Whether buying or selling your primary residence or a financially sound investment property, Brandon has the knowledge and demeanor to find creative solutions for all your real estate needs. Brandon takes an analytical approach, while employing the best tools in technology, communication, and marketing to offer you privileged knowledge, service, and expertise on every detail of your real estate transaction.
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With its Mediterranean climate, sun-drenched beaches, and tile roofs atop charming hillside homes, Santa Barbara has earned the moniker “American Riviera.” The peaceful community, just over an hour or so north of Los Angeles and home to approximately 90,000 permanent residents, is embraced by the Pacific Ocean on the south and Santa Ynez Mountains on the north.
Standalone elements and period pieces can bring flexibility and flair to the heart of a luxury home, writes Kate Youde A contemporary Sydney kitchen designed by Pattern Studio featuring a Guatemala green marble island and cherry burl cabinet. Photograph: © Tom Ross We have Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky to thank for the modern fitted kitchen. It was her design of the Frankfurt Kitchen for German flats in the 1920s, which prioritized domestic efficiency, that helped to popularize features like built-in cabinetry. A century on, however, the unfitted kitchen is back in vogue. Rather than walls of matching fixed cabinets and integrated high-end appliances, this approach embraces freestanding pieces—although a mix of fitted and unfitted elements is common. But why the move away from the sleek aesthetic of the built-in kitchen that has suffused luxury living in recent times? Lily Goodwin, co-director of Pattern Studio, identifies a desire for flexibility. Recent kitchens by her Australian design practice “lean toward a freer arrangement,” merging with other living spaces in the home. “Fully fitted kitchens often prioritize efficiency and uniformity but can lack personality and adaptability,” she says. “The shift reflects a broader cultural move toward spaces that feel collected, lived-in and evolving, where elements can be added, changed or reinterpreted over time.” A mix of fitted and unfitted features is common, as in this Carmel property. Photograph: Sotheby’s International Realty – Carmel Brokerage Pattern Studio combined different elements, rather than relying on a built-in system, when reshaping a house in the high-end Sydney suburb of Paddington for a father and his two adult children. The aim was to create a home that “could evolve with its occupants and support a shared, joyful way of living,” says Goodwin. The kitchen, designed as part of the broader living space, is anchored by a large island made from green Guatemala marble. The island’s cabinetry has timber doors finished with a deep grain stain, while a freestanding custom cherry burl cabinet houses a refrigerator and a pantry. Goodwin says a successful unfitted kitchen needs “a strong material language” to unify the various components—she recommends investing in materials that will “age well and carry character.” She also advises “a balance between concealment and expression.” As she explains: “It’s less about removing structure and more about redistributing it.” Wall-to-wall units are absent from Pattern Studio’s kitchen in a desirable Sydney neighborhood. Photograph: © Tom Ross American designer Ken Fulk often incorporates “beautiful, interesting shelving that opens up the space” into his kitchen projects, fuelled by his innate dislike of upper cabinets. “You can see things, you can reach things,” says the AD100 regular, who has used this approach in his coastal home in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The kitchen of a Californian beach house that Fulk designed through his eponymous design company features blue powder-coated steel and rope shelves. These hang in front of a wall clad in an intricate pattern of weathered driftwood collected from the shoreline. The floor, made from beach rocks and broken mosaic tiles, displays a wave design. Rather than a “constrained kitchen,” Fulk says the line is blurred between this space—featuring an island topped with leathered black basalt—and the rest of the house. Bespoke blue shelving in a Ken Fulk-designed beach house, California. Photograph: © Douglas Friedman He ascribes this recent shift in how kitchens are perceived and used to the increased time spent at home during the Covid pandemic and greater access to design inspiration through social media. He thinks people have started to question the previous notion of a kitchen being for a specific use with rules attached. “Obviously it’s one of the more highly functioning spaces in a house but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be personalized, interesting, even eccentric,” says Fulk. He likes to repurpose items and is currently customizing a draper’s table for the kitchen in another of his homes, a 19th-century ranch in Napa Valley, California. After years of “sameness”—think shades of white, marble or granite countertops, fitted cabinets and a built-in island—Fulk says kitchens have “finally become more of a personal expression.” The kitchen of Ken Fulk’s home in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Photograph: © Douglas Friedman While older luxury homes with existing points of interest lend themselves to a less fitted kitchen, spaces with a modern feel such as an industrial New York loft can “benefit from the tension of having something with history, something that doesn’t feel so perfect” to add character, Fulk adds. This desire for contrast among interior designers and homeowners has benefited Robert Young Antiques in London, which reports an increased interest in sourcing period pieces to customize modern kitchens in the past three years. Gallery Director Florence Grant says popular heritage items include wooden farmhouse tables, dressers, butcher’s blocks and stick back chairs. Space dictates demand. While a London pied-à-terre is unlikely to accommodate an antique Welsh dresser, it could house a spice cupboard or a nest of drawers. A Windsor Comb Back Chair from Robert Young Antiques, London. Photograph: © Robert Young Antiques “I think [people] have realised that the older bits of furniture aren’t just for older atmospheres,” says Grant. “They look really sculptural in modern settings, so people are popping a Windsor chair in their kitchen and it ends up looking really cool and trendy.” She thinks the interest stems from people being “more relaxed about having the imperfections on show.” The freestanding arrangement of an unfitted kitchen complements the way we live now, according to Goodwin, as it embraces the overlap between cooking, socializing, relaxing and work. She believes this more bespoke trend is leading towards kitchens “that feel increasingly indistinguishable from living spaces” elsewhere in the home. “We’re likely to see a continued blending of furniture, architecture and joinery, where kitchens become softer, more adaptive and more reflective of individual lifestyles—spaces that can evolve over time rather than remain fixed,” she says. Embrace al-fresco living: here’s how to design the perfect outdoor kitchen
Classically inspired details and glorious natural light pervade this refined five-bedroom residence in Houston’s Piney Point Village—a bucolic place with a serene sense of seclusion. Inspired from a young age by the regal details and proportions of the historic structures of Europe, award-winning architect Robert Dame has established a reputation throughout Houston for bringing those sensibilities to distinguished homes in the city’s most prestigious neighborhoods. Dame’s signature openness and airy, inviting qualities are on clear display in this 8,213-square-foot residence, ideally sited on nearly an acre of expansive green grass in the pastoral enclave of Piney Point. Houston, Texas | Cynthia Bigelow| Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty – Memorial Brokerage The idyllic setting belies the refinement of the interiors, which feature such classical aesthetic elements as dentil moldings, decorative door and wall paneling, coffered ceilings, richly hued hardwood floors, antique crystal chandeliers, surfaces of august stone, ornate wall coverings, and upholstered walls and ceilings. Oversized windows and floor-to-ceiling panels of glass fill most spaces with enviable natural light and transform the leafy environs into dynamic art. Nearly every space manages to be both welcoming and refined. The formal dining room is an elegant space overlooking the vast backyard and adjoined by a temperature-controlled 664-bottle wine cellar and a butler’s pantry that offers a bar area and cabinets with eye-catching accents. Crowned by a lofty pitched ceiling and anchored by a wood-burning fireplace, the family room is both relaxed and relaxing, opening through glass doors to the backyard and pool. Nearby, the kitchen is centered around an oversized island topped with Mont Blanc quartzite. Gourmands will appreciate the dual-oven Lacanche range and other superior-quality appliances from Sub-Zero and Miele, all featuring custom paneling or finishes. The light-flooded breakfast area has a verdant view through two window walls. An enviable pantry affords space for auxiliary appliances, discreet food preparation, and storage. Chief among the home’s five bedrooms is the owner’s suite, a serene getaway on the main level with a sophisticated subdued palette and a liberating sense of space. It includes a sitting area in a windowed bay, a luxurious marble bath, and exceptionally outfitted walk-in closet and dressing room. Each of the four guest bedrooms is similarly stylish and spacious. Other highlights include two offices, a game room with a wet bar and thoughtful built-ins, a golf simulator, a gym with a mirrored wall, and an impressively equipped laundry room. Opportunities for living and entertaining continue outdoors thanks to a loggia offering room for lounging by a fireplace, dining alfresco, grilling on a superior-caliber built-in stainless-steel grill, or relaxing after a dip in the refreshing plaster swimming pool and spa, just steps away. A dedicated sports court encourages a variety of athletic pursuits. Beginning around the middle of the 20th century, busy professionals flocked to Piney Point and the other Memorial Villages of Houston for their bucolic ambience and seclusion—an ideal escape from the bustle of the day-to-day world. That sense of tranquility and privacy certainly endures here, at this idyllic escape in one of the most desirable addresses in the city. Discover luxury homes for sale and rent around the world on sothebysrealty.com
From a US$27.5M sale in Greenwich, Connecticut, to a US$20M sale in Paradise Valley, Arizona, here are five sales represented by the Sotheby’s International Realty global network in March. Greenwich, Connecticut Leslie McElwreath | Sotheby’s International Realty – Greenwich Brokerage, US$27.5M View properties in Greenwich, Connecticut Key West, Florida Pierre Marc Bellion, Jenna Stauffer| Ocean Sotheby’s International Realty, US$22M View properties in Key West, Florida Paradise Valley, Arizona Josh Shaver, Catherine Lewis| Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty, US$20M View properties in Paradise Valley, Arizona Westport, New York Cyd Hamer| William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, US$15.5M View properties in Westport, New York Burbank, Australia Malcolm Li | Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty, AUD$9.968M View properties in Greater Brisbane, Australia Discover previous editions of Significant Sales on the blog
Experience the benefits of working with Brandon, a dedicated real estate professional in Santa Barbara & Montecito. With a commitment to exceptional service and access to exclusive resources, reputation, and clientele through a global brand, Brandon can help you navigate the complex Santa Barbara Coastal real estate market with success."
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