Tucson Lifestyle Home and Garden • May 2016 • Transition To Terrific

When this couple retired to Tucson, they utilized an experienced team of building and design professionals to create the ideal Old-World-meets-new home.

As you walk through the front door of Mark and Patty Smallsreed’s Dove Mountain home, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had just strolled into a five-star resort.

First, there’s the view — and what a gorgeous one it is. With walls of windows offering a nearly 360-degree panoramic perspective, in one glance your eye takes in the Tortolita Mountains, the city lying in the valley below and the Catalina, Rincon and Tucson Mountains standing in the distance.

Then there’s the backyard, with its aquamarine pool, outdoor kitchen with pizza oven, and elevated seating area under a Tuscan-style pergola. Two fire features — a sculpture reminiscent of a succulent plant and a more traditional fire pit — beckon you to linger both day and night.Transition to Terrific BY ROMI CARRELL WITTMAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILLIAM LESCH When this couple retired to Tucson, they utilized an experienced team of building and design professionals to create the ideal Old-World-meets-new home.

Last, but most certainly not least, there’s the house itself.Although the exterior, with its stone façade and gentle lines, conjures up the Old World, the interior is decidedly contemporary.

“It’s a transitional style,” says Mark. “We wanted contemporary, but not too much. We wanted it to be open, but warm and inviting.” The result is a stunning 6,800-square-foot, four-bedroom, fivebath home that has won multiple regional and national design awards.

To realize their old-meets-new vision, the Smallsreeds assembled a team consisting of Interior Designer Lori Carroll of Lori Carroll & Associates; Architect Marc Soloway of Soloway Designs Inc., and Brad and Mike Wachs of Wachs Construction Company.

The project began back in in 2006 when the Smallsreeds were still living in Chicago. They were looking ahead to their retirement years and were scoping out possible locations and homesites.

“Phoenix has so much to offer socially, but it was getting very built up so we took a trip down to Tucson. We fell in love with the beauty, the openness, the people and the laid-back feel of the area,” Patty says.

The couple chose a two-acre lot lying in the foothills that offered a nice flat space on which to build the home without cutting into the surrounding mountainside.

In 2010 they called Mike Wachs to initiate construction. “We knew he built a quality home and we never interviewed another builder,” Patty Says.

Brad Wachs, Mike’s son, took on the project when it began in earnest. Next, Lori Carroll was brought on board. “Having her involved from the start paid off ten-fold,” says Patty.

Soloway concurs. “It’s very unusual to have all three involved at the beginning,” he adds. “But the three of our personalities work so well together.”

An example of this collegial working relationship was evident in the kitchen’s final design. Patty loves to cook and views the kitchen as a home’s gathering place, so the flow and functionality were extremely important to her. After Soloway came up with the original design, Carroll worked closely with Patty to revise the design so that it met all of the homeowners’ needs. After five revisions, they came up with a design that exceeded expectations.

After the architect rendered the 3-D designs of the home, Carroll would add design elements to those drawings, like the curved metal wall and fireplace in the Great Room.

“Lori’s level of detail is incredible,” Patty says, gesturing to a nearly six-inch-thick binder filled with scale drawings of elevations and room-by-room design details down to vendor lists for each item in the room.

The home has been recognized many times for awards. Carroll won several 2015 American Society of Interior Design (ASID) accolades for her work on the home, including first place for the home’s Great Room and fireplace, third place for the dining room and wine cellar design, and third place for the powder room. The ASID also awarded the home’s outdoor kitchen first place for outdoor spaces. The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) awarded a First Place designation for the home’s powder room and Third Place for one of the guest bathrooms in the 2016 NKBA Design Competition.Additionally, the home was an outdoor living finalist in the HGTV Design Awards.

“We’re thrilled with the national recognition we’ve received for the design work on the home,” Carroll says. “There’s a lot of competition at the national level and receiving these awards is a testament to the team effort.”

The project remains a favorite for all three members of the Smallsreeds’ design “A-Team.”

“We’ve done more than 900 projects and it’s one of the top 10,” says Soloway. “Just the way it was all put together and the homeowner saying ‘no limits.’ They were willing to look at every idea.”

Builder Brad Wachs agrees. “I’ve done plenty of detailed homes before, but this had more than any other project I’ve worked on.”

The Smallsreeds are extremely pleased with their home and note that they frequently have out-of-town guests who come to enjoy the home’s beauty as well as its luxurious, resort-like amenities.