The Hunt for BURIED TREASURE

It took three shopping trips to the European countryside to truly complete this wine country getaway.

- Kathryn O'Shea-Evans

VESTIBULE

Custom Backen & Backen steel doors, a table from an old saddle factory, and planters created from French oak fruit crates punctuate the grand entrance of this Healdsburg, California, home. Lanterns: custom, Paul Ferrante. Flooring: antiqued Sheldon de brun limestone, Concept Studio.

VIEW

"The home is in the Alexander Valley of Healdsburg, and looks out towards the Russian River and vineyards," Harte says. Cabernet grapes grow on the five-acre property.

LIKE A THEATER SET, THE 20-foot ceilings of this Healdsburg, California, home put every furnishing, accent, and architectural flourish in the spotlight. Doors and windows stretch 10 feet tall (the standard is seven feet). "It gives such a feeling of scale and panorama, very proper and classic but it has a lot of drama," Sheldon Harte, Laguna Beach-based designer and principal at Harte Brownlee & Associates, says. Harte furbished the sleek new house by architect Kirby Lee, formerly of Backen & Backen, for repeat clients: a couple with three grown children who would be spending lots of time there relaxing with family and friends.

Located in the heart of California wine country, where old wine barrels are often converted to cocktail tables and corks into trivets, the house could have easily skewed kitschy. Not in Harte's hands. "The owner didn't want the typical wine country aesthetic," he explains. "She wanted an interesting mix, which is indicative of her sense of taste and style, and a terrific eclectic way of dressing. It was really important that the house reflected that."