The Fun Room (downstairs)

Enter from a Smaller Space into a Larger Space. That's a Pattern. The lower ceilings in the front hall allow this appealing flow from here, through arches, into the Kitchen and into the Fun Room, both of which have 13-foot ceilings. This arch has a pocket door so you can close off the Fun from the rest of the home, when necessary. (What's inside those doors to the left? We're not telling yet. There's actually three doors in a row ... like The Price is Right.)

So many curves. To the left, the Kitchen. To the right, Fun. Upstairs? That's private.

The Fun Room has a Fire App. Not as sexy as a fireplace but city codes kabosh real logs these days. This one supplies real, gas flames however ... and we looked long and hard for one which at least resembles a real, log fire pretty well ... even if it doesn't smell like one.

Many possible plays. Light from at least two sides of the room. (Pattern) Thick walls, deep window ledges, window seats (Pattern). Enclose one end for fireside chats. Enclose the other end for Netflix and ESPN.

Did we mention French Doors? 

Oh, those French. They know their doors. These open seductively onto a small brick patio and the northernmost reach of the Napa Valley. Vincent Arroyo Winery (Petite Syrah Heaven!) is just a short jaunt across that back field and worth every step. The trail head of Mt. St. Helena is about 12 miles as your car flies and the trip is worth every gallon.

And a blue powder room? Literally. The walls are washed with powdered blue limestone from the French Riviera. (OK, that's a lie about the Riviera, but all the other words are demonstrably true.)

Good Night Moon. My kindgom for a nap. Just a short one. No one will know.

A book, a stretch, gazing at nothing. Then another nap.

Window Seat. Another great Pattern. The redwood of this seat, and the one in the Kitchen, is made of clear heart redwood. The old stuff. No knots (clear to the heart). These are untreated staves from the old redwood water tank at the Mark West Lodge, erected in the mid 1900's and dismantled more than a decade ago. You can still see the markings from the wire bands that held the tank together. 

Closed. Master builder Gerald LaRochelle of Petaluma designed and built all the window seats in the house, and virtually everything else you see that's made of wood -- including the maple staircase, inner door frames, mouldings and fireplace mantle (also made of clear heart redwood, a reclaimed beam from the old deck of the Mark West Lodge ... which ran alongside the huge, ancient vines that cross Mark West Springs Road). 

 Open. Cedar inside keeps anything fresh. Even CDs, DVD's and Albums (if you still have some).