Houzz Tour: Going Clean and Bright in the Tucson Foothills

Houzz at a Glance
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Who lives here: Margarita and Willie Joffroy
Team: Architects: Ibarra Rosano Design Architects; builder: Repp McLain Design + Construction
Size: 3,000 square feet

It was a standard-issue, 1970s townhome with vaguely Southwestern architecture — slump-block walls that were meant to evoke adobe; ramada-like patio covers — and dark, compartmentalized interiors. Owners Margarita and Willie Joffroy lived in the space while they pondered building a large, single-family home elsewhere, but in the end, they remodeled their existing home because they liked its central location in the foothills of Tucson’s craggy Santa Catalina Mountains.

The couple asked the architectural team of Luis Ibarra and Teresa Rosano to give them a contemporary space that conformed to the development’s homeowner’s association design guidelines, and that would offer a roomy backdrop for their modern art and rustic, large-scale furniture, created by California designer Ron Mann.

An intangible bonus of the remodeling? “You can now see the mountains from the interior,” says Rosano.


They demolished numerous walls to open up the interior and add 1,000 square feet in the form of an extended living, dining and kitchen space, a gallery for art and an expanded guest bedroom wing.

A high ceiling in the living room, clerestories and extra windows throughout help illuminate the interior with natural daylight. The Ron Mann–designed dining table and chairs provide one seating option for meals. The 18-foot-long kitchen island, which terminates in a table, provides another.


The original kitchen was small, dark and disconnected from the rest of the interior.


AFTER: Graphite-hued Caesarstone tops the rift-cut white oak cabinetry. Commercial-grade Punkah louvres add sculptural interest to the kitchen wall and help throw cooled air farther into the large space than would standard air vents.


A new window opens the main suite to the garden. The custom-designed bed is anchored to a low concrete wall topped by frosted glass panels, which hide the dressing area.

Chair: Ron Mann


Floating cabinetry and a frameless shower enclosure add to the main bathroom’s clean lines and sleek appeal.


Frosted glass panels and a low concrete wall separate the sleeping space from the dressing area in the main bedroom.

Closet system: Ikea


Rosano and Ibarra maintained the home’s existing visage facing the street; the modernist action all happens behind patio walls. A rusted raw steel gate and planter are the only hints of the modern makeover.


The townhome once had a dated exterior and a kidney-shaped pool.


AFTER: The design team revamped the pool patio, creating an outdoor living space linked to the interior via overscale sliding doors. A rusted steel wall provides a backdrop for the pool and concrete landscape spheres from Holler & Saunders.

Ribbed metal sculptures, lounge chairs: Ron Mann


The remodeled poolscape includes native, drought-tolerant plantings.


A new, higher patio cover allows mountain views from within the house.

URL: Houzz Tour: Going Clean and Bright in the Tucson Foothills http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-22845.html