What an amazing day it was for the 25th Anniversary Coronado Neighborhood Home Tour. Dreamcicle Studios Photography was proud to be the official photographer for this event. What fun it was!
It was so beautiful and the temperature so perfect that people were literally doing yoga with Sutra, make that guerilla yoga, right in the middle of the street!
Sunday morning, March 4th, 2012– the action started early as the 80 plus vendors and food trucks arrived to get set up along the south side of Sheridan before a whole string of beautiful vintage automobiles came and parked along the north curb for the 2nd Annual Coronado Car Show. The whole event was a definite success with people lined up four-persons wide all the way down the block to purchase tickets when the “gates” opened. All the hard work of the steering committee, volunteers and sponsors paid off for what became the must-attend event of the weekend in Phoenix.
The era in which these homes were originally built envelopes a time when homes were much smaller and each room designed with practicality to meet the needs of smaller families. Many of the homes on the tour are an interesting eclectic mix of original structures and redesigned interiors/add on’s with clean lines and creative use of space incorporating the uniqueness of “then” into the new ideas of design “today”. This is a sample view of “then & now” in the delightful Coronado Neighborhood. Take a stroll with me…
Over at house #1, Sara delighted in talking about her lovely garden to the many interested tourees. The one touch to me that really makes the adobe look of this home stand out from most adobe finishes is the carved posts supporting the front porch awning. Love ‘em!
It’s difficult to call Ryan R’s rock solid (or should that be solid rock) bachelor pad a bungalow anymore with all the extra space that the 1980’s vintage addition gives it, but it all blends well. The first of several great cook’s kitchens on the tour. Those Coronado folks love to eat! Just look at the delicious local eateries nearby. 🙂
Michael and Connie’s home was definitely the party spot du jour on the tour with a keg out back and live music both in the backyard and on the porch! Who could resist that? Michael’s mom and aunt both came in from way out of town to help guide folks through the house and the cats, as usual, were waiting for attention from passersby in the chairs on the porch. There were plenty of 2 and 4 legged creatures on the tour. In the 3rd storyboard you can’t miss beautiful Mama Cass, who found a nice relaxing place to rest after a big slurpy drink from the water dish!
Peter and Katie greeted guests while relaxing on the front porch (with donuts! YUM). The antique drafting table in the front bedroom shows just how small the rooms are in some of these homes…it takes up nearly the whole room! And talk about a backyard made for parties.
It is amazing the amount of transformation that Randy’s house and lot underwent in just weeks prior to the tour! The beautiful landscaping brightened the home up and there was a great contrast in the back yard between the newly refurbished house and the graffiti-covered shed. Personality for sure!
The remodel/addition work that Mark and his wife did to their home made it easily the most talked-about house on the tour. Looking like a modest cottage from the street, this home’s interior and that of the nearly hidden addition are a beautiful, warm, modernist gem; from the hanging mid-century chair in the living room to the two story ceiling and sliding glass walls of the master bedroom to the cozy confines of the parallel walk-through closet and office/library. What a treasure.
What’s in a name? For Swiss Metal Works it’s probably only half what you’re thinking. Beautiful metal artwork is produced in this art studio and workshop run by a genial young man from Switzerland named Jakob. The dirt parking lot out front served as the venue for all of the day’s live entertainment. Certainly a great gathering place on the tour.
It’s all vintage (let me specify not retro, but definitely vintage) all the time (except for the flat screen TV, of course) at Ryan M’s farm house, from the décor to the furniture on down to the china in the cabinet. The last place I ever saw the foil & wax paper dispenser on the wall in the kitchen? My grandma’s house when I was a kid. Nostalgia. ‘Nuff said 🙂
Another keg was on tap under the lovely red sun sail shades of the side yard here. This house on the corner gives one a really good feel for how small many of the original homes in the area are/were since this was about the only small house on the tour that doesn’t feature a later addition, however, it has been remodeled and it’s gorgeous.
The sight lines through this house are great…all the way from the front room through the bedroom, and out to the pool. The open kitchen (with another industrial quality gas range) and dining area are the focal points of this house.
Talk about transformation! This home went from being a 500 square foot cottage to an 1,800 square foot palace of urban chic. Everything was perfectly reminiscent of IKEA style for clean lines and a crisp feel. In fact, the stylists at IKEA may want to think about utilizing this team for their merchandising and catalog photography (seriously)! And the best feature…the exclusive doggy alcove, complete with pet door and private ramp. Yeah baby!
This was my wife, Kristi and I’s first year being at and helping with the home tour (we don’t live in the Coronado Neighborhood…yet) and we truly enjoyed it. Kristi ran our vendor booth for our photography studio while I walked the tour and captured a lot of photographs to commemorate the event. We also have some great photos that we printed that we’re dropping in the mail in the next week to the home tour participants! Keep an eye out for them, everyone! 🙂
We completely fell in love with the people and the neighborhood. Because so many of the homes in the C.N. are still the original structures ever built on their respective lots, there is a great variety of architectural styles to be seen. Couple that with wildly varying directions that folks have gone with renovations/additions to those original structures and you have a fascinating “laboratory” (if you will) of architecture, preservation, renovation, and interior design that should be seen, studied, and enjoyed each year. I know we’ll be there in 2013 and hope you will be too.
Respectfully,
Brian Church Dreamcicle Studios Photography 480-381-2639
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