The result of all this work is a quiet, landscaped lot surrounded by redwoods and sycamores, with views of the surrounding mountains. “There’s a ton of wildlife: deer, foxes, hawks, some great horned owls,” Chavez says. “It’s a kind of little paradise.” There’s a 50-foot-long lap pool with an outdoor sauna, along with multiple outdoor terraces and seating areas.
A Custom Home
Set in the middle of the lot is the house, clad in a cedar and oxidized-steel siding. (There are also solar panels on the roof.)
The design—a balance between a mid-century aesthetic and more contemporary lines and finishes—emphasizes large, spare, glassy interior spaces. Nearly every room has floor-to-ceiling glass windows that slide open onto either a terrace or the land.
The building is laid out on three levels, each connecting with a walnut-and-steel interior staircase. The main floor has an open-concept living room/kitchen/dining room. Above are the primary bedrooms, which include a large master suite that opens onto its own balcony. The lower level has an additional bedroom, a wine cellar, and laundry and storage rooms, along with an entrance foyer.
Aside from the main level, with the living areas, and the upper floor, with the primary bedrooms, “there are two half-levels as well,” he says. “One is a guest bedroom, where people can feel like they’re just slightly removed, and then it’s the same with the media room, which is also on a half-level.”
The 745-square-foot guest house, separate from the main building, has its own kitchen, terrace, and living area, too. In total, the square footage of the main house, guest house, garage, mechanical rooms, and storage space amounts to about 6,500 square feet.
The couple didn’t plan to leave the house so soon. They spent about as much time building it as they did living in it. But “we have aspirations to live in other countries and expose our kids to new and interesting environments,” Putterman says.
And so they are reluctantly letting their dream home go. “We think we did our job well,” he continues. “We invested at a significant premium and created a great home to live in. And it’s a great home to hand over to someone else. We’ve achieved our goals.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.