15/03/2021
When your home is already in dreamland (California wine country), what do you do for a vacation house? Build it next door. Such was the case for this family, owners of a stately Victorian in Healdsburg, California, who enlisted designer Jennifer Robin and architect Stephen Sutro to devise a guesthouse—featuring a fully loaded, open-air kitchen just off the pool—on their property. “It’s a counterpoint to the main house’s traditional architecture,” Sutro says, “a visual backdrop for the end of the big lawn.An average day in the alfresco kitchen might see overnight guests making breakfast, friends coming over for a barbecue, and swimsuit-clad kids running in for snacks. “It had to be comfortable for extended guest visits, yet rugged enough to tolerate poolside entertaining with children,” Robin says. Entertaining essentials like a pass-through window and wine fridge are paired with vintage accents and textural furniture. “This is a casual hangout that’s unpretentious,” Robin says, “like the owners!”
