Escape Artists
Given that the previous homeowner was a professional landscaper, beautiful garden spaces abound, including this peaceful fountain out front, where vintage iron benches beckon one to rest.
Interior designer John De Bastiani refreshes a Montecito residence for a creative couple’s weekend retreat
Written by Jennifer Blaise Kramer | Photographs by Joe Schmelzer
When an L.A. couple—one of them an artist—looked for a weekend respite, they found it in a single-level 1957 ranch home in Sycamore Canyon. It had been previously owned by a noted landscape designer who curated the grounds into a classic Santa Barbara oasis. In an effort to spruce up the interiors, the new owners enlisted designer John De Bastiani (who had helped the empty nesters with their primary residence), kicking things off with the one thing a painter wants most—color.
“We wanted that modern farmhouse feel without the cliché.”
“They love rich colors,” says De Bastiani of the owners. He focused on combinations of blues, greens, and clays, explaining, “We wanted to warm up the house for a cozy, wonderful retreat.” Jewel tones of green and blue were woven throughout, bringing in earthy shades from the garden but in more saturated hues. Out front he painted the shutters and trim an olive green to contrast with the white board-and-batten siding. Inside, the primary bedroom is decorated in watery blue, and the designer added strapping on the walls and closet doors to lend texture against the existing ceilings. Using the same shade on all surfaces created a cocoonlike coziness, heightened by homeowners’ choice of replicating their main home’s familiar four-poster bed and pairing it with a fluffy Moroccan rug.
A leafy green color now graces the kitchen, where De Bastiani built a secondary wall of cabinetry, complete with brass library lighting. “We wanted that modern farmhouse feel without the cliché. Here the green pivots and elevates,” he says, adding, “we wanted that pop and must have tried 20 different shades—this was a little bright but not too faddy. It’s classic.”
The green also nods to the lush gardens visible from the kitchen’s convenient serving window, which makes passing cocktails from inside a breeze. Friends can grab a drink and wander over to the firepit or outdoor lounge, which is furnished with low-slung wooden sofas from The Well. Pebble gravel underfoot is accented by low-water plants and tall oak trees, from which De Bastiani hung vintage metal lanterns to create a nighttime glow.
“It was all very romantic already but a little overgrown,” he says. “The owners wanted cleaner lines, so we simplified in a wonderful Montecito way.”
“The house had beautiful bones in place, so it was a delicate balance to add contemporary things.”
In streamlining the layout inside and out, the designer arranged special places to entertain. For parties, the couple either hosts intimate dinners in the garden’s new greenhouse room—also furnished from The Well and wired with vintage globe pendants—or holds them in the dining room, where a custom table is positioned close to bifold doors, “which are always open so you feel like you’re in the backyard.”
Natural light spills in from outside through the original front door, adding to the California ranch-style character. “The house had beautiful bones in place, from the floors to the steel casement windows throughout, which people request today, so it was a delicate balance to add contemporary things,” De Bastiani says. In the living room, for example, he chose muted tones from the same palette of greens, blues, and rusts to create an elegant backdrop for the antique pieces that mingle with contemporary furnishings and art—mostly the homeowner’s, of course.
“It’s an artist’s cottage,” De Bastiani says. “And we made it into a jewel box.”
A greenhouse wired with vintage sconces makes for stunning dinners outside.