Open House

Blake and Christine Dugger were married in 2000 and now have three children, Ashby, 11, Penelope, 8, and Crosby, 4½. The kids attend Sacred Heart Parish School. When the school’s fundraiser Holiday Home Tour returned this past December (after a two-year hiatus), the family was ready to showcase its newly remodeled house.

“Four years ago, we moved into this vintage home,” Christine says. “We lived previously at 45th and D streets in a small, two-bedroom home. We made plans to remodel and expand to accommodate our growing family. We were not even looking for another place.

“My youngest was just a baby, and on a stroller walk I spotted the open house for this home. After a quick tour I called Blake and said we needed to buy this house. It had charm, space and everything we had ever hoped for.”

After a two-year hiatus, the Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour returns to East Sacramento’s Fab 40s the first weekend of December.

One of the most historic and visible homes in the neighborhood will open its doors with new owners and beautiful upgrades.

After a long courtship, Cindy Ward Escott and Rich Escott married in February and purchased the 3,550-square-foot home in May. Cindy moved from 43rd Street, while Rich sold his home in Rocklin.

As Marika and Scott Rose planned for their two daughters to move onto college and beyond, the couple anticipated some changes for their empty nest.

The Roses purchased the classic brick and stucco 1937 Tudor-style home in Land Park 25 years ago to start their family.
As the family grew and finances allowed, the couple expanded the home on several occasions, adding a family room off the kitchen, and then a second story with two bedrooms and bathrooms, and an upstairs laundry room. When the girls were teens, they added a beautiful side patio with an outdoor fireplace and generous seating areas for family and guests.

About five years ago, they hired designer Elizabeth Lake to help further remodel and refine the home for their evolving lifestyle. “Elizabeth helped us tie it all together by rearranging, repurposing and adding some new pieces,” Marika says.

A few months ago, our photographer went to Clarksburg to shoot the home studio of artist Julia Couzens. The place was as fascinating as the woman who occupies it.

The 2-acre property runs along a country road. The house appears to sit up on a throne. Many homes near the Sacramento River have elevated living spaces above levee roads to take advantage of river views and cooling breezes.

The three-story home of Couzens and her husband, attorney Jay-Allen Eisen, consists of the artist studio on the ground floor, main living area on the second, and offices and a guest suite on the third.

Walking up the garden path to the Curtis Park home of Julie and Stan Perez, one is instantly charmed by the Americana cottage feel of the property, complete with a beautiful U.S. flag waving in the breeze.

The couple purchased the home five years ago when family life made an unexpected turn. After raising two sons in a 3,500-square-foot home in El Dorado Hills, they moved to Pasadena. Stan—a retired CHP officer—became head of security for the Norton Simon Museum. The couple also established a business selling vintage farmhouse goods.

“Our sons remained in Sacramento, and we promised if they ever had grandchildren, we’d move back to help take care of them,” Julie says. Until that happened, they planned to buy an actual country farmhouse.

When Stan retired and their first grandchild was born in 2017, the couple started house shopping in Sacramento.