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Homepage / Architecture  / Inside a Lock-and-Leave House So Comfortable, the Owners Never Want to Leave

Inside a Lock-and-Leave House So Comfortable, the Owners Never Want to Leave

Attention to detail yields the perfect winter abode.

By Nora Burba Trulsson | Photography by Scott Sandler

In North Scottsdale’s Estancia community, a modern home with bold horizontal lines frames views of Pinnacle Peak in front and, in back, an expanse of golf course. Indoors, the setting complements the architecture with comfortable furnishings chosen for their clean lines and luxe materials. Outdoors, the desert landscape also serves to underscore the vistas and lead the eye from inside to out.

This easy-breezy home was designed as a lock-and-leave winter residence for a Colorado-based couple. But the approach to the project was hardly one in which the homeowners locked in on a few features and left things in the hands of the design-and-build team. “I’m definitely not the guy who says, ‘Call me when you’re done,’” the husband says of the project. “I’m a commercial contractor, and building is in my blood.” To get exactly what they needed, the owners did their homework and worked with a troika of Phoenix Home & Garden Masters of the Southwest award winners—architect Mark Tate, interior designer Claire Ownby and landscape designer Chad Norris—to ensure that the home was not only stylish, but also fit their lifestyle.

The process started during COVID, when the couple, their adult children and grandchildren hunkered down in their previous Estancia house. It was a bit too much family togetherness. “We realized then we needed a larger space,” the husband remembers. Working with builder Glenn Farner, who put together the design team, the owners found the lot, then came to initial design meetings with inspiration photos, specifics about space requirements and room adjacencies and a list of material choices for indoors and out. “We had everything down to the finishes and details before we even broke ground,” the husband points out. “There were no surprises.”

Tate, the homeowners remember, came to the initial meeting prepared with ideas, having walked the 1-acre site and contemplated its advantages and challenges. “The lot has great views, but it sits lower than the street, and it had drainage issues,” says Tate, who has designed numerous homes in the community. “We channeled the water to one side of the property and raised the site a few feet so that the house sits above the golf course for privacy and views.” Tate created a floor plan with the great room, dining area, bar and kitchen forming a bridge between a guest wing on one side and the primary suite on the other. Sliding glass walls and clerestory windows flood the interior with light, and strategically placed windows in bedrooms and bathrooms offer glimpses of mountain tops and privacy from neighbors. Tate used gray ledgestone, smooth basalt, granite and bronze details to give the home a strong presence.

Interior designer Ownby played off the materials, creating a backdrop that includes pale porcelain tile flooring and ribbed walnut cladding on walls and overscale pivot doors. She also designed a series of floating walnut ceiling panels that define the kitchen, living room and primary bedroom, creating a sense of intimacy within the 15-foot-high ceilings. “We picked an earthy, neutral palette for the interior,” says Ownby. “The walnut we chose for cabinetry and millwork is a natural, vibrant wood, which we echoed in cognac-colored leather for some of the furnishings.”

Tate and Ownby also inventoried the couple’s art collection and designed niches and wall spaces where paintings and sculptures could serve as focal points. Ownby had the owners’ existing paintings reframed, giving the collection a unified look. “We left space for new works the owners might find over the next few years,” Ownby says.

Outside, Norris used sculptural plants to complement the contemporary architecture and echoed the cragginess of Pinnacle Peak with a series of carefully placed boulders. “The front of the house has a view of the peak,” Norris says, “so I placed boulders outside and within the site walls to make it seem like the mountain was coming down into the front yard.” He framed the front courtyard’s blue glass fountain with organ pipe cactus and dotted gravel beds with golden barrel cactus, Moroccan mounds, agave and toothless desert spoons. In back, below the pool, he used carefully placed jojoba shrubs and a palo verde tree to give the home privacy from passing golf carts. “Like the house, the landscape was designed to be lock-and-leave,” Norris says. “It requires some maintenance, but nothing like a garden planted with bougainvillea and flowers.”

The project went smoothly, thanks to the owners’ diligent prep work and the creatives they hired to craft the house. “I would do it again with this team in a New York minute,” says the husband. “This house is comfortable, whether it’s the two of us or when it’s full of family and friends. We want to be home here all the time.”

A home designed by architect Mark Tate has views of Pinnacle Peak from the front courtyard. Tate’s colleague, Julie Jones, designed the art glass fountain. Landscape designer Chad Norris framed the setting with Argentine giants, agaves, golden barrels and saguaros.
A partial wall separates the dining room and the great room and serves to highlight a painting by Colorado artist Carrie Fell.  Interior designer Claire Ownby reflected the architect’s bold lines and materials in the colors and styles of the furnishings. “We picked up on the earthy elements in the materials,” says Ownby, who designed the dining room’s wine wall with walnut columns interspersed with smooth-cut limestone.
A fluted glass and bronze pivot entry door, designed by Jones, allows views of the front courtyard. “I like to design houses where you live in the view,” says architect Tate. “I’m always looking for ways to make that happen.”
A painting the owners found in Hawaii sparks the dining room’s floating buffet, which is framed by ribbed walnut millwork and basalt-clad columns.
A wall between the kitchen and the dining room is clad in ribbed walnut, adding warmth to the interior materials. Walnut was also used for the floating ceiling that defines the great room. The leather, steel and blown-glass light fixture gives the space sparkle. “The client has a keen eye for detail,” notes Ownby. “He appreciated everything from the full-height pivot doors with the flyby jambs to the reveals at the baseboards.”
A pocketing glass wall and clerestory windows in the great room and bar offer glimpses of the backyard’s golf course and mountain views. The pool patio’s overhang not only provides shade, but also acts as an architectural element. “I like to compress the outdoor ceiling heights,” says Tate. “It draws people outside.”
A game table in the sitting room has the advantage of a corner window wall for views and breezes.
The kitchen features two islands and walnut cabinetry. The ribbed doorway at right leads to a fully detailed back kitchen, which provides ample equipment and space for party prep and cleanup.
The primary bedroom and the adjacent patio sit above the golf course, providing privacy and views. Shades that retract into the ceiling add another layer of seclusion.
The primary bathroom’s window walls and floating vanities give the room its airy appeal. Outdoors, a strategically placed palo verde shields direct views from the golf course below.
A painting by Andre Kohn complements the colors of the fireplace flames. The bedroom’s quartzite mantel and floating hearth are a sleek counterpoint to the rough rock-clad walls. Outside, totem pole cactus are a sculptural touch.
“By raising the house a few feet, we gained views and have privacy, even for the primary suite.”

 Mark Tate, architect

The negative-edge pool reflects the outline of the home in the water.
Just off the great room and bar, an outdoor seating area invites lingering. “The outdoor furniture was chosen to feel like an extension of the interior,” says Ownby. “We used a lot of upholstered pieces for comfort.”
The golf course drops down from the back of the house. Landscape designer Norris used hopbush, brittlebush and turpentine bush to create a natural desert swath between the home and the golf course.

SOURCES

  • Architect: Mark Tate, AIA; Tate Studio, Cave Creek, tate-studio.com.
  • Builder: Glenn Farner, GEF Development, Scottsdale, gefdevelopmentllc.com.
  • Interior designer: Claire Ownby, ASID; Ownby Design, Scottsdale, ownbydesign.com.
  • Landscape designer: Chad Norris, High Desert Designs, Phoenix, highdesertdesigns.com.

LIVING ROOM

  • Interior doors: Door Works, Tempe, doorworksusa.com.
  • Sofa, swivel side chairs and ottoman (custom): Ownby Design, Scottsdale, ownbydesign.com.
  • Coffee table: Solido, Phoenix, solidollc.com.
  • Area rug: Azadi Fine Rugs, Scottsdale, azadifinerugs.com.
  • Lamps: fourhands.com.
  • Floating ceiling: Concept Cabinetry, Gilbert, ccabinetry.com.
  • Ceiling light fixture: bomma.cz.
  • Tile flooring: Facings of America, Scottsdale, facingsofamerica.com.
  • Fireplace grate: Flux Design Studio, Phoenix, fluxdesignstudio.com.
  • Front door design: Julie Jones, Tate Studio, Cave Creek, tate-studio.com.
  • Door glass: Meltdown Glass, Tempe, meltdownglass.com.

DINING ROOM

  • Table: Peter Thomas Designs, Phoenix, peterthomasdesigns.com.
  • Chairs (custom): Ownby Design, Scottsdale, ownbydesign.com.
  • Area rug: Azadi Fine Rugs, Scottsdale, azadifinerugs.com.
  • Pendant lights: bomma.cz.
  • Wallcovering: kravet.com.

KITCHEN

  • Cabinetry and floating ceiling: Concept Cabinetry, Gilbert, ccabinetry.com.
  • Pendant lights: hammerton.com.
  • Barstool seats: Solido, Phoenix, solidollc.com.

PRIMARY BEDROOM

  • Bed, lounge chairs and ottoman (custom): ownbydesign.com.
  • Nightstands: peterthomasdesigns.com.
  • Area rug: Azadi Fine Rugs, Scottsdale, azadifinerugs.com.
  • Fireplace grate: Flux Design Studio, Phoenix, fluxdesignstudio.com.

POWDER ROOM

  • Cabinetry and millwork: Concept Cabinetry, Gilbert, ccabinetry.com.  

PATIOS

  • Fountain design: Julie Jones, Tate Studio, Cave Creek, tate-studio.com.
  • Fountain glass: meltdownglass.com.
  • Furniture: rh.com; harbouroutdoorliving.com; sunpan.com.
  • Rug: capelrugs.com.
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