Santa Barbara Archives

South Bay Digs • August 11, 2023

DIGS August 9, 2023

ON THE COVER | 1599 E Valley Road Named Constantia—A Classic of Cape Dutch Design—Makes for an Enduring Memory in Santa Barbara’s Montecito.

Constantia’s Enduring Beauty: 1599 E Valley Road in Montecito

Virginia Fay August 9, 2023

For nearly a century, a bright white Ambrose Cramer-designed home has presided over the glowing green grounds of Constantia, an estate nestled between the mountains

Canary Hotel: Escape in Santa Barbara

Karine Monié January 11, 2023

The Canary, a Kimpton hotel located in downtown Santa Barbara, recently underwent an initiative to update and transform its iconic property, led by interior designer

William Hefner Restored | Romero Canyon California Dreaming

Abigail Stone January 12, 2022

Located on Romero Canyon Road, this William Hefner property has two buildings, a 900-foot bungalow and a separate stable were relics of the 1930s, slender

MDR Beachfront Living & Bringing the Mediterranean to Montecito

Karine Monié October 28, 2021

3111 Ocean Front more than 52 feet of boardwalk ocean view, and 1039 Cima Linda situated on more than 2.5 meticulously landscaped acres.

Mar Monte Hotel: Beleco Reviving a Santa Barbara Icon

Karine Monié September 29, 2021

Los Angeles-based interior design firm Beleco recently revealed the result of an ambitious task consisting of remodeling a Spanish revival beachfront hotel, which opened its

A Montecito 10-acre Estate with Historical Pedigree

Karine Monié August 4, 2021

Very few properties have such a rich history as “Far Afield,” an approximately 20,000-square-foot residence with seven bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, offering views of the

Chris Adlam’s 909 Via Coronel: Preeminent Palos Verdes

Constance Dunn July 21, 2021

Drive along scenic Palos Verdes Drive and swing onto Via Coronel, a peaceful street sweeping along a green hillside on the Peninsula. Duck onto a

A Wallace Neff Original in Santa Barbara

Wendy Bowman March 22, 2021

4347 Marina Drive, Santa Barbara situated on a 1-plus acre of land—atop the crest of a bluff, with unobstructed views of the Channel Islands—the gated,

3420 Brinkerhoff Avenue, santa ynez, aaron kirman, aaron kirman group, Neyshia Go, compass, Rancho Latigo, Jean-Claude Brouillet, David L. Leavengood, Spanish Colonial, Fred Steck, Goldman Sachs, equestrian, wine country, Santa Barbara,

Aaron Kirman & Neyshia Go Show off Historic Santa Ynez Property

Wendy Bowman August 7, 2020

Offered by Neyshia Go & Aaron Kirman of the Aaron Kirman Group at Compass, known as “Rancho Latigo,” the estate previously listed for $45 million

Where to Stay in Santa Barbara? This 106-Acre Seaside Ranch Maybe?!

Wendy Bowman May 15, 2020

This coastal ranch estate is where to stay in Santa Barbara and affords a refuge from the noise and stress of the city

Uncontrived, lush with exotica and featuring ponds and porticos, stonework and sculpture, “garden” actually seems too provincial a term for the hybrids of function and fantasy that Grace creates. Hers is a fine eye and a remarkable hand. “As a licensed landscape contractor, I build what I design,” she says. “That’s when my work took a big leap forward. There is no separation between design, installation, and maintenance, it’s all one and happens on a continuum. Unless it’s integrated, it doesn’t work—period.” This is how she thinks too, both pragmatically and painterly. Much like an artist, she uses “broad and fine brushstrokes” to transform a two-dimensional canvas into a three-dimensional work of art. And in a systematic fashion; first is attending to infrastructure beneath the ground, then to its surface with the layering of elements. Rocks, for instance, are not so much placed as they are selected and then worked such that their shadows will cause additional depth or bring color forward. From there the garden grows. One also sees this artistry in Grace’s exquisite new tome Private Gardens of Santa Barbara: The Art of Outdoor Living (Gibbs Smith), a rapturous showcase of her elegant outdoor Edens, from rustic to coastal to modern. Each of the book’s made-to-age milieus represents a temple of residential garden know-how and is illustrative of nonderivative design that reflects the character of the native landscape. “The Art of Outdoor Living” idea certainly accounts for the substantial exterior living rooms and heated floors of our era. “About 10 percent of outdoor living comes down to ‘my fort is cooler than your fort,’” Grace refreshingly confesses. But at the root, “it is a way to describe a lifestyle connected to nature.” For Grace, who went from toiling in the family garden to forsaking a career in medicine after a 13-week stint as a park ranger proved she’d long lost her heart to the natural world, this is the point. “Step outside and you hear birdsong, you smell water evaporating. It’s a rich and simple experience, but relaxed and comfortable. We take a deep breath and feel better. It’s so automatic we don’t even think of it, but it is a very profound thing. It’s experiential, there is intentionality to it.” Landscape as soul, nature as a relief—what a thing of beauty. gracedesignassociates.com Photos: Grace Design Associates And Holly Lepere Johnson (Home).

A Lush New Tome: Margie Grace Cultivates Exquisite Gardens

Jenn Thornton May 14, 2020

Landscape designer and author of a lush new tome, Margie Grace cultivates exquisite gardens with singular flora and flourish.