The project started years ago with a huge wrought iron chandelier Sue Cristallo salvaged from the old movie theater at El Paseo de Saratoga, back when the shopping center was one of those red-roofed Town and Country Villages.
Cristallo loves “old junky, rusty stuff” and decided to bring it home to her property off Bear Creek Road above Lexington Reservoir. But after sitting outside for three years without hanging it, she thought it might find a better home at the Loma Prieta Community Center that was under construction. The group stored it in a barn for six years, but when it came time to open the new center, they didn’t use it.
Cristallo brought the orphan chandelier home once again and came up with another idea: Like kids in the neighborhood, she would build a treehouse and hang it from the ceiling.
But this is no rickety child’s clubhouse. This is more the size and shape of a sturdy cabin floating in the trees, with a shingled roof and wraparound decks spanning five big-armed oaks, salvaged windows and stained glass and a wooden bridge leading to it from the main house. There’s room inside for a daybed, a lounge chair and a small dining table and chairs.
With all salvaged materials and friends she calls “mountain guys” who took on the project beginning in 2006, she created a whimsical retreat that has become a magnet for neighborhood children, an entertainment spot for community fundraisers and a place of solace for two friends recovering from chemotherapy. “Invariably they say it’s a magical place,” Cristallo, 74, said. 
In an ode to longevity and in memory of her artist husband who “always had a sense of humor in his work,” but died too young, she called it Fotta-fa-Zee, after the fantastical place in Dr. Seuss’s last book, “You’re Only Old Once.”style=”font-size: x-small;”A dozen neighbors helped erect the beams. Carpenter Richard Brode built the structure, changing course as Cristallo changed her mind: “Can you make a place where kids can crawl up?” she would ask him, and he would build a loft. “He started hammering away and seemed to know where he was going.”
Phil Lange created the butterfly gate and metal grapevines along the bridge, while Thomas Cahoon, when he was just 16, built the crooked chimney. Cristallo decorated with a ceramic parrot, an antler door handle, colorful glass insulators and one of her late husband’s pieces — a red metal telephone.
Tony Cristallo had bought the four-acre property in 1964 and built corrals for his horses. Sue Cristallo, a single mother of four, was working as a spokeswoman for PG&E when they met in 1988 and was a horse woman herself. They married eight months before he died of cancer in 1994. His paintings and sculptures adorn the house, including an oversize metal perfume bottle, roughed up and dented, with a tea-stained Chanel No. 5 logo. “He was a true Bohemian,” said David Middlebrook, a well-known artist and recently retired San Jose State art professor who lives down the country road. For years after Tony’s death, he said, “Sue and I were up there alone. No one had visitors for weeks on end.”But as Cristallo saw it, “here I am, left with all this beauty. It was given to me and I wanted to do something with it.” 
In 2006, she started on the tree house, using shingles found in a dilapidated barn in Boonville, recycled redwood fencing for the walls, and — for $35 dollars each from Capitola Freight and Salvage _ three six-foot-by-six-foot French windows. Over the past decade, young Silicon Valley families have bought homes on the hills behind them. They walk down the hill pushing strollers or drive golf carts to show the children Middlebrook’s studio and bring apples and carrots to Cristallo’s horses.The property has come alive again.
“There’s always music, talent shows, impromptu plays, karaoke and dancing,” Middlebrook said. “It’s like a scene from Giant” — the movie starring Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. “Sue is a magnet for good people.”
She has opened the treehouse to more than a dozen non-profits, including the horseman’s association, the YMCA and San Jose Ballet, who have auctioned off dinners for four in the tree house. She has hosted three weddings, with the brides descending to their grooms.
On quiet evenings, Cristallo will ascend the bridge with a glass of wine. “It’s a very peaceful place,” she said. And although her husband isn’t here to enjoy it, she said, “he would have loved it, too.”
Here’s the complete slideshow:
![5312999145_cd2a5cea9b_b[1]](http://www.lookiloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/5312999145_cd2a5cea9b_b1-550x366.jpg "5312999145_cd2a5cea9b_b[1]")
![5313590196_885af56599_o[1]](http://www.lookiloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/5313590196_885af56599_o1-250x166.jpg "5313590196_885af56599_o[1]")
“It’s not a good feeling to go into someone’s house who has gone![5312994237_602f8d582d_b[1]](http://www.lookiloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/5312994237_602f8d582d_b1-250x166.jpg "5312994237_602f8d582d_b[1]")
They also ripped out a kitchen wall and hanging cabinets that separated the kitchen from the big dining and living rooms, creating an open, entertaining space. From Ikea to Lowe’s and Home Depot, they found rolling coffee tables, modern pendant lights and peel-and-stick, rectangular metal plates to add a contemporary dimension to the kitchen backsplash — as well as the corners of her dining room table legs.![5312994959_be7309ec10_b[1]](http://www.lookiloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/5312994959_be7309ec10_b1-250x166.jpg "5312994959_be7309ec10_b[1]")
“My husband and I had our moments,” she said. “But at night, when we sit by the fire, we think we did alright and we’re happy.”
Lisa Murray was getting down to the wire. House guests from Australia were expected that afternoon, barely two weeks after she moved her family of four out of their tiny cottage on the back of the property and into their newly remodeled house in Los Gatos.
Unpacked boxes were everywhere. Only the living room and kitchen looked presentable. And she needed a privacy curtain for the front bathroom or her guests would be flashing the neighbors. She had already raced around Indian shops in Sunnyvale looking for fabric that would work in the iridescent blue bathroom and found nothing. As she was unpacking a box full of old clothes she hadn’t seen in a year, she pulled out a sari-like dress.
Unlike other homes Murray has transformed to suit their needs and prepare for resale over the years, she designed this one with creative abandon. She isn’t worried about pleasing a potential buyer anymore. After more than two years enjoying the life and climate of Silicon Valley and the town tucked into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, they plan to settle down this time.
And across the room from the stained-glass angel that casts colorful light across the floor is a sensuous portrait of Proserpina, the Roman goddess of spring, that Murray painted on the sliding pocket door.
In the new house the other night, Murray lit the outdoor fireplace and called the family to join her.
A piece of milky white ethnic art inspired designer Thierry Buisson to
The inspiring artwork was a painted piece of carved mahogany that a
Perhaps from his Parisian roots, Thierry loves to bring the outside in
For whimsy, he had a custom topiary created to look like his Norwich
An elegant contemporary Tuscan home was ready for the holidays inside and out. For the Summit League’s Homes for the Holidays tour, the house was decorated in grand style, from the formal to the spacious living room and the resort-style gardens in back.
Four Seasons of Style in Los Gatos appointed the office and hallway. The family room was decorated by Inspired Interiors & Design. Judith M. Floral Design filled it with flowers, while the tree was decorated by Jeff Fiorito of Scotts Valley.
The sunny cook’s kitchen that opens to the family room was made festive by Maria’s France-Italy-England in Los Gatos .
The powder room was glammed up by Seashell Reflections of California and the dining room got special attention from The Fat Robin-La Mesa Linens.
This beautiful home has been remodeled four times, but it looks like it’s always been just the way it is, situated so perfectly on a Saratoga hilltop. From the living room, you look out upon tree tops. From the dining room behind it, floor-to-ceiling windows look on the lovely — and level — back lawn. And the kitchen area opens to a charming courtyard.
What started as a simple ranch house built in 1954 has been transformed over the past 20 years by the Kenny family into a French Chateuu in the country manor style. And Linda Floyd of 
The dining room was spectacular for the tour, as Sharon Watts of Peony created an astonishing table display.
David Stonesifer of David Stonesifer Interior Design and Decoration appointed the family room, including a couple of oil paintings he created himself.
Upstairs, the daughter’s bedroom was decorated by Wahlberg Designs, The Duke & The Duchess of Morgan Hill. 
Inside, you will see vintage decor, from wrought iron garden chairs to sparkling chandeliers; sterling silver pieces to crystal compotes. (Not Too Shabby is where my Lookiloos partner, Desiree, and I fought over a set of ultra-cool 
An open house is set for this weekend, 11-4 on both Saturday and Sunday. Mention Lookiloos and enjoy 10 percent off of items in the new store! In the short term, Not Too Shabby-ette will only be open on weekends, but once Vikki is up and running, expect full hours.
The backyard was beautiful to begin with — park-like lawn, bubbling fountain, outdoor fireplace. But when Dhelia Fahrner, a.k.a., 
The garden of the Kenney Home was green and pastoral, but somewhat shady and dark. It needed some “pop.” So, after planting white cyclamen in the beds, she turned to the major focal points — the fireplace patio and the French doors at the back of the study. Bringing in two graceful urns filled with white hydrangeas, azaleas and wispy maidenhair ferns– plus a piece of garden statuary from her friend Laura Ziffer at Lulu Pom in Los Gatos — Dhelia created a graceful vignette flanking the French doors.
On the table in front of the outdoor fireplace, she planted a white cement pot with succulents and surrounded the base with the kind of ornamentation that might be seen on a mantel – layers of moss, lichen, bleeched pinecones and antlers. Small birch containers showcased miniature Christmas tree cypress and amaryllis.
![3114634199_5c01d1cf04_b[1]](http://www.lookiloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/3114634199_5c01d1cf04_b1-250x166.jpg "3114634199_5c01d1cf04_b[1]")
The third house is a French Chateau built atop a Saratoga foothill. The entry hall features a pier mirror that the family brought around the Horn in the late 1800s. A “tree house” office was added during the most recent renovation and the dining room decor evokes the feeling of a french garden. The renovated kitchen is state-of-the-art.
Recent Posts
