In poetic fashion, a couple’s love story came full circle when they decided to return home to Arizona. They both grew up in Phoenix, even attended the same college, but never crossed paths until “we finally met on a plane flying from San Francisco 23 years ago,” the wife laughs. After building a life together in California, the time felt ripe to move with their two teenagers nearer to their family and oldest friends. As such, their new Paradise Valley abode was one meant to be shared. “We wanted a place where we could really do a lot of entertaining,” the wife adds. “We love to cook, watch sports and have dinner parties. We liked the idea of having people over.”
This vision fell into place when they found interior designer Lissa Lee Hickman, residential designer Gary Wyant, and builders Tony Calvis and Hans Balazs. “The family was just so warm and engaging,” Hickman observes. “We knew we needed to create something polished yet approachable.”
Striking this balance began with the architecture. Wyant says he imagined a “clean, modern interpretation of a Spanish Revival, Santa Barbara style.” The historical inspiration added textured softness to the structure, especially to the front façade, featuring white stucco walls and painted brick accents “that give the home a sense of history and permanence,” Calvis notes. In contrast, the all-black roof and sleek windows refine the architectural framework. Landscape designer Brandon LaCombe followed suit with an “organic but groomed desert design,” he explains. Lush green play areas for impromptu badminton matches contrast against stylized rock beds of golden barrel cacti, agave, aloe and saguaro spears in strategic locations.
Inside, Hickman infused honeyed warmth with white oak for the floor and cabinetry—the latter a rift cut “that feels more modern as the grain goes in the same direction,” she explains. The organic finish anchors the neutral and near-monochromatic palette the family requested, but the designer still integrated dimension using varying shades of whites, off-whites and grays. “And I combined different patterns and textures to give interest,” she adds. The couple’s bedroom illustrates this layered approach, from the creamy upholstered headboard to the silvery bedding to the pearlescent chevron wood-veneer wallcovering. The light-hued textiles are deceptively pragmatic, as “everything was stain-treated for durability,” Hickman notes.
Alongside these delicate details, the home feels primed for gatherings inside and out. Due to the property’s east-west orientation, the layout gives the poolside entertaining area “great southern exposure and views of Camelback Mountain,” Wyant says. “We can swing open the big accordion doors from the great room and flow in and out,” the wife adds.
Each public space in turn caters to different social moods. The living room exudes quiet sophistication through the veined quartzite fireplace, tailored armchairs and silvery cowhide rug. In contrast, the media room functions “as the flop zone,” jokes Hickman, who conjured a den atmosphere with tweed-like wallpaper and a vast gray sectional ready-made for lounging. Even in the kitchen—“because everybody seems to gather around there, no matter what we do,” the wife adds with a smile—double islands separate prep work from cocktail sipping “so you’re able to really converse and have a good time without feeling like you’re on top of each other,” she explains.
Sometimes only slight tweaks were required to distinguish formal from more relaxed gathering areas. Furniture generally remained cohesive in style and silhouette with “square sofa arms and clean lines, nothing too fussy,” Hickman says. But subtle adjustments demarcate the chic breakfast area—still undisputedly elegant with its plush club chairs and delicate crystal ring pendant—from the grand dining room. For the more formal space, the designer cultivated a true sense of occasion with a long banquet table and custom teardrop chandelier.
The couple uses every inch of their new home for festivities, from spontaneous weekend croquet games to milestone family celebrations. Perhaps most of all, the wife treasures the party they hosted for her parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. “My parents met when they were sophomores in high school in Arizona,” she explains. Generations of familiar faces came to honor them. “All their friends, and all their kids. It was so much fun reconnecting with so many people.” Indeed, a true homecoming in every sense of the word.
