Open House
Wildflower Wonder
Tyler and Jessica Wichmann love midcentury design and have become preservationists of the design era. They restored and remodeled a 2,100-square-foot home, a gem built in 1976 in the Wildflower subdivision of Carmichael. The home features three bedrooms and two baths.
Wildflower has 43 homes designed by architect Carter Sparks and built by the Streng Brothers. “It’s really special that a few of the original owners are still here,” Tyler says. “One couple has been here since 1975 and they customized their design. He was a plumber for Streng Brothers, so they got to make it really special.”
“This is the atrium model of this subdivision featuring a flat roof. We were instantly attracted to it as my wife and I are big plant people, and we’ve collected many cacti, succulents and houseplants over the years,” he says.
Midcentury Update
Eric and Tara Benning spent years searching for the perfect midcentury modern home to buy and renovate. They targeted Arden-Arcade, where midcentury moderns abound. But they were not alone.
When they found the beauty of their dreams, they learned there were at least nine potential buyers chasing the same property.
Good Neighbors
Tony and Teressa Estigoy live with their daughter Emery in an adorable D Street remodel. It took serendipity to turn the tiny home into a showplace.
“We really wanted that open-the-door wow factor,” Tony says. “This is a 1,000-square-foot home. How do you make it look bigger without having to blow out walls? You open it up as much as you can.”
Cool & Collected
Stroll up the walkway toward an enthusiastically red front door and you know there’s something fun and funky going on inside. The clue is five extra-large round panels, mounted along the exterior pathway, displaying 1950s artwork from a book on how to date, each with a chuckle-worthy caption.
That’s just a teaser of what’s to come. Get ready for an explosion of color, whimsy and humor decorating almost every square inch of this artfully wacky home.
Tony and Donna Natsoulas, both avid art collectors and mid-century modern enthusiasts, had their hearts set on a retro house when they stumbled upon this 1,563-square-foot Streng Bros. home built in 1963.
Home Studios
“This is my commute,” says Sacramento artist Judith Johnson, locking the back door behind her. We walk together through a lush backyard garden, pausing briefly to study a reflecting pool busy with mosquito fish and a tall cinderblock barrier that wards away the sounds of an adjacent railroad.
“When I built the studio, I build it so that I had to leave the house and lock the door behind me,” Johnson says. “So it's like going to work every day. And that's pretty much how I treat it.”
Before moving to Sacramento in 2016, Johnson lived in Austin, Texas, where she worked as an investigator for the Texas attorney general for 30 years. Painting has always been a constant in her life. “For about 15 years, I was painting and putting them in closets and boxes,” Johnson says. “I didn't have the emotional strength to deal with the business side of art while working full time.”
On a Grand Scale
Vine-covered arches and vintage brickwork. Quaint gabled dormers. Hand-blown antique glass windows. Storybook turrets.
The English-style Tudor, built in 1938, is the creation of famed architect and builder Frank “Squeaky” Williams—and was once home to Sacramento native and renowned author Joan Didion and her family.