MICHAEL DEROSE DESIGNS

“...After their 1992 purchase of the abandoned C.K.G. Billings Estate in Montecito, Robert and Christine Emmons...were determined to restore and renovate the iconic landmark correctly. Their choice for what turned out to be an extensive three-year project was well-known Santa Barbara residential designer Michael DeRose, who they felt could best recapture the essence that had made this one of the most famous of the magnificent California estates...”

“...Michael DeRose is really a painter, but like George Washington Smith in a former era, he keeps getting offers to design estates that he can’t refuse. When DeRose’s interest is piqued, it is with a scholar’s curiosity that he researches the minutest details and larger cultural themes of his subject’s time period and with an artists’s skill that he prepares design drawings and full scale details...”

“...The original residence has been extensively remodeled and a service house has been renovated as a gatehouse, designed by Michael DeRose, with a Siennese-Italian influence...Drawing on formal Italian references in keeping with the architecture and historical significance of the estate, the gardens at Isola Bella have been adapted to contemporary lifestyles...”

“...Harcourt Carriage House, by Michael DeRose Designs- A beautiful house in a rich medieval Italian style rests upon the footprint of the property’s original carriage house. The warm composition is successfully resolved with a handsome Roman doorway, Sienna colored plaster, lively segmented arched windows, and formal landscape...”

“...As a residential designer, as well as a landscape and interior designer, Michael DeRose brings a discernible artistry to interior and exterior spaces at high-end homes, villas and estates in Southern California...Whether ‘serving the architecture gods’ with creative curiosity that often speaks to the durability and splendor of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, or designing exquisite outdoor spaces in seamless harmony with their surroundings, DeRose brings the same artistic sensibilities to his signature work... ”

“...By the 1990’s DeRose had established himself as a designer whose style complemented the area’s iconic Mediterranean style homes from the 1920’s. In a Santa Barbara Magazine article titled ‘The Romance is Back,’ the late architectural historian David Gebhard included DeRose among a handful of designers whose work had served to revitalize the Mediterranean tradition as a creative living tradition...”

“...As the twentieth century spins to a close, more people than ever seek refuge in going home to a place that evokes a less complicated time—to the tranquility of a French country house perhaps, or the classicism of an Italian villa. Over the past decade Michael DeRose, another painter turned residential designer, has met that demand with a series of houses in Montecito that invoke both local estate tradition and specific historical styles...”

“...Driving up the winding road feels as though you’re being transported to another world...Discoveries begin as you step beyond the motor court and pass through large mahogany doors to the entry garden court. Arriving in the foyer, you’re greeted by a stunning focused ocean view through French Doors that open onto a stone loggia overlooking the exquisite Mediterranean style garden and ocean beyond...”