The Project: Residence at Desert Horizons Country Club

The Place: Indian Wells, California

The Conversation: Our client, from Midland, Texas purchased the property for their winter home in the California desert. She called us at first because she wanted to make special use of a circular room near the entry. The space was originally designed to as a card room, but she thought it might be a good place for wine. She expressed a love for contemporary design, luxurious materials and unique pieces.

The Design Story: The Desert Horizons Country Club opened in 1979 and we decided to look to the high style of design from that era. Drawing inspiration from early 1980’s Architectural Digest we made special note of Angelo Donghia’s apartment design for the fashion designer Halston, and Steve Chase’s homes for Dianne Canon and Farrah Fawcett. We created a vocabular of curvilinear lines, luxurious high gloss woods and rich gold and bronze textiles mixed with cream leathers. We designed a tailored faceted banquet for the wine room, and wrapped the generous fireplace with millwork to enclose a SubZero wine refigerator. We enriched the home with original art and high styled vintage lighting and accessories. For the dining room we found a vintage Mazzega Murano chandelier and to mirror the teardrop shapes we worked with an iron and steel artisan to create a unique custom dining table base. An oversized table lamp in ebony wood from the Hal David estate, and other unique vintage accents completed the look.

Photography: Lance Gerber