Soothing The Senses

Some artists work in oils, some in pastels, others in pen and ink. Joyce Hoshall’s medium of choice is a little more diverse, encompassing textiles, woods, metal, stone, flora, water and even electronics.

Likewise, her “canvas” is similarly expansive. No easel, or even a wall, can contain her visions of eclectic meldings of old and new, vintage and contemporary into unique looks for interior design – a hobby and an approach to life that became a vocation more than 20 years ago.

And, as with all artists, Hoshall hates to repeat herself – always searching for creative challenges that will delight the senses and comfort the soul. That aesthetic extends to her own home as well, which has prompted her and husband Bill, founder of the Sacramento area’s Hoshall’s Salon and Spa, to move more than a dozen times during their 25-year marriage.

“Each house has a completely different look,” says Hoshall, whose nomadic lifestyle was inspired by her father, an artist and builder who moved their family around more often than a Bedouin chieftain. “It’s like when an artist finishes a canvas, and when the last stroke is done, they go on to another project. You’re bored, and you want to start over again.”

English Country Comfort

Her latest work, having been declared “finished,” is a 6,000-square-foot estate situated on a lush acre in Placer County’s Winchester Country Club community. It was recently put on the market for $2,795,000. A late-April open house drew more than 100 prospective buyers, who were most likely aware of the Hoshall touch, enchanted by its English country-estate feeling, and its Ralph Lauren-style of elegance.

Hoshall, who has lived in the home for just two years, couldn’t be happier about the initial interest in her latest endeavor, and not simply at the prospect of possible financial gain. Her true satisfaction comes when she meets clients who find themselves as smitten with her creation as she is.

“I want someone else to be equally enthused with what I’ve created,” says Hoshall. “It’s my great pleasure to see others enjoying these homes. We’re just custodians of our things anyway,” she continues, noting that – more often than not – buyers also purchase her homes’ entire contents, which are always for sale. “Nothing is forever.”

There’s no mystery as to why droves showed up recently to tour Hoshall’s Winchester house, one of only two homes the designer has built “from the ground up.” Located in the Sierra foothills, just 45 minutes from downtown Sacramento off I-80, the four-bedroom, six-bath, Tahoe-inspired manse is completely custom. Hoshall not only designed the interior and its landscaping, but collaborated with Sacramento architect Mark Gomm on the house itself.

A firm believer in synergy and balance, Hoshall says the community’s beautiful, resort-like setting, in full view of the Sierra, inspired everything – from its windows and circular walls to mirror the mountains’ topography, to its monochromatic, natural color palette of creams and browns, including the extensive inside and out use of Three Rivers Stone.

“People appreciate design that has been given a lot of thought and is detail-oriented,” says Hoshall, who spent a year on the design process and another two years pulling many of the antiques and furnishings together from the Napa and Sonoma area.

“We selected linens from Calla Lilly, antiques from The Antique Fair in Yountville and also from Chelsea and Sienna in Petaluma, and some great pieces from Chateau Sonoma and Martin Design in St. Helena,” says Hoshall.
The home’s custom look is evident at first glance. Handmade exterior tiles from Utah give the impression the roof is covered in moss. Inside, each room presents a distinct style, all the while maintaining its sense of place. Design consistency is achieved through the repeated use of pine ceilings and distressed-hickory flooring, which was treated with a root beer glaze. The window frames at the entryway and the large hearth in the great room are made from a process that creates a white, aged-cement look typical of an English manor.

Design elements and furnishings both have been culled from a variety of time periods and locales, including the great room’s 22-foot distressed vintage beams, reclaimed from a Philadelphia foundry, that also appear in the master bedroom.

“I’m always on the lookout for unique pieces that aren’t standard, that aren’t run of the mill,” says Hoshall. “Sometimes, I’ll buy something that’s standard, and then I’ll buy elements tocomplement it that are unique. That’s what I think achieves successful design. The trick is to pull it all together.”

Helping Hoshall pull it together is Team Hoshall. Years of outdoing herself have resulted in a hand-picked cadre of artisans adept at everything from painting whimsical murals, such as Alicia Seaton’s butterflies-in-a-garden mural in the guest bedroom designed for children, to handmade custom draperies and other treatments by Joan Esparza.

An Atrium for Inspiration

Hoshall’s favorite room is not what you might expect. It’s not the master bedroom with his-and-her oversized closets. His has a sauna; and hers rivals the bedroom in size. It’s not the music room, with its zebra-patterned ottoman, twin 1920s loveseats recovered in Cowtan & Tout’s milk-chocolate-colored mohair and distressed leather, and rough-silk draperies. It is, in fact, the spacious atrium-like kitchen alcove. It resembles a greenhouse with its many-faceted ceiling and circular walls made of glass, and it offers a spectacular southeast-facing view of the commanding Sierra.

“We do everything there,” she says of the bright and inviting nook. “It’s where we read in the mornings over breakfast, where we meet for dinner; it’s where we get our inspiration.”

That same view has inspired the room’s color palette, which features reds, cocoas and chocolates.

“When you’re looking out over the Sierra, you want more warmth than usual,” says Hoshall. “I wanted colors with the presence of yellows in a lot of the rooms, and I love chocolate. You don’t want everything the same competing for attention.”

Furnished with pieces from “all over,” the room features an 1800s-vintage tilt-top table, along with newer elements, such as a red tone-on-tone, two-piece sofa that sports a vermillion harlequin-diamond pattern. Of course, the room – like many of her creations – features Hoshall’s trademark bursts of black, including the black-glaze overlay alder cabinetry and honed black-granite countertops.

“It’s a more hip look than the polished granite, and I do like to punctuate with black accents,” admits Hoshall, a frequent Sacramento-area designer-showcase house contributor. “I’ve done that with some of the cabinetry in the great room.”

As great as the great room is, the glass solarium continues to be her hangout.

“That room just invites you in,” says Hoshall. “I feel like a cat sprawling out in that space. I gravitate to the sun; it creates endorphins.”

International Notice

Also gravitating to that room is Schiffer Publishing, which has featured other projects by Hoshall in previous interior design books, and will show the atrium in an upcoming national kitchen-designbook. Another room set to splash across the pages of a Schiffer title later this year is the Western sky powder room, a guest space that was designed specifically to evoke a “Wow!” from first-time guests. A stunning effect on the walls and ceiling creates an almost dreamlike environment designed to mimic the often stormy skies of the Sierra. Visitors are surprised to learn it’s achieved by applying an acid wash to mirrored glass, which creates a water-color, cloud-like feeling. The effect provides a subtle backdrop for a standout, carved tree stump that serves as a pedestal for the granite basin, polished inside and left naturally rough on the outside. An unexpected large, bronze-framed round mirror hangs from a leather strap and completes the style.

“I wanted to do something exciting,” says Hoshall, giving full credit to another artisan on her team – Granite Bay Glass’ Ralph Othon – for his mirror work. “And, when your guests come out and say, ‘That’s amazing what you’ve done in there,’ you know you’ve hit your mark.”

The prospect of selling her latest dream house, replete with her latest dreamlike furnishings, holds no anxiety for Hoshall.

“I can enjoy it for a while, then let go. ‘Cast your bread on the waters, and it shall be returned to you tenfold’ – that’s my philosophy.”

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Joyce Hoshall, is an ASID Design Excellence Award recipient. She is currently working on the renovation of a 7,000-sq. foot, Spanish-style villa that sits above St. Helena overlooking Lake Hennessy. The home, which is scheduled for completion in early 2008, is owned by her daughter and son-in-law, Kimberly and Phil Busick, who reside there with their three children. The Busick family, which has developed property in the American River Canyon, as well as throughout Texas, is happy to be back in Northern California. Joyce Hoshall Interiors, 916-765-7538.