Landscape Architect: Bernard TrainorArchitect: Sagan PiechotaContractor: Stocker AllairePhotography by Joe Fletcher courtesy of Sagan Piechota Architecture
When it came time to retire, Steven and Dee Dee Kim knew just what they wanted. They would leave their home in Tiburon, California near San Francisco, and build a traditional house with a swimming pool overlooking a golf course in the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel Valley, California. Come with us on a tour.
Early on, the clients made clear that they liked houses with “long views.”
The view from the outdoor living room toward the golf course.
Trainor had three rows of drought-tolerant Cape rush (Chondropetalum) grass planted in the inner gravel courtyard behind the house.
A verdant meadow beneath the oaks was largely destroyed during construction, and Trainor restored it.
A patio with a fire pit overlooks the property.
The concrete and steel fire pit overlook the house.
On the far side of the courtyard is a hot tub of Trainor’s design, clad in batu wood.
Trainor filled the courtyard with “Sierra tan” gravel, which has some brown tones but with an overall effect of gray.
The view from the house’s “front door,” which borders the interior courtyard and disappears within a wall of glass.
“The roofs and walls interact in such a way that this house is really a framing device for the landscape,” said Piechota.