Secluded Luxury
in Sobre Vista

When Will and Carolyn Ivancovich started building last year in one of the valley’s most desirable enclaves, they envisioned it as a family home for them and their two school-age sons.

Because of that dream, the new, 4,100-square-foot house is resplendent with the kind of features that perhaps only parents would think of. In front of the living room’s French doors, wrought-iron railings ensure no one could step out.

The three-car garage has a full bath, so that the boys and their friends could clean up before they entered the house. And, in case they tried coming through the kitchen with dirt on their shoes, there’s a small mudroom just inside the back door.
Behind the garage, where the Ivancoviches planned to put their swimming pool, they installed wiring for sound as well as for video cameras. That way, the grown-ups could be in the kitchen and yet keep a watchful eye on their children outside.
But it was not to be. After construction was well underway, the Ivancoviches changed their minds. An irresistible farmhouse-cum-vineyard property lured them to settle in Kenwood instead. The Sobre Vista house is finally complete and now for sale.

Not far from the pillared entrance to Sobre Vista, the residence sits on 2.4 acres landscaped with Japanese maples, Queen Anne palms and native grasses. The ambience of a European estate is established immediately by the driveway, which is composed of individual bricks and is spacious enough to accommodate several Humvees or Rolls-Royces.
Further evidence of the Ivancoviches’ attention to detail is immediately obvious in the cast window ledges and the copper gutters and downspouts.

A formal entrance opens onto a foyer with a travertine-and-walnut floor in a diamond pattern. The living room and dining room are on opposite sides of the foyer, but the most dramatic space is the great room, which features a 12-foot beamed ceiling and a French country rock fireplace.

Throughout the house, virtually all the floors are walnut – including in the chef’s kitchen, which is outfitted with limestone countertops and a six-burner Viking range. Nearby is a narrow stairway leading down to the wine cellar. A private guest suite is sequestered at the far end of the ground floor.

A custom made wrought iron banister embellishes the staircase to the second floor bedrooms. The master suite fireplace has a limestone-and-cement surround, similar to the one in the living room, as well as a spa tub with mountain views. Other features include cedar-lined closets in all three bedrooms; the large one in the master suite has an oval window overlooking the wooded property. In fact, the entire four-bedroom residence is loaded with luxury-level appointments such as oil-rubbed bronze fixtures and cabinet hardware, thick crown and base molding, and double-pane, all-wood windows.

The Ivancoviches took their concern for energy efficiency to an extraordinary level. From the portico that extends along the rear of the house, the solar-energy panels that supply all the estate’s electricity are visible in the distance. As pragmatic and efficient as that installation is, it is no competition for the views of the Mayacamas mountains that dominate the eastern horizon.
The Ivancoviches may be practical, but they also had their fun. The ground floor powder room, for instance, has a Bombay-style vanity, dramatic floral wallpaper, a burnished copper sink and – as in four full baths -- a tumbled marble floor.
The only thing that’s missing is the swimming pool. The Ivancoviches figured the new owners would want to choose their own site for that.

Offered by Doug Del Fava & Susan Parker
Frank Howard Allen Realtors
Del Fava Parker Progressive Real Estate
707-523-9160 ~ 707-833-2884

Neighborhoods of the
Sonoma Valley
The East Side

By Gerald Hill

On the east side we have rural mini-ranches and vineyards, new large homes, redone old farmhouses, some developments undergoing gradual updating, Steve Ledson’s newish Armstrong Estates with palatial homes built with character to look old, smaller new developments with small gardens for commuters and young families, and the prized small houses between Broadway and Fifth Street East, many of which are renovated with new additions with the latest sophisticated kitchens and professional landscaping. Many of the deep lots between Broadway and Second Street East were said to have been laid out by General Mariano Vallejo himself.

The most distinctive feature of the east
side was, and still is, the age of the trees
which date back as much as a century
between Broadway and Fifth Street East.

To learn about the other Sonoma Valley
neighborhoods visit
www.finehomesonoma.com