PIED-A-TERRE

One of four cottages overlooking Strawberry Canyon, #49 is perched on a hill in a perfectly sublime, peaceful and natural setting under the oaks. Romantic, charming and unique, it has had many upgrades, including a new foundation and decks. It has great indoor-outdoor quality with four decks and numerous windows and skylights. One feels enveloped by nature with beautiful outlooks from each room. Canyon Road is a cul-de-sac, almost hidden, behind Memorial Stadium and at the entrance to one of the Strawberry Canyon trails. It is very close to campus and urban life yet feels like a rural retreat. A narrow open parking space next to the steps is exclusively for this unit. The living room, with its gas fireplace, open beamed ceiling, cherry floors and bookshelves along the wall, has a warm cottage atmosphere. Two skylights bring in additional light and expand the views of the live oak trees. The room off the living room can be used as a dining room or office. It has a loft with a small deck above it and pretty multi-light windows, looking out to the natural setting behind the cottage. As with most of the rooms, the kitchen, with its skylights, windows and french door out to the deck, looks to the setting. It has been updated without changing the original character and is a lovely room in which to entertain. With a skylight, french doors out to the deck and so many windows in the larger bedroom, one really feels embraced by the natural setting. Just outside the fixed windows and french doors, the trunk of a live oak tree winds its way upwards through a charming deck. The bedroom thus extends outwards onto the deck, amplifying the sense of being part of the outdoors. Off this bedroom and between the two bedrooms, is a delightful bathroom, with sink and wood cabinets on the one side and a toilet and generous shower on the other side. Above the shower is a small deck off the loft, with a sheet of glass in the floor, that acts as a skylight for the shower. A basement below the bedroom level houses the furnace and water heater and provides extra storage – a secure place to put one’s bicycles, outdoor gear or boxes of seasonal items. The organic quality and charm of this pied-à-terre is enhanced by the proximity of the trees, the wood decks with their quaint details and the lovely windows and doors. Large pots with shade plants give some variety to the green setting.