Open House

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.

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When Susan and John Skinner purchased their 3,200-square-foot Carmichael ranch home in 1990, they knew they had a house with good bones.

“It had been built in the 80s by a builder for his own father,” Susan says. “It was solid. There were no cut corners.” The house also had deep political roots: The owner was a Capitol lobbyist who loved to entertain. The newly married couple saw the immediate potential.

“But the home was very dated inside with multitudes of conflicting patterned wallpapers and carpets. That was the first thing we changed,” Susan says. The Skinners installed oak hardwood floors, updated to a neutral carpet and added new neutral paint.

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Ann Huntsman made a bold, life-changing decision in 2017. Turning 80, she decided to uproot from Cupertino and move to Sacramento to be near her only grandchild.

“I had lived for decades in a two-story, six-bedroom Spanish-style home where we raised our family,” Huntsman says. “It was very traditional, a job to maintain, and I had accumulated years of possessions. But it was time for me to start again in a whole new style of living.”

Huntsman is a retired nurse and investor in health care technology. Her daughter and family live a mile away. She could not be happier.