Born from loss, Shane Keck and Jamie Keck-Crozat’s new “forever home,” perched high in the hills of Santa Rosa, serves as a symbol of hope and resilience for the family. Within a span of three years from 2017 to 2020, Jamie and Shane, as well as Jamie’s mother and Jamie’s brothers all tragically lost their homes in the Northern California wildfires.
When the opportunity finally came to build a new home, the couple chose to build on a location with scenic views and ample space to enjoy the outdoors with their children, dogs, extended family and friends. “Both of us grew up in Sonoma County on acreage, and we have a common love of the outdoors,” Keck-Crozat says. “When we found this particular lot, we fell in love with the West-facing view and its convenient proximity to town.”
To make their dream a reality — a home built for a life spent outside as much as inside — the couple assembled a team that included Bassenian Lagoni Architects, Kimberly Oxford Interiors and Schalich Brothers Construction. The design evokes a Montecito-meets-organic-California-modernist aesthetic with a warm, natural material palette that includes oak cabinetry and ceilings, honed marble and muted plaster. Intentional window placement allows for ample sunlight and visual connections to the outdoors, while bypass and bifold doors enable an effortless indoor-outdoor flow.
Downstairs, a covered loggia for dining and lounging opens wide to the views. “We used two custom Buzzell Studios ceramic lights in this space and teak furniture, and all of the limestone was custom-made in Italy,” says Kimberly Oxford, principal at her namesake Sausalito firm. A pass-through window from the kitchen makes it easy to dine outdoors. Directly above the loggia, another large outdoor living space is outfitted with a firepit and lounge furniture.
To ensure the exterior spaces were as thoughtfully planned as the inside of the home and met all of the homeowners’ needs, Oxford collaborated with Sebastopol landscape design firm Merge Studio. “We knew from day one that we wanted a few key outdoor elements: an outdoor kitchen and entertaining area, infinity pool, fountains and firepit to prolong the evenings,” Jamie says.
The property’s multiple outdoor zones provide plenty of places to play, relax and dine. The lower level includes a bocce ball court and vegetable beds while the main level is home to a firepit area and the swimming pool. Opposite the firepit, an open-air cabana offers shade protection and houses an outdoor kitchen fully kitted out with a barbecue, flat grill, wine chillers and a pizza oven, as well as a family room with a TV and fireplace. “All of the wood lintels are designed with Lutron screen shades that pull down to reduce the UV coming in, but you can still see out onto the beautiful pool area,” Oxford says.
While the property’s forward-looking design honors the family’s optimism and strength through the challenges they’ve endured, it also honors their history. “One of the first outdoor punctuations for our home was an heirloom fountain that survived the 2020 fire of my childhood home,” Jamie says. “My mom was gracious enough to allow me to transplant it to our new home, and oddly enough, the fountain only required a new pump to function like new. It’s now a staple that serenades our auto court.”
Lotus Abrams has covered everything from beauty to business to tech in her editorial career, but it might be writing about her native Bay Area that inspires her most. She lives with her husband and two daughters in the San Francisco Peninsula, where they enjoy spending time outdoors at the area’s many open spaces protected and preserved by her favorite local nonprofit, the Peninsula Open Space Trust.
