2008 DIY Design Awards: Tucson Home celebrates this year’s contest winners
by Eric Van Meter
photography by Tim Fuller
2008 MARKS THE THIRD YEAR we’ve invited readers to share their adventures in do-it-yourself design. And for the third year in a row, we were amazed by the creativity Tucsonans display while creating that sometimes elusive, always individual place called “home.” As before, each of this year’s featured homes shows a distinct style rendered not by professional designers but by ordinary homeowners (and one renter!) with a passion for creating the perfect space.
THE JUDGES
[ Mary Ann Hesseldenz ] Mary Ann Hesseldenz spent 20 years in New York City as a fashion designer, gradually moving from textile work and color forecasting to showroom and retail design. After moving to Tucson, she focused on furniture design and ultimately interior design. Today, Hesseldenz co-owns the award-winning Baker + Hesseldenz Design with her business and life partner Scott Baker.
[ Tamara Scott-Anderson ] Tamara Scott-Anderson has been working as an interior designer for 19 years. She came to design by way of formal education as a fiber artist and art teacher. She is a certified professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers (and past president of the local chapter), and a licensed contractor. In 2001, Scott-Anderson bought one of Tucson’s leading full-service interior design showrooms, Contents Interiors, with business partner Carol Bell.
[ Kathy McMahon ] Kathy McMahon has guided the development of Tucson Home Magazine as editor since its launch in 1999. A graduate of the Sonoran Institute’s Community Design Academy, McMahon feeds her passion for DIY design with continual work on her own home fueled, no doubt, by one of the best perks her job provides: the chance to scope out, year after year, the most distinctive, creative, classy, and overall inspiring homes dotting the Old Pueblo.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SPONSORS OF OUR 3RD ANNUAL DIY DESIGN AWARDS.
Grand prize donated by Contents Interiors. Other generous sponsors include Colors by Nature, Earth Energy's Fireside Hearth and Home, House 'n Garden, Studio C
THE ROYAL TREATMENT - Grand Prize
Tracy Wood transformed her ordinary home into a castle fit for a queen
At any other residence, the “Villa Wood” plaque outside Tracy Wood’s front door would be just a bit of play, something along the lines of a bumper sticker on a Chevy: My other car is a Rolls. After all, from the outside, Wood’s home looks like any other house in Rancho Vistoso: a contemporary suburban design, neat and simple. Nice, yes, but not exactly a villa. That’s outside the front door. Just beyond, Tracy Wood has turned an ordinary tract home into an extraordinary private haven, resplendent with echoes of Old World European finery.
Wood chose her home—despite a Southwestern decor that was not at all her style—for its neighborhood, its “good bones,” and 18-foot-high ceilings that she knew would work with her vision for murals, pillars, chandeliers, and other majestic appointments. She went to work immediately, and in just two years—doing the vast majority of the work herself—turned her home into a fantasy living space fit for royalty.
Wood’s attention to detail shows from floor to ceiling. In fact, the ceilings are one of the design’s most charming elements. Walking through Villa Wood, you can’t help but look up again and again to delight in the several murals Wood commissioned from local artist Jos Villabrille. Cherubs play in a pristine blue sky above the dining room table and chairs. A faithful homage to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus makes a splash on the ceiling of the master bath. In the kitchen—reminiscent of a castle galley with rustic-stone facing on the walls and seeded-glass cabinet panels—Villabrille created an idyllic view of Positano on the Amalfi coast of Italy, a view so true-to-life that it brought Wood to tears the first time she saw it in real life on a later trip to Italy, Greece, and France.
And while the ceilings are dessert for the eyes, something to be savored while relaxing after a long day, Wood’s entire home is a feast for the senses. Deep red walls are balanced by intimate spaces finished with the look of pale Venetian plaster. Dark furniture upholstered in damask and velvet tucks in among columns and antique cabinets. Stencils—sometimes dry-brushed in metallic gold, sometimes done in relief with drywall compound—add texture, charm, and sophistication.
While no inch of her home is left untouched—even the chains supporting chandeliers are hidden within fabric covers—Wood has pulled off a design that’s never heavy, never imposing. For all its elegance, Villa Wood feels warm and friendly, open and inviting, and therein lies the magic: Wood transformed a house into a castle, and made that castle into a home.
[ F R O M T H E J U D G E S ] When you walk in, you’re so amazed at the amount of work that went into this home you can’t help but give her kudos. There’s attention to detail everywhere—even the cords on the lamps are covered.
Captions:
Imported antique doors and pillars contribute to the dining room’s Old World ambiance.
Faux-painted walls and a bar boasting a mural of the canals in Venice are just a few of the artful touches gracing Tracy’s family room.
Tracy transformed her kitchen by painstakingly installing stone facing on the walls and backsplash.
Rich draped fabrics, a canopy crown reproduction, and stenciled walls aged for a rustic look are just a few of the details making this master bedroom fit for a queen.
The master bath’s ceiling features a commissioned recreation of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
SECONDHAND SWANK - Winner
Working with castoffs from friends and family, Drew Tucker infused his midtown home with urban cool
Like Tracy Wood’s villa, Drew Tucker’s place—a bungalow he rents just south of The University of Arizona—is cleverly disguised as ordinary: stuccoed adobe like others in the area, a yard with crabgrass and stands of bamboo that will outlive all of us. But step inside and you might think you’ve entered a SoHo loft, a space that’s all about unexpected, understated cool.
Tucker pulled off the look almost entirely with recycling and reuse—furniture that friends were giving away and junk found in alleys. He flanked the kitchen table, for example, with grandma’s vintage lawn chairs on one side and a friend’s hefty orange sleeper sofa on the other—both suitably cool exactly as they arrived. For other pieces, Tucker focused his eye for cutting-edge design, literally. Sawing slits into salvaged steel pipe, he created a floor lamp fit for any showroom floor. Slicing the bottom off an empty vodka bottle, he made the perfect pendant light.
In the same way Tucker sees how some strategic cuts can create an objet d’art, he sees new uses for everyday materials. Those funky kitchen drapes? Construction site fencing. The art that covers an entire wall of the bar? Typing paper. And that mesmerizing coffee-table base? Chain link, which
Tucker twisted and shaped by hand (seemingly by breaking laws of physics along the way). From the stark elegance of the bar (a glass case salvaged from a pet store) to the drama of the floor-to-ceiling red drapes lining the hall (hiding a motley mass of storage), Tucker has an obvious flair for the contemporary—geometry, materials, and design that blur the line between furniture and art. It’s a vision that will, no doubt, earn this budding architect a string of awards in years to come.
[ F R O M T H E J U D G E S ] He has such good problem-solving skills. Every room pulls you into the next. He is creative on so many levels.
Captions:
A found glass case transforms into a modern, underlit bar against dramatic black walls.
Drew created this sleek glass-topped table out of chain-link fencing.
A bright orange couch and vintage lawn chairs from Drew’s grandmother flank either side of the kitchen table.
FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS - Winner
Starting with just land and a vision, the Silvermans fashioned a dream design for sharing with family and friends
What do you do when you’ve bought a beautiful plot of land, designed a home working with only a drafter and your imagination, and just started finishing the inside? Plan a huge party, of course, such as a rehearsal party for your brother’s wedding. Nothing like a hard deadline to get the creative juices flowing!
So it was that Mark and Breann Silverman spent two and a half years carefully planning and realizing every detail of their dream home, a contemporary two-story on Tucson’s far east side. Together, they spent hours every day scouring the web, browsing catalogs, and working with regional vendors against a ticking clock.
Given the pressure of 100+ people coming to your still-skeletal home, you’d think the Silvermans might have caved, gone for easy and obvious solutions. Think again. At every turn, they eschewed the common for something more distinctive and of higher quality. Thus, the game room upstairs—wet bar, foosball, and matching, custom-made billiard and poker tables—has floors that are all but indestructible, made from the same wood that’s battered in bowling lanes. Solid maple doors close into kerf jambs throughout the house, recessed stainless- steel baseboards create a floating-wall effect, and water splashes down from a ceiling-mounted spigot to fill the spa tub in the master bath.
Ultimately, with their unwavering attention to detail, the Silverman’s created the perfect home for their family, for that first event, and for many ahead. They love to entertain, and their home—with its multiple guest rooms, full bar, wide-open spaces, dramatic lighting, sleek furnishings, and expansive balconies—will no doubt be the setting of friends’ and family’s cherished memories for years to come.
[ F R O M T H E J U D G E S ] It’s absolutely amazing that they didn’t have an architect and designed it on their own—from concept to completion—in just two and a half years.
Captions:
The Silvermans chose a classic palette for their living room and bar area, peppered with touches of brilliant red.
Stainless steel paired with cobalt blue accents in the kitchen add to the clean, modern feel of the house.
Fun art, unique lighting, and modern fixtures make for a dramatic powder room.
REFINED DESIGN - Winner
Mixing new finds with old faves and family heirlooms, Bill Wylie’s design is always changing, but always elegant
While most of our entrants said their decorating was done or nearly done, for Bill Wylie, it’s never finished. The decor of his westside home continually evolves as he finds new things to bring in, displacing other pieces, and often generating a cascade of redesign: new colors of paint, new accent pieces, and even new furniture and rugs.
One thing, however, remains constant: a sense of balance that guides Wylie’s design aesthetic. Oranges and reds are countered with muted greens, dark woods are balanced with light-reflecting mirrors and metal, and treasured antiques stand at ease among contemporary art.
Wylie applies that visual principal of balance spatially, as well. As he brings new furniture or accent pieces into his home (retiring others to the garage, which serves as a sort of design source well), he moves rugs and furniture to maintain a certain homeostasis and pass his personal litmus test: If you squint, look around, and nothing jumps out at you—a misfit color or maybe a corner choked with furniture—if it all basically blends together, the design is working.
The same rules extend outside, to the new porch that Wylie created after enclosing the original. In the spirit of “nothing looks as if it doesn’t belong,” Wylie continued the paint colors and wall textures and went so far as to coffer the ceilings on all sides, creating the illusion that the new outdoor room was part of the original design.
In the end—except that with a continuous work in progress, there is no end—Wylie’s home manifests the same refinement as the way in which he comports himself, reflecting its owner’s personal style as only the best designs do.
[ F R O M T H E J U D G E S ] He has a good sense about architecture and how to make things flow plus a wonderful sense of color. He understands that spaces are about how they feel, not just about how they look.
Captions:
Bill takes careful stock of his furniture and accessories when redesigning his rooms, creating patterns in texture and color.
Bill’s choice of colors and accessories create dramatic vignettes, such as this peek into his home office.
The strong chromatic sense found throughout the house continues outside to this wellappointed outdoor living area.
A PLAYFUL POTPOURRI-Winner
With a passion for things that are funky and often a blast from the past, the Bittners brought their 60s ranch home back to its roots
It would almost be apropos to say that Dan and Doreen Bittner’s aesthetic accommodates everything but the kitchen sink—the funky and the classic, the urbane and the rustic, the familiar and the utterly fresh. Almost apropos, but with the Bittners, the kitchen sink embodies exactly what their design is.
For starters, the sink isn’t a sink. Or rather, it wasn’t. In its first life, decades ago in Budapest, it was a baby tub. Doreen found it in town, loved it, bought it. Fast forward to a day when she’s driving down the street and sees a beat-up, handmade table by the side of the road, left for trash. A quick conversation and it’s hers. At that point, Dan brings his magic to the mix, cutting holes and affixing pipes, transforming the disparate discoveries into a kitchen fixture you won’t find anywhere else.
Finds such as these peek their personalities all over the Bittners’ home: An old gate enjoys new life as a pantry door, 70s swag lamps relive center stage as family room lighting. “Our poor girls [Lucy and Sally] know what happens if we spot a dumpster on the way to dinner,” Doreen explains. “And the best part— they usually make room in the back seat for our latest finds! We see the art in recycling, and they do too.”
These imperfect building blocks are perfect for a home where—with two kids, three dogs, and three cats—laid-back living is a must. To make it all work, the Bittners replaced the “harder” and “colder” elements of their home, painting and distressing cherry cabinets and replacing the stucco fireplace face and granite counters with stained and painted wood, tying everything together with colors as friendly and vibrant as the family itself.
[ F R O M T H E J U D G E S ] They love their space, and it has a very good energy. They’re not honing in on a particular style—they’re finding pieces they love and making them work.
Caption: Colorful dishes displayed on the kitchen’s shelves add to the bright and cheery feel of the house.
A blend of family pieces and thrift-shop finds make up the eclectic collection of furniture in the living room.
Eric Van Meter is a freelance writer and writing tutor in Tucson, where he sates his own design yen by rearranging, again and again, the same seven pieces of furniture.