: Sub-Zero
Honed benchtop in ‘Pebble’: Caesarstone; splashback subway tile: Emser; oven and stovetop: Bertazzoni; dishwasher: Bosch; refrigerators: Sub-Zero
The master bedroom is a haven of modern simplicity, with a rectangular window revealing a treetop view, almost like a framed picture. A red chair provides a dash of colour. The bedroom has a balcony that overlooks the hill.
Chair: Kartell; rug: Cost Plus World Market; sconce: Tom Dixon
Chair: Kartell; rug: Cost Plus World Market; sconce: Tom Dixon
The master bathroom has an air of tranquillity, thanks to light grey marble hexagon mosaic wall tiles and the vanity’s whitewashed white oak cabinets beneath a quartz benchtop. Slate floor tile and the sculptured freestanding tub add to the spa feeling.
Honed benchtop in ‘Misty Carrera‘: Caesarstone; vanity: Platinum Construction; soaking tub: Control Brand
Honed benchtop in ‘Misty Carrera‘: Caesarstone; vanity: Platinum Construction; soaking tub: Control Brand
A staircase with a railing custom-made by a local metalsmith leads to the home’s lower level, which is partially nestled into the side of a hill. The lower level has its own entry, and houses two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study and living area for the couple’s sons, along with a guest room for visitors.
The boys share a work area that contains open cabinets above a walnut-veneer desk surface with a solid-walnut edge designed by Lechowick. The floor is polished concrete with a semigloss to matt finish.
One of the two bedrooms that the four boys share is decorated in brown and blue geometrics.
Beds: Ikea; ceiling fan: The Modern Fan Co.
Beds: Ikea; ceiling fan: The Modern Fan Co.
Large-format matt-finish floor tiles anchor the neutral tones in one of the boys’ bathrooms.
Studio Nero floor tile: Eleganza
Studio Nero floor tile: Eleganza
The lower-level living room opens to a concrete deck at the lower grade of the house.
Colourful art and a Herman Miller bench liven up the mudroom-garage entry on the lower level.
Lechowick designed the living-dining spaces to be central to the house layout, with other rooms are offshoots of that central space. The horizontal bar of the bedrooms intersects the wider and taller vertical bar of the living space, “to create more dynamic space that they all engage with on a personal level, as well as with guests they entertain,” the designer says. The lower floor is shown here.
The garage roof will get lightweight LiveRoof Lite tiles layer this year, to add another eco-friendly aspect to the home’s design.
The garage roof will get lightweight LiveRoof Lite tiles layer this year, to add another eco-friendly aspect to the home’s design.
The main top level has the main entrance at grade. The kitchen and butler’s pantry are on one side, with the living-dining area and office in the middle double-height space. On the other side of the top floor is a full guest bath and the master suite, with master bath, dressing room and bedroom with balcony.
General contractor: Kinetic Partners
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What’s your favourite design element in this California dream home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
General contractor: Kinetic Partners
TELL US
What’s your favourite design element in this California dream home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
Who lives here: Melissa and Ryan Vanni and their four sons
Location: Newcastle, California, USA
Size: 395 square metres on 5.6 acres; 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
Designer: Matthew Lechowick