The price of gas may be keeping some people at home these days, but for others they're staying in on purpose. These entertainment enthusiasts have built into their abodes so many amenities, why would they want - or need - to leave?
No matter what the leisurely pursuit, there are local homeowners who have built a single room - or an entire standalone building - devoted to it. Passionate about wine? Let's build a wine cellar, they say. Just love to work out? Let's drop the gym membership and create our own personal exercise room.
For others, the customized room is one where they can sit back and enjoy a cigar, a classic movie in surround sound, or the swinging tunes from their juke box. Meet several local homeowners who have built personal retreats devoted to leisure and entertainment in its many forms.
Doug Salisbury is a Solano County general contractor and when he and wife, Constance, decided it was time to design and build their own home, they were prepared to go all-out. "We had gathered ideas for years and wanted to put all of them into fruition," explains Constance. The original plans for their Vacaville home started at 4,500 square feet but, by the time all was said and done, they ended up with 6,200 square feet. Of that footprint, 2,500 square feet has been devoted to "what I call a G-rated adult playland," Constance says. This playland is actually a walkout basement with "a little bit of everything," including a game room, kitchen, wine cellar and storage area, media room and exercise room.
The Salisbury's entertainment haven has cinder block walls and a stained concrete floor, and plenty of ambient lighting throughout. In the media room, for example, subtle up-lighting is tucked into the room's crown molding. The walls have been painted in "Fool's Fuchsia," a perfectly colored background for the room's 152-inch television screen.
In the 800-square-foot exercise room, the floor has been treated with rubber. Lighting is bright and amplified by mirrors on all four walls. Double doors open to the outside to let in the cooling breezes, and the Salisburys can listen to the radio or watch television as they use any one of the six pieces of exercise equipment.
In the kitchen area, there is an abundance of counter space, plenty of seating for guests and an icemaker and beverage center. From this vantage point, guests can watch - or take part in - a game of pool.
But, "the 'coup de grace,'" Constance says, "is the wine cellar." This part of the basement is cool enough to be able to maintain "the perfect temperature for wines," because it lies at the back of the house, tucked against the bottom of a cliff. The storage area is lined in redwood shelves that can accommodate as many as 2,000 bottles of wine.
Just outside the storage room is a "sipping and cigar room," Constance says, that is ventilated by a copper-vented silent exhaust fan. "What I like about this area is that my husband can have a cigar and we can both sit and enjoy a glass of wine but I don't come away smelling like smoke." The Salisburys "had a blast" building their house, Constance says. "It truly is our dream home."
When Patsy and John Van Ouwerkerk bought their Vacaville home five years ago, it had a massive backyard with lots of grass and only a swing set for entertainment. "We knew we wanted to put in a pool," John says, and "some sort of playroom, because we had remodeled a garage in our former home in San Jose, and wanted to do the same here." They teamed up with Premier Pools and Holzapple Construction, and the end result is a backyard oasis with a Hawaiian theme.
The rectangular-shaped pool points directly toward a 600-square-foot cabana that has been built at the back of the lot. Is the building a Hawaiian lanai? A Key West beach house? John says their friends believe it reminds them of both. Perhaps it is the landscaping that surrounds the cabana, enhanced with citrus, palm and banana trees, hibiscus bushes and golden ginger plants that make guests feel as if they're visiting the islands. Or, maybe it's the Hawaiian-themed decor, both inside and out of the Van Ouwerkerk's inviting playroom.
Here, visitors can play a game of darts or pinball, or select a tune from a juke box that plays John's collection of 45s. Bamboo couches, tables and a bar continue the beach theme. In one corner of the cabana is an elevated stage. John painted the palm tree silhouettes on the walls behind the stage, using "clip art and an overhead projector." The surprising thing about this customized painting is the optical illusion it creates, John explains. "Each palm is actually painted the same color, but they look different because of the contrasting background paint."
From start to finish, it took about three months to put in the pool and build the cabana. The part he likes best? "That it looks so different from anything else I've seen."
Ennio DePianto emigrated from Northern Italy more than 50 years ago, but if you wander around his Vacaville home, you would believe he brought Tuscany with him.
This former lumberyard owner and amateur wine- and olive oil-maker built his rural Vacaville home in the late 1970s. The home itself is an architectural wonder and the landscaping is stunning in its meticulous care and design. Beyond the circular driveway lies a rose garden, lovingly cared for.
Behind the house, overlooking acres of Italian plums and more than 750 olive trees, is a blue-bottomed pool.
Scan further, next to the redwood woodlet, is what most certainly must be DePianto's pride and joy - his wine cellar.
The wine cellar was built when the house was built. About "three-quarters of the cellar is subterranean," he explains, and is tucked into the hillside. Being constructed of field stones, partially underground and shaded by the redwoods means the room remains perfectly cooled to 65 degrees or lower.
Over the years, Ennio, and his brother, Dino, have made and bottled many liters of Cabernet here. Recently, the olive trees began bearing and Ennio has been bottling their fruits, too. "The olive oil is not for sale, just for me to give away to friends," he says. The label for the bottles was designed by his good friend, Richard Rico.
In addition to inviting friends over to sample wine from his ample collection, DePianto has also opened up his wine cellar as part of a fund-raising event, most recently one for the Solano Midnight Sun Foundation. This foundation was formed to provide monetary and emotional support for Solano County residents afflicted with breast cancer.
DePianto served dinner for 14 in his wine cellar as part of an auction item and the event was such a success last year, he intends to do it again. The cellar recently underwent a renovation, he explains. "We used to have a gravel floor, but put in concrete about five years ago." At that time, his brother, Dino, a woodworker, rebuilt the wine racks from materials they obtained from friends in the wine business.
"We made the racks and tasting table from the fermenting tanks that used to be at Wooden Valley Winery."
The tasting table is the room's centerpiece, and it is large enough to comfortably seat 12. Another intimately sized table, placed in the corner, seats two.
One whole wall was recently embellished with corks that had been saved over the years. "Here," DePianto says, gesturing around the center of the wall, "all these corks were collected about four years ago," apparently on a trip to Italy with a large group of friends. Stacked row upon row and swirled into a grape cluster motif, these corks clearly represent many happy memories.
And if these walls could talk...
