Take A Peek At This Cozy, Desert-Inspired Arizona Abode

Like countless other couples, Eric and Julie moved to Arizona to enjoy the serene desert landscape. But the pair didn’t want to move into just any abode; they wanted to build their forever home—a single-story house with great views capturing spectacular sunsets. “We’ve lived in a number of locations across the U.S. over the years, and, as we started to consider retirement, we chose Scottsdale to enjoy the beautiful scenery,” Eric says.

Locale selected, the couple assembled a team that understood their vision. Residential designer Lee Finch devised a contemporary interpretation of a classic Santa Barbara-style ranch. Built by Greg Hunt, the abode centers around a private courtyard that captures views from the community golf course to the McDowell Mountain Range in the distance. Eucalyptus double doors at the courtyard entry signal a sense of arrival as a pathway paved in classic Chicago brick leads to the front entrance. Along the way, a concrete basin delivers a calming flow of water while lush plantings, including dwarf olive trees and Japanese boxwoods, enhance the hacienda-inspired design. “One of our goals was to fully integrate a seamless flow between the interior and exterior of the home,” says landscape designer Jake Plocher. “The Sonoran desert is a truly amazing place,” Finch adds, “so the overall design allowed for the natural beauty of the surroundings to be fully enjoyed from within and outside.”

For the interiors, designer Kristin Hazen aimed to create a cozy home with those same Santa Barbara design elements. She clad fireplaces in stone and plastered walls in Roman clay in a nod to the exterior stucco. Wood in various forms appears nearly everywhere, from stained kitchen cabinets to hardwood floors to butcher-block countertops to ceiling beams.

Perhaps most important, though, was embracing the desert environment. “Anyone who moves to Arizona wants to have as much sunshine streaming into their home as possible,” the designer laughs. To keep the focus on nature, the owners and Hazen agreed on a warm palette of creams and tans while incorporating Julie’s love of blue. “My design aesthetic is neutral based,” Hazen says, “so it was about approaching blue in that same sense.” In the kitchen, the color appears on the island in a deep, rich hue, while hand-painted backsplash tiles showcase a more subtle version with gray undertones. The living room’s swivel chairs feature a blue-gray striped fabric that relates to the moody shade on the arched cabinets. Touches of other colors—green, chocolate, ochre, salmon and rust—are found throughout the abode but sparingly and in strategically desaturated hues. “We wanted the home to feel a part of the desert,” she says. “We brought that warmth and character from the outside in.”

For furnishings, Hazen customized most pieces, with creative requests for pets factoring into the designs. “They have dogs, and they wanted them to be able to sit up on the ottomans or on the chairs with them,” she explains, making generously sized seating options a necessity. The designer then introduced pattern in the form of stripes and florals on upholstery, rugs and other textiles but again opted to keep things on the quieter side. The one area where Hazen and the homeowners went bold on color was the art, but even then, they tempered more vibrant works with neutral pieces.

Eric and Julie now enjoy every aspect of their new abode, taking in fiery red sunsets from the back patio and basking in the sunshine that streams through the residence’s many windows and sliding glass doors. “The lot and house were designed with the outdoors front and center,” Eric says. “Having a home that provides us with a sense of being a part of our surroundings is just wonderful.”