A 15,000-square-foot residence in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, overlooking a country club, presents countless opportunities for over-the-top, garish embellishments. But instead of succumbing to those temptations, this home’s new owner, a fortysomething media entrepreneur, and his design team exercised uncommon and laudable restraint when reconceiving the circa-1926 house. The team comprised interior designer Jerry Meyer, architects Walter Meyer (no relation to Jerry) and A. Thomas Torres, contractor John Finton, and landscape architect Maureen Barnes. The owner purchased the residence three years ago and then gave his charges a one-year deadline to renovate and furnish it. In that time, they created a house that reveals its charms gradually, one room at a time, instead of all at once. “There are a lot of parts to the home that are appealing, but not competing,” explains Walter Meyer. “Each room can stand alone and has its own personality. But at the same time, there’s a tremendous sense of continuity. It’s a true example of the whole being the sum of its parts.”

The 1.5-acre property encompasses a pool filled with salt water, a double garden with water features and sculptures, and numerous entertaining spaces. “The backyard is visible from almost every room in the house, so it was important to create a strong connection between the inside and out,” explains Jerry Meyer.

Inside the home, the design team was cautious to keep the rooms on a human scale. To create a warmer sense of arrival, the height of the home’s original entryway was reduced from 28 feet to 14 feet. The color palette for most of the home’s furnishings—red, fuchsia, and coral—was indirectly determined by the sepia-toned, 19th-century French wallpaper panel hanging in the living room and by the homeowner’s fascination with the romance of red. Beyond the living room and looking out to the garden and swimming pool, the game room and dining room areas offer the homeowner multiple options for entertaining. “He didn’t want a space that was so large that a small dinner party would feel uncomfortable,” says Meyer. “So to the right of the dining room, in the game room, I designed a table with a square insert that normally holds a Man Ray–designed chess set.”

Also convenient for entertaining is the lower-level catering kitchen located just below the home’s family kitchen, which is designed for daily use. Outfitted with stainless steel appliances, including multiple ovens, burners, and refrigerators, the catering kitchen features a dumbwaiter, making it easy to transport food upstairs to the dining room.

Other entertaining areas include the theater, theater lounge, wine room, and billiard room, which are located in their own wing adjacent to the main house. On the home’s top floor are spaces that give the homeowner ample space to relax, including a master suite with a custom-designed bed, a 400-square-foot closet, and an antique-inspired bathroom—one of 17 in the home. 

“The home is a true Italian Renaissance hilltop villa,” says Walter Meyer. “Even though you can see the city in the distance, as soon as you enter through the home’s gates, you feel as though you’ve escaped the chaos and are in your own private retreat.”

A sense of peace and timelessness engages romantics to indulge in signature treatments steeped in tradition and ritual such as the Pas de Deux. In a room flickering with candles, this massage and bathing experience begins with a sensual couples massage and a candle-lit, bubble bath for two. The spa offers an array of phenomenal wellness services such as Ayurvedic healing therapies and lifestyle programs, yoga and other specialties. World class massage, facials and signature body treatments are a part of the many services that are offered. Exclusive to our spa boutique are organic globally conscious product lines, including organic cotton yoga ware.

Therapists spend time with each spa guest to accommodate their needs prior to each treatment. Treatments are unique and customized to ensure the guest?s complete relaxation and rejuvenation. Most of the exclusive Spa guest room accommodations and the Spa Suite feature deep soaking hydro tubs in the living area and are perfect for a romantic getaway, a spa vacation, a Zen retreat, or a girl?s weekend.

As one of the world?s most beautiful destinations, Sedona is perfect for exploration and exhilarating experiences. From jeep tours, flights and hikes to world class shopping in the quaint village of Tlaquepaque, the Concierge at Sedona Rouge will guide you in quest of exciting and exotic memories.

Sedona, from the natural to the mystic, from the deep blue sky to the red, red ground. Something is written in the red rocks. Something extraordinary has been written in Rouge and is waiting for you to experience at the Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa.

CONTACT:
Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa
2250 W Hwy 89A
Sedona, AZ 86336
USA

PHONE NUMBER: 928.203.4111
WEBSITE: www.sedonarouge.com
EMAIL: info@sedonarouge.com

The Sonos portable, wireless music player (www.sonos.com) lets people listen to their music in style and gear up for the ultimate in luxury entertaining with the ultimate in digital music. With its sleek design and wireless abilities, Sonos is as aesthetically pleasing as it is functional. It is a perfect companion for entertaining (indoors AND out) this summer. The one thing every party has to have is music and Sonos provides that in a simple, sleek way.

So, what is Sonos?

Sonos is a portable, wireless system that comes with a handheld controller to manipulate your music from anywhere inside or outside of your home –and in multiple rooms simultaneously (so you can have different music playing out at the pool, inside in the kitchen and upstairs in guests’ rooms ALL AT THE SAME TIME!). And you can set an alarm to start/stop and change up the music whenever you like (so if you’re short on time and scurrying around trying to get ready before your guests arrive, the Sonos will start the music for you). With a wireless Sonos Controller, music lovers have plug-and-play access to millions of songs — including songs from their personal music services (Rhapsody, Napster, etc.), Internet radio and their personal music collections. Friends can come over and bring their iPods and play them right from the system as well.

Given the proliferation of both wireless networks and digital music in the home, this product really falls into the “cool and unique” category.