A Spanish Colonial Home Gets A Funky Makeover

With help from a design-savvy friend, a Phoenix horticulturist creates a funky desert sanctuary.

"I wanted to celebrate what the Southwest used to be," says landscape designer Brian Kissinger, who, with his partner, Todd McCandless, restored their own 1926 Spanish Colonial-style home in Phoenix. In the residence's interior courtyard, a Cantera stone patio encircles a heritage live oak surrounded by Asian jasmine and agaves. The brick stairway leads to an office once occupied by the late Senator Carl Hayden, who bought the house in 1929.

The owners turned to Scott Burdick, the tenant of their guest casita and the managing partner of his design firm, to redecorate their living room. "They were looking for a sophisticated mix of old and new," says Burdick, who combined a 19th-century sabino-wood library table with Jean de Merry wing and leather tub chairs from John Brooks Incorporated. The abaca rug is from The Floor Collection Design. Architect Luis Peris worked on the renovation, which included restoring adobe walls and installing Saltillo tile floors throughout.

The mix of old and new elements continues throughout the guest casita, a fitting backdrop for Burdick's eclectic collections. The entrance, which opens onto a shady loggia, features a Chinese wine jar used for stowing umbrellas, a Sam Scott sunflower painting from LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe and a West African Dogon door.

Burdick brought a polished, modern feel to the casita by updating furnishings with new and vintage fabrics, like the classic 1970s corduroy he found at Howe in London for the Donghia chairs in the living room. Modern artwork, such as a bronze sculpture by Mary Bates Neubauer, contributes to the overall effect.

In the casita's living room, a 19th-century dog portrait from Galerie Half in Los Angeles hangs above an Italian credenza; the antique leather cubes from Lamberty in London serve as coffee tables. Although not formally trained as a designer, Burdick shaped his aesthetic with help from his mother, interior designer Patty Burdick. "She has visited me wherever I lived, and we'd antique together for items for my house," he says. "Half of my things were acquired this way."

Commanding one side of the casita's living room is a vintage Dunbar sofa by Edward Wormley, which Burdick covered in the same corduroy as the armchairs. The pair of Moroccan jar lamps and the 19th-century English extension table, which doubles as a desk, are all from Wiseman and Gale.

"My dining room is set up more like a library space," says Burdick, who arranged objects and "books of current interest" on an industrial pear-wood table from March in San Francisco. Although "not much happens in the kitchen cooking-wise," he confesses, Burdick created an inviting bar space for small gatherings using black hair-on-hide Gregorious Pineo barstools with brass nailheads.

For the wood beams in the covered outdoor spaces, including this vestibule that opens onto the courtyard, the homeowners copied the brown-bronze shade the original architect, H.H. Green, used for the living room ceilings. Here, a rustic trident, chair and bench interspersed with potted plants create a welcoming tableau.

A large 19th-century Peruvian painting in a pine frame from Holler & Saunders Ltd. hangs in the loggia, where the 18-inch-thick width of the original adobe walls is apparent. The late-19th-century Mexican bench is from Wiseman and Gale.

For the casita's master bedroom, Burdick customized a channel-tufted headboard touting C&C Milano linen from John Brooks Incorporated; complementing it are a Kuba cloth-covered pillow from Wiseman and Gale and an antique Moroccan textile that serves as a bedcovering. The watercolor is by William Lumpkins, and the bedside table is a Native American antique.

In the casita's master bedroom, an antique English chair with whimsically carved wood arms is upholstered in leather from Howe. Next to it, a chest of drawers displays a collection of found objects--a piece of driftwood, a saguaro boot and a South American entada seed pod. The abaca area rug is from The Floor Collection Design.

Personal touches in the casita's master bathroom include an antique English shelf used for storing towels, toiletries and a collection of small antique boxes. Saltillo tile floors are in keeping with the rest of the interiors.

A Monterey oak, mass plantings of agave and a cycad garden surround the pool, which is lined with cobalt tiles. "The wide steps are meant for sitting and enjoying cocktails," Kissinger says. "It's a place to cool off, not swim laps." The Richard Schultz 1966 Collection furnishings are from Inside/Out.

Around a carved Cantera stone fountain, which is the centerpiece of the lush courtyard, Syzygium trees from Australia, date palms and live oaks all provide a cooling canopy for a blend of ginger, aloe and Chinese fan palms. "Homes were built like this to protect people from the environment--from heat and sun," Kissinger notes. "I wanted to recreate that."

Irregular stone pavers lead to a small sunken lawn designed to hold water overflow from heavy rains. The Cantera stone bench from Oaxaca, Mexico, is surrounded by aloe and agaves.