Luxury SLO County home with home theater, panoramic views for sale. What’s inside?
A palatial San Luis Obispo County property with views stretching from Edna Valley to the coast is going up for sale.
But while the $8.2 million price tag on the home at 1015 Rimrock Lane is eye-popping, the spacious home is still purpose-built for a family.
Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno Realtor Colleen Clarke, who represents the home, said the 10-acre property was originally purchased in 2008 by original owner Joe Johnson, building the home to accommodate his growing family.
Spanning 6,971 square feet between six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a spacious kitchen and living room space and a guest wing, the property known as Quail’s Haven Hill also boasts a rare feature: a movie theater experience with a panoramic view of the city and vineyards below.
Johnson, who’s selling the home as part of a move out of San Luis Obispo County, said it’s “extremely painful” to let go of the home after building it — and his family — atop the hill.
“Our children’s handprints are in the concrete driveway, their growth is recorded on a wall in the kitchen,” Johnson said in an email. “We will miss the red-tailed hawks hovering still on the hillside wind current calling for their mate, the koi gracefully gliding by the lily pads while a hummingbird dips in the fountain, waking above a perfectly level blanket of fog covering the entire Edna Valley below while the sun breaks over the eastern hill and turns that thick, white blanket golden, listening to the summer-time quail chatter to each other as they gather for a stolen bath in the pool.”
Luxury home takes inspiration from Asian culture
Clarke said the home was built at the Johnson’s direction, with much of his influence visible in the architectural decisions in the home.
Johnson said he and his wife, Joan, purchased the land from builder Alan Little, finding that its zoning had been grandfathered in to allow for a residential development on the hill.
Before living in San Luis Obispo County, the Johnsons lived and worked in China, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, collecting design influences and a host of furniture pieces and artwork during their 15 years overseas, Johnson said in an email.
One such piece can be found in the master suite’s walk-in closet entryway, a pair of hand-carved elm-wood doors in Shanghai depicting the four feminine virtues, he said.
The end product is a home that mixes traditional Chinese design elements such as high, vaulted ceilings and an emphasis on harmony with nature with a more contemporary building choice, Clarke said.
Utilizing soft, rounded wood beams and simple but sturdy wooden accents around doorways and windows, the home was designed under the “Greene and Greene” architectural style, an early 20th century style that drew some inspiration from the early arts-and-crafts movement, Clarke said.
“It looks like the home is part of the the earth,” Clarke said. “I think that’s a real feature of the Greene and Greene design — to make the home feel like it was meant to be here.”
Not all choices within the home are strictly traditional, however.
The seven-seat home theater stands out with its Art Deco look, custom galaxy ceiling mural by local artist Marjorie Hawthorne and well-featured projector and sound system — evidence of the family’s love of movies, Clarke said.
“Our children enjoyed playing video games, and we all loved watching movies, so we decided to make the ultimate environment that we could not just play and relax together, but could invite friends to for a bit of an out-of-the-ordinary immersive retreat,” Johnson said in an email. “I also loved the idea of creating an Art Deco show-piece getaway that was distinct from the rest of the home’s more tranquil Zen-like design.”
But if you don’t want to relax in the theater’s leather recliners, there is no shortage of home theater options scattered throughout the home.
In the kitchen, a projector screen can unfurl upwards out of one of the countertops. The same feature is also offered in the master bedroom’s dresser, allowing the viewer to switch between a movie and rolling the screen down for panoramic views of San Luis Obispo at will.
Home takes advantage of natural beauty
Like most of the property’s internal features, the exterior is designed to work with nature and take advantage of the hilltop views.
The home’s four-car garage — complete with pristine checkered linoleum floors and a pair of in-home Tesla wall chargers — is largely hidden from the view of drivers entering the property through its private access road thanks to landscaping that places a massive oak tree in the front of the bedrooms and garage entrance along the southern wing of the home.
Near the front door, a koi pond holds two aquatic inhabitants, with the pond set seamlessly into the concrete front patio and walkway.
The pond is far from the only water feature on the property.
The backyard, which looks out over Edna Valley and San Luis Obispo, features an infinity pool and hot tub, complete with its own outside shower.
A more fully-featured shower — along with a marble bathtub and in-home sauna — is accessible inside through the master bedroom.
Johnson said while he’s glad that a new family will get the chance to inhabit the property, he’ll miss the incredible views and memories made with his family.
“I choke as I write this and almost convince myself, again, to stop and just come home for good,” Johnson said. “But a home without family is just a house, so once again I decide to stay the course and hope for another who will come to love this place as much as we do.”
