KAREN WIGHT -- No Place Like Home

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Every other week, No Place Like Home will take

readers on a tour of a local residence.

The Quackenbush home in Irvine Terrace looked a little tired when they

bought it. But when you have a vision, ordinary can become

extraordinary.

And it takes a big vision to transform an unimaginative ‘70s-style

house and yard into a Tuscan villa with a modern twist. Shirley and Steve

Quackenbush took that vision and created a state-of-the-art entertainment

mecca in their own backyard, literally.

Priority one: sons Marshall, 7, and Reed, 4, needed a place to have

fun.

Priority two: Shirley and Steve wanted a place to entertain friends

and neighbors in a beautiful setting with all the amenities.

The mission was accomplished with the help of Bruce Stout, landscape

architect, and Paul Kroger of Sandpiper Land Care. Bruce began the job

last December, working out the details of the transformation with the

Quackenbush family. They broke ground in April and by September, the

single-level yard has become a three-level masterpiece complete with

pool, spa, three water features, a play yard, vegetable garden, two

dining areas and outdoor fireplace.

The theme is Mediterranean with very clean and simple lines. The pool

is rectangular and the separate spa is positioned next to a water trough,

which is lit underneath for dramatic impact. Three overflowing Grecian

urns feed the trough. The impact is very dramatic and the delicate sound

of water trickling down the sides of the urns creates a lovely background

noise.

The back wall, which once had two different kinds of exposed concrete

blocks, has been brown-coated and painted a surprising shade of purple,

an exciting contrast to the warm earth tones that were used for the

backyard planters and hardscape.

The double-sided fireplace accommodates both the spa and a lowered

conversation/dining area. An existing multibranched New Zealand Christmas

tree has been meticulously pruned to provide an airy canopy over the

table and seating area.

The stones used for the patio areas are roughhewn, and small creeping

plants fill in the gaps. In juxtaposition, the hardscape next to the pool

is smooth concrete that provides a great visual contrast.

Shirley and Steve are hands-on homeowners and met the challenge of

creating their own nirvana. They traveled to Puebla, Mexico, to hand pick

the tiles used around the new front door and around the outside

fireplace. In fact, they hand carried them on the plane to make sure they

arrived in a timely fashion and intact.

Shirley, a senior vice president for J.P. Morgan in her spare time,

also took on a pot, not pet, project. She selected more than 30 giant

pots from Architectural Pottery in Midway City to fill the landscaping

“holes” on the patio, around the planters and in the yard to create

unusual focal points. She and Bruce Stout selected different styles of

pots and then created five different finishes to use on the pot exteriors

to complement the stone used throughout the yard.

Husband Steve and their two boys consider the backyard their personal

playground and even though the project took a year from concept to

reality, they all admit it was worth the work and the wait.

“We wanted a place for our family and friends to gather, feel welcome,

and enjoy one another,” says Shirley. She smiles as she looks out on the

yard, “I think we did it.”

* KAREN WIGHT is a Newport Beach resident. Her column runs Sundays.