Step Inside A Scottsdale Getaway Filled With Artful Moments

Why check into a desert resort for the glitterati when your own home can feel like one? For a couple with two grown children, frequent travels to Scottsdale blossomed into plans for a getaway of their very own there. To create a dwelling in harmony with the rhythms of the place they loved, they tapped designer Angelica Henry. “They wanted it to feel like a resort when they came home—quiet and relaxed, with an air of calm,” Henry says of the clients’ directive.

The Sonoran Desert has always been sacred to Henry, who honored its majesty by introducing a neutral palette to “let the desert sing,” she says. The de facto aria begins in the great room, with variegated downy-gray brushed-limestone floor tiles. “The limestone was one of the first materials we started with, and it added a softness and depth,” Henry says. “The main interior flooring can really set the tone of the whole house.” The blush fabric on the room’s custom sectional recalls winter desert sunsets, while the slate- and pale-gray fabrics on the throw pillows reflect the rocks and sand just outside. “We accomplished a beautiful connection to the desert from inside the house,” Henry says. “It’s one of the joys of living here—a strong link between indoors and outdoors.”

The floor-to-ceiling glass walls allow for uninterrupted views but create a challenge: They provide little space to hang art. As a solution, Henry took every opportunity she could to bring in artful moments, even collaborating with artisan Brian Szczech on commissioned pieces they designed together. One, suspended from the dining room ceiling, hovers somewhere between a room divider and an objet d’art: It’s made up of crisscrossed ribbons of steel, some notched, some smooth, some spanning the length of the piece, others stopping in midair. Just above the dining table, hand-blown glass pendant lights join Szczech’s hanging blackened-steel sculptures that resemble tiny pitched roofs. Around the corner, Szczech embedded multidirectional steel pyramids into nine recesses in a wall, rendering the entire plane an installation of sorts. “He’s a magician with steel,” Henry says.

To suit the clients’ wish for laid-back entertaining options, Henry orchestrated a progression of intimate seating groups from entry to rear terrace. Pocket doors vanish to merge the great room with the pool deck, creating a seamless stage for gatherings. It’s an ideal environment from which to view the grounds, designed by landscape designer Peggy De La Garza and dotted with all manner of desert-friendly plantings, including plump barrel cacti, long and lean Mexican fence posts, and towering, stately saguaros. Contemporary aluminum-framed sofas and chairs play off the metals inside, including the kitchen island’s waterfall edges.

Every room engages with the outdoors. The primary bathroom illustrates that dialogue dramatically, its walls of glass leading to a private courtyard with a rock garden and an outdoor shower. Henry introduced elements of surprise, such as a Szczech-designed steel base supporting the concrete tub and an edgy hammered-metal side table. “I like to add a little bit of shimmer,” she says. “Nothing keeps me more excited and focused as a designer than coming up with extra-special bespoke details.”

From the first blueprint to the last accessory, balance and symmetry anchored the design. “Restraint was key, and the impact came through in the mix of textures and simple details,” Henry says. “Many of the main materials have an inherently natural and rugged beauty to them. It reminds me of the desert in bloom.”