Sonoma bungalow's magical metamorphosis

When Virginia Hubbell first laid eyes on the property on Sonoma’s Eastside, she saw the automobiles - 11 eyesores abandoned to rust in the sun.

Further exploration showed a decrepit shack and a vast, ugly field in back with dirt more akin to cement than soil that might actually sustain vegetables or flowers.

The place was an ugly duckling with no swan in sight, but in 1989 Hubbell decided to buy it. At the very least, she might be able to turn it around quickly and move on to create her real dream house somewhere else.

Of course she had no idea that, during the years it took to improve the property, she would fall in love with it, until one day she woke up and realized that this was her dream house.

“I think what made me fall in love with the place was promise,” says Hubbell.

“My partner and I never imagined that it would turn out to be such a huge project, and in fact, once we got permits for the reconstruction, the county kept saying no, no, no until we ultimately had to start over from scratch.”

Even while the property was a disheveled construction zone, when the job of transforming it seemed insurmountable, Hubbell kept her eye on its potential. Even when she found a twelfth rusted car buried in the back field.

She also found unanticipated value in the dilapidated, shaky fence that ran the entire length of her new home.

Says Hubbell, “One night, I decided to take it down. I took a hammer and started at one end of the property, pelted it into many small shards until I reached the other end. Now that was cathartic.”

It takes teamwork to create a dream house. Foremost on Hubbell’s list would be her “garden angel,” Francisco Soto, who helped design and has nurtured the now-glorious garden for more than two decades.

Together they made the place a showcase, with more than 100 rose bushes in a rainbow of colors that cascade from trellises and archways. There are lush bearded iris and fragrant herbs and lavender in massive terra cotta pots.

The prolific raised beds provide a bounty of English peas, basil, tomatoes, peaches and squash, which are harvested and turned into meals served on the patio to friends.

A true Italophile, Hubbell brought back vegetable seeds from Italy last year so friends could enjoy some great Italian varietals.

“I always love to plant a variety of potatoes,” she says, “yellows, purples, whites. They do very well, and there is something so fulfilling about putting your hands in the soil and pulling up potatoes for dinner that same hour.”

Hubbell knew from the start that she wanted to create a fluid space between the outside and the inside, a sense of both openness and intimacy. Inside the house, this was accomplished with beautiful murals of vineyards and bucolic scenes, all painted by her late French-Italian friend, Gigi.

From the painted splendor of the inside, is only a few steps out onto the patio, then into the vast garden, each space spilling easily into the next. Hubbell is passionate about color and texture, and has selected plants that create interest year round, that change colors in fall and winter.

This allows her, as she puts it, “to transition from Spring and Summer profusion, into Fall and Winter quietude.”

In keeping with her indoor/outdoor design, there is a wonderful outdoor shower, that at first glance could be mistaken for a tall hedge with an odd porthole carved out near the top.

Hubbell created it by planting jasmine at the base of a wooden, rectangular lattice wrapped around the stone shower floor. Eventually, this formed a “room of jasmine,” providing privacy year-round.

Today, the place really does resemble her dream house, and one of her favorite ways to enjoy the fruits of her labor is to cook for friends and family.

Sometimes it is a simple breakfast with her daughter. Other times it is an eight-course lavender-inspired feast.

And once a year, there is a Grand Tuscan Long Table Dinner, featuring, as she puts it: “Many courses, much wine, heavenly dishes, desserts aplenty, and friends.”