CUSTOM HOME – spending Christmas with clients who have become like family

My family lives in Iowa and Kevin’s lives in Florida and Canada, so it is impossible for us to get together with our whole family for the holidays, so we choose instead to get together with our families at other times of the year, and spend the holidays with chosen friends as family who are closer to home. We spent this Christmas with our dear friends, Ellen Rockne and Brian Andreas and their amazingly lovely, warm and witty family and group of friends. It was such a gift to be a member of their tribe. While they started as clients, they quickly became friends, and chosen family.

Keep reading to see a few more photos from our special holiday get together or click here to see the entire album on Flickr.

The home’s landscaping, by Margie Grace, is coming in so beautifully. The home itself is settling into the landscape perfectly.

The Rockne/Andres family is a group of artists, writers and musicians. All of which created one of the most beautiful Christmases I have ever had. Our celebration began Christmas Eve with the candlelight service at the Unitarian Church, including Ellen singing (she signs like an angel, and it made me weep), followed by a delicious soup with family and friends at their house.

I stayed upstairs and woke up to the beautiful view of the back garden and Brian’s painting studio. It was so peaceful, and a perfect way to wake up on Christmas morning – what a gift.

Hanging out in library with friends and cocktails. Margie Grace, right, is the landscape designer responsible for the home’s gorgeous yards. Read our interview with Margie by clicking here.

I stayed at their house (thank you, Matthew for letting me share your room, and also sharing your very cool new website with me: www.wowquit.com), and awoke on Christmas morning with a view of the Santa Barbara mountains, as well as the back garden and Brian’s painting studio. It was so peaceful, and such a gift to be waking up in that house – a perfect Christmas morning.

More pre-dinner fun around the fire in the library.

As family and friends started arriving, the champagne began being poured, the table for 18 people was being set, and the delicious feast was being prepared. Seeing a group of people working in the kitchen simultaneously made me love the island even more. It is a great way to have conversations, multiple cooks, and people snacking (me!) all at the same time. Meanwhile others were gathered in the library by the warmth of the fire.

Everyone busily preparing dinner in the sunny kitchen.

All 18 of us then gathered in the kitchen in a circle for the blessing before dinner. Dinner was wonderful, and was then followed by a beautiful Christmas tale reading by Chris, and then the Rockne-Andreas Christmas tradition of Bingo. The rest of the evening was filled with guitar, harmonica and singing filling the breezespace and our hearts. After much champagne, lots of laughter, and more than a few rounds of the game “Catch Phrase” we went to sleep with beautiful dreams.

Dinner is served!

As I design homes, I always imagine living in them. As I sketch, I imagine waking up in the bedroom, meandering in the morning light of the bathroom, having tea in the kitchen, gathering with family and friends on the living spaces and gardens. I think designing and working from such a place makes a much better architect than one who designs from the outside and is driven more by how the house looks/appears from the exterior. It was such a delight to have then really spent time in this home, with this amazing group of people using the house, and filling it with love and joy. The reality of that day was better than anything I could have imagined with designing it.

Kevin and me seated at the table for post-dinner fun in the form of Christmas bingo

Ellen singing with father Dick on harmonica and brother-in-law Andy on guitar, filling the living room with music and joy.

Nanawalls opening onto the Christmas scene inside the Brian & Ellen’s living room (as evidenced by Brian’s shorts, it wasn’t exactly a white Christmas).

Most of the paintings in the house are by either Brian or son Matthew Andreas. Visit www.storypeople.com for more of Brian’s work.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Past Projects, blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.