Tucson Lifestyle Home and Garden August 2012 : Page 14

a contemporary classic By Gillian DrummonD PhotogrAPhy By Thomas Veneklasen A number of styles, periods and materials make this custom Foothills home a striking blend of old and new. A lthough located at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Chris Wangensteen-Eklund’s house is as close to her childhood home in Virginia as she can pos-sibly make it. “Colonial, traditional, a little bit of English” is how she describes the custom Foothills home, which blends old-fash-ioned aesthetics and antique silhouettes with desert colors, stone surfaces and modern practicality. This is a meeting of many things: interior columns and antique paintings; hickory floors and paneled French doors; stacked stone fireplaces and travertine; granite countertops and bath-room marble. But together they meld into a home with a histori-cal slant and a current look at the same time. Chris knew what she wanted long before the lot was pur-chased in 2000. This creative woman had spent years tear-ing pictures from home magazines, compiling a detailed and exhaustive file about her dream home. This fall, she will open a high-end furnishings and gift shop called Pear Tree House, LLC. “I had a three-ring binder. I would tear out a piece of paper that had a baseboard I liked because in Tucson there aren’t a ton of houses that have the big wood baseboards,” she explains. Her husband Bill Eklund, who works in the mortgage busi-ness and manages an oil and gas leasing company, left her to this pursuit, despite the fact that her plans for the new home were at the other end of the design spectrum from his previous place. His was a contemporary “bachelor pad” that, says Chris, “just wasn’t a family home.” Custom cabinetry provides storage for hundreds of bottles in the home’s wine room. 14 T ucson Lifestyle HOME & GARDEN www .tucsonlifestyle.com

A Contemporary Classic

Gillian Drummond

A number of styles, periods and materials make this custom Foothills home a striking blend of old and new. Although located at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Chris Wangensteen-Eklund's house is as close to her childhood home in Virginia as she can possibly make it. "Colonial, traditional, a little bit of English" is how she describes the custom Foothills home, which blends old-fashioned aesthetics and antique silhouettes with desert colors, stone surfaces and modern practicality. This is a meeting of many things: interior columns and antique paintings; hickory floors and paneled French doors; stacked stone fireplaces and travertine; granite countertops and bathroom marble. But together they meld into a home with a historical slant and a current look at the same time. Chris knew what she wanted long before the lot was purchased in 2000. This creative woman had spent years tearing pictures from home magazines, compiling a detailed and exhaustive file about her dream home. This fall, she will open a high-end furnishings and gift shop called Pear Tree House, LLC. "I had a three-ring binder. I would tear out a piece of paper that had a baseboard I liked because in Tucson there aren't a ton of houses that have the big wood baseboards," she explains. Her husband Bill Eklund, who works in the mortgage business and manages an oil and gas leasing company, left her to this pursuit, despite the fact that her plans for the new home were at the other end of the design spectrum from his previous place. His was a contemporary "bachelor pad" that, says Chris, "just wasn't a family home." Their acre lot sits right on the edge of the natural desert and has striking city views from the front of the house. Chris wanted to be able to maximize both, says their architectural designer Greg Simmons. Simmons and his team created a dramatic frontage that takes the visitor up wide steps to a front patio stretching almost the length of the house, with potted firs, a cantera stone fountain, and an oversized iron front door. It acts as an old-fashioned Southern porch, which the couple and guests can enjoy as much as the backyard, says Simmons. The formal dining room, with extendable mahogany table, re-upholstered chairs and nearly floor-to-ceiling windows, repeats that city view. Just for a bit of added drama, the dining room is octagon-shaped. In the sitting room, your eye is taken in another direction - the mountainside behind. Wing-backed chairs, ornate vases, lofty French doors and a huge concrete columnar fireplace give this room an 18th century ambience. Chris's taste in décor may be traditional, but that's not to say she - and the home - don't let their hair down. Her favorite room is the open kitchen and family room where she, Bill and their young son spend much of their time. The fireplace is smaller, faced with travertine, with a dramatic backdrop of stacked stone. The floor is hickory wood. Here, as she has done throughout the home, Chris has sprinkled family photos and heirlooms, including china, silver and furniture. A footstool near the comfy sofa looks like its needlepoint cover has some ancestry to it. In fact, it's a bargain from a discount store. Chris is as happy shopping for bargains as she is picking up antiques, buying one-of-a-kind items from Tubac, or ordering fine pieces from furniture makers. That footstool happens to have a picture of a horse, and it's just one of many nods to her equestrian roots (her father Stephen Wangensteen, an eminent surgeon in Tucson, now breeds horses back on the East Coast). The horses pop up in fabrics and ornaments, and in Western paintings by Phoenix artist Tom Dorr. There's also a large dose of the British Isles circa 1900, in paintings that stretch from original images of royalty to repro bargain prints - simply because it's a place and an era she loves. Chris favors old over new so much that she's worked it into every last detail of her surroundings. Three skylights in the kitchen have black resin across the glass covers, resembling wrought iron. In the downstairs wine room, designed by local carpenter Alejandro Fimbres, a custom wooden cover obscures the air vent. And in a guest bathroom, a polished pewter sink faucet mimics the shape of an antique silver tea set. That said, the home is not short on modern where it's needed: large walk-in showers with multiple shower heads; an undercounter microwave and island stovetop; and two state-of-the-art home offices (dark wood and library-like for him, lighter and airier for her). By using the garage as a base, Simmons also created a second story for part of the home; up a few stairs from the first floor are a guest room, their son's room and Chris's office. And the space at the front of the roof has been utilized as an extra bit of patio space. The backyard has elements of a stately home: lions' heads as fountains, stacked stone, a tiered bit of garden, and of course some grass. Chris says she can't live without green underfoot in her garden, hence the putting green and lawn. This grass, though, is desert-friendly artificial. It comes as no surprise to hear that one of Chris's favorite hangouts is the historic Arizona Inn district. "It's the first place I stayed and I've been going back there ever since. I got engaged there. It's part of what keeps me here in Tucson," she says. Sources: simmons home Designs, 722-1825; Custom home Builder: Bratton Design studio inc, www.Brattondesignstudio.com; Concrete fireplaces, columns and pots by Cdi Concrete Designs, www.concrete-designs.com; Wine room door and front door by rustic elegance, www.rusticelegancedoors. com; Custom wine room by alejandro Fimbres, Four Brothers Carpentry, 520- 977-8312; kitchen and bath tile by artesana Tile, 319-0170; Custom cabinetry by harpers, 318- 0170; Putting green and backyard turf by Tucson southwest Greens, www.tucsonputtinggreens.com; Patio Furniture: house 'n Garden, www.Housengarden.com; Granite kitchen counters: Bendrosian's Tile & marble, www.bendrosians.com; Faucets, lighting and appliances: Ferguson kitchen, Bath & lighting Gallery, www.ferguson.com; master bedroom bed: DeWitt Designs, www.dewittdesignsinc.com.

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