The guest quarters’ two bedrooms each have en suite baths and individually controlled entertainment and media options; an electronics center hidden in the heart of the house allows access to thousands of tunes and movies with the flip of a switch. A breakfast nook lets visitors power up in their private quarters whenever they like.
“We have a lot of guests, sometimes for weeks at a time,” says JoRene. “We want them to feel at ease and not worry about intruding.”
A separate entertainment room in the guest wing features sumptuous furnishings and decor, including prized artwork collected from the couple’s journeys to Africa.
Around the corner is JoRene’s art-and-craft room, where she creates pastel portraits and jewelry. Next door to that is the workout room, which is decorated with old family photos, some in original frames, including one of Gunars and his brother when they were young boys.
“This wall is a montage of snapshots from life’s minor and great moments,” Gunars says. “Kathy Merrill, our interior designer, suggested doing this and we thought it a great idea.”
The house rambles across the property on a single level, avoiding dark corners and hallways through the use of transition areas whose glass walls look out onto landscape features or works of art.
