The Santo House - Full Tour

This is the Santo House.

This is the Santo House, and we ended up buying it because we were truly inspired by, I would say, like the pueblo style.

Georgia O'Keeffe house.

Yeah, and When we walked in, this white thing was original to it, and so was the ceiling, and that to me sold it.

Yeah, and I didn't see the vision at all. We were actually— when, when me and Steph saw the house, we were right out in the backyard here, and there wasn't a pool yet, and we were looking into it from there, and you already had seen the—

yeah, you already saw this like for sale, and I was like, let's sneak in the backyard and look at it, let's get a feel for it. And I fell in love. I was like, I have such vision for it. It's gonna be amazing. But yeah, like I said, this in the ceiling alone is what sold me. And just the open concept, which it wasn't open concept.

Yeah, this arch wasn't here.

Had a vision for it to be open concept.

Yes.

Yeah, this was a close—

yeah, but there was the— we still have the photos, right? The old photos.

Yeah, I do have the old photos. It was all white. White walls, white floors, white cabinets, everything.

It was move-in ready.

But yeah, this was closed off. This was a dining room. That door wasn't there. So we changed quite a bit. We put wood floors in. It was tile.

Uh, what was the primary motivation? Were you thinking about resale value? Were you thinking about comfort in the home?

Like, he always thinks about resale value. The only thing that goes through his head is resale value. And I go, we are never getting rid of this house.

Yeah, it was the rohas of the house.

We're passing it down to our kids. We named the house. The house is ours.

And once I understood that concept, then, then it changed. And I was like, okay, how can we, how can we do that but still get an ROI? Phase 2. So like, this house should be, if we did it right, worth more than what we put into it.

Oh yeah.

By the end of our life.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah. These materials look like freaking really solid unless we have to rehaul it again, which I don't think we will.

No, but we're never getting rid of this house. I've said it before, which is kind of cheesy, but I feel like this letter is like, or this house is like a love letter that we like wrote to each other.

I don't think that's cheesy. I think that's cute. I think that actually is true.

I think we put a lot of time and like thought and like built it together.

Right, it's probably the only collaborative art thing we've ever done together, which is cool. So it is a love letter of sorts, collaborative.

So we're never getting rid of it.

This house we were blessed with the ability to do in phases, which a lot of people aren't. Because they have to live through the reno. Um, I was coming from Colorado to Arizona more and more for, um, New Reach, which specifically is Josiah, Pace— you guys know those brands. Um, but if not, they are some of our biggest, and they are in real estate education. So being down here, it was, um, the ability to treat this kind of like an art project is kind of how me and Steph saw it, as opposed to just a house reno for the better. Like a teardown kind of fixer-upper. So, and I always tell people, um, I went to Josiah and I went to Pace and I went to Hunter and a few of our other real estate partners, and they're like, you don't want to use the contractors we use. Um, and they have a show called Triple Digit Flips on A&E, um, and a bunch of like, you know, fast quick flip type stuff that you would see. Just none of that applies to what we wanted to do. So if you guys see or zoom in on these plans, you'll see the original inspo And Steph, do you want to walk them through anything specifically on this mood board? Because we just, I think, went to Pinterest.

I feel like the inspo came from having kind of, again, that pueblo style Spanish feel. We wanted to really lean into that. This is Arizona, it's the desert, so we didn't want something that felt overly modern or Um, yeah, I feel like desert is the right word for it. So we wanted to keep like the warm textures, um, kind of like a worn-in look as well. I feel like nothing that feels too overly polished, I would say. So yeah, so I would say that too.

What she said. Yeah, and then this was, um, what we would call phase 3. Phase 1 was technically the pool, right? Um, that's just— we don't have the plans for— yeah, so we had to do the pool first. That was essential, gets you out of the summer heat. And then we'll end with maybe the master, which is what we just got done doing.

Yeah, but it was fun. It was fun to do it.

And I think that's pretty much it as far as the plans go. Is there anything you like in here, like the sconces or whatever?

Everything is pretty intentional, I feel like. Like, even like the handles are like curved, which I feel feel like you don't see a whole lot. And like, this is pretty cool. I feel like this is a cool detail where I haven't seen where it's— you can put ice in here so we can entertain. That was something that was really important to us in this house, is that we want to be able to have friends and family come over and just kind of like share our blessing with them and have this be a space that they feel comfy and welcomed and stuff.

So yeah, and I know that's important. Steph, during this phase, worked a lot more with, um, Caitlin's team in like architecting the vision. Was there any like advice that you would give if someone wants to work with a firm like Caitlin's? Like, what did— how do you go about like selecting one to work with? Because I remember when you told me, I was like, that sounds way more expensive than the typical—

it is way more expensive, but I had been— I guess Caitlin had been on my radar for a minute. I was really drawn to her design, and to be honest, her design at the time was not super pueblo style in my opinion. She leans pretty modern, but what I was really drawn to with her specifically was her attention to detail and how creative she could be with spaces. So for example, I told her I want this to be open concept, and she's like, it can't be, but we can get something close to it and it's going to be really awesome. Let's throw in a big arch. And this ends up being one of my absolute favorite details, is that it is a big arch instead of just being an open space. Yeah, so I loved that about her.

So she was almost more like a strategist with you.

Yeah, yeah, it's like I give her certain things that are must-have for me and she goes, okay, awesome, let me complement this tenfold, basically.

So yeah, and then, and then I came in to, for the material selection and the, and the pricing. Yeah, to be like, uh, can we find that on Amazon for cheaper?

Heck no.

And they'd be like, no, that was custom sourced from Morocco.

Yeah, it is really cool. There's a lot of stuff in here that is like custom and like really intentional and stuff that are from like our bathroom. Yeah, she sourced that actually. And like our light fixtures— lighting is really important to me, so there's a lot of really intentional light fixtures that you can't just get at like Home Depot or something like that.

Correct. The sinking— the downlight sinks to the— yeah, that light.

Yeah, so pretty fun.

Cool. Well, yeah, thank you. Where should we go next? This room over here. We just did the flooring through in this room, but that fireplace already existed.

Yeah, the fireplace. The whole layout was just really, really great. Like I said, entertaining is something that's really important to us and having our family and friends. So this is a perfect layout, I think.

Can we tell them about Sainty's aunt over there who hides the Wi-Fi?

Oh, that's Bridgette Bordeaux. She, she hides our Wi-Fi router.

She does, which is Google Fiber, top of the line.

Yes. And I found her at a nice little thrift shop down here. But my son thinks that that is his aunt. So yeah, that is our aunt, Bridget Bordeaux.

Why does he think that it's his aunt?

Because he asked me, he goes, who is that? And I go, that's your aunt. He goes, what's her name? I go, Bridget Bordeaux.

And that's how you parent your kids. Yeah. Do you want to tell them the tipping point for when we did take it off Airbnb? Because occasionally we would, as I was like going back and forth from Colorado. I would, as we left, clean it and then list or turn the listing back on until someone—

there's a lot of things. Yeah, somebody literally broke our master bedroom door. Not even just like, oh, it's broken. It looked like somebody shoved somebody else into it and it was completely shattered.

Yeah, their reason did not make sense. They said they were locked out.

I know, so they just— it was crazy.

Straight up The Shining into it.

Chag Spady.

Chad's baby.

Broke our mirror.

Uh-huh, but what was the death blow to the Airbnb phase?

You can say it.

Um, someone smoked crack in our master bedroom and then left their bong and all their paraphernalia there.

It wasn't even a bong, it was inappropriate drugs.

Oh, it was? I didn't see it. Like, the cleaner sent her a photo. We'll put that in post.

It was the hard stuff.

Yeah, it looked like an assortment of things.

So I'm like, Nick, we're shutting this down. Nobody's getting their grubby little fingers.

And I was like, all right, I can't really make a case for that. It's not good. Yeah, it smelled bad in here too.

Yeah, so RIP to Airbnb.

Yep, it goes well until someone smokes crack in your home.

Um, anyway, okay, so this is our master. This is personally my favorite part of the renovation. It truly feels like—

it's my second favorite.

I think this is honestly better than like any hotel I've ever—

do you consider the bathroom part of the master?

Yes, I do. And the bathroom is also pretty great. But, um, this actually wasn't my idea at all. This was completely Caitlin's idea. She's like, let's put the bed in the middle of the room.

And I'm like, it was like right here, looking here.

Yeah, looking here. And this is just— I love it. It was really, really great, and it's simple. It feels—

it's like Hotel One Brooklyn Bridge.

Yeah, it feels like a little bit like that. But this was like a really, really awesome detail, I feel like, is putting the bed just smack dab in the middle of the room. So yeah.

Yep. Which, um, if you guys are ones for like, uh, space on your side like you do only have a narrow assortment of things you can put there. So sometimes this little cubby back here, if you see it, was pretty cool how she designed this in. That's where you get the sleeper, the noise maker. That's where I get to keep my stuff.

Yeah, it's the only spot.

Yeah, thankfully there's something.

But yeah, and a big cellar. I mean, this goes back into like the backyard, and that was original to the house. And again, I just feel like the house had a lot of really great bones to it that just allowed us to create such a great space.

It did, in hindsight. Like, these are the original doors, right?

Yes.

And this painting is a friend of Steph's. Um, I forget her name. She's great.

Talented. But this— we have another piece of hers actually in the dining room as well. But we're pretty— Nick and I are pretty aligned on being minimal, and so I love that this is the only piece looks really on our wall. Yeah, in the bedroom at all, actually.

Yeah, both me and— yeah, both me and Steph are in like creative fields in our own right. She's like way more design and visually creative and spatially creative than I am too, but both of us just like started from mood board, basically from brand vision. Yeah, um, this used to be a door, which is interesting. Custom mirror.

Yeah, this is a door that went into the bathroom.

Yep, this whole place was designed.

Will your— will your people know who Chad is?

Yeah, some of them might, you know, Chad Spady walked into this and cracked it.

He thought it was a hallway.

We fixed it.

Or a door opening and he shattered it.

And he was— shout out to Chad.

Thanks, Chad.

Thanks for coming down, honestly, because he was just visiting and obviously being a VP of New Reach, sometimes you need the longer stints. So it's been fun to open up the house to employees too as they come down if need be.

Yeah, it's fun. That's what we want the space to be for.

Yeah.

Yeah, great.

Yeah, cool.

Um, this detail is fun too. This, um, back here has just like books and it lights up, which is really nice. Nick and I actually watch like quite a bit of movies in here and it's such a, such a vibe. I like it.

If you have a skylight, having the auto is a huge hack if it works.

I wouldn't mess with that.

I am gonna mess with it here for just one second. And then I'm going to bring it back up. Sam Ovens taught me that because normally I would have put just regular blinds up there. And I think I remember you saying to me— there we go— that will be really expensive. But it was pretty cheap, I think.

That I got off Amazon.

Yeah, yeah, we did do those off Amazon. But yeah, the backlighting here corresponds to the front lighting here, for instance. It's really cool how they did all the wiring.

Yeah, and then this is really cool. So this just closes, and I feel like this just looks like a pretty piece right here, but it actually leads into our master bathroom, which is really fun. So, um, yeah, we— this was— I don't know what this was before. I don't know, but a vanity was a must for me. So yeah, what was it?

It was a desk. It was just a desk.

Not a desk, probably a vanity if it was in the—

it was like, um, marbley looking countertop kind of thing.

Yeah, yeah. But this was a must for me. I wanted this archway right here. I love the arches, um, and I wanted it to flow into here. Um, I use this space literally every day. I love it so much. And to play into that, we put in some built-ins right here, which was also a must for me, so I'm really glad Caitlin incorporated that for me somehow because I love that. And then probably my favorite is over here is our bathtub, but we took out the windows and put some floor-to-ceiling windows, which I feel like has elevated the space tremendously.

I forgot that they used to be only half.

Yeah, they were, they were shorter and we put in some cactuses right now. Give us a couple years and they will be up and you can see them.

But you're right, yeah, it'll look more vibey.

Yeah, they've already grown quite a bit.

I don't know how, how much do cactuses grow per year?

Um, I mean, they've already grown and we just planted these.

Yeah, they do, they grow faster in the winter.

So yeah, and even like this detail, this is like a hanging towel rack instead of like one that's mounted. Again, just really intentional with the detail, which I appreciate. Um, yeah, and then our vanity, which again with the arches and stuff is— I'm obsessed.

Yeah, and you like the lights?

I love the lights. I found these off of Etsy. These were like another—

oh, those are an Etsy find? I did not know that.

It's a ceramic artist who makes really, really awesome lights. So yeah, yeah.

And for what it's worth, I think it's cool that if you guys are like phones off, no phones by the bedside type people, you can have a charger in the, in the drawer here too and just keep your phone in the drawer. At least that's what I'm assuming it's for. Maybe it's not for that.

It's because I think outlets are ugly.

Oh, that's what it was for?

I wanted them to be hidden, so that's why they're in the drawer.

Two use cases.

But you know what, I charge my razor on it too. That's great that you charge your phone in there.

Yeah, I know. I thought it was maybe, uh, part of that movement, lock your phone up.

Could be, could be.

All right, anything else in here, honey? Anything?

No, but I love this space.

Yeah, yeah. There is this, um, I forget the artist. I got this for Steph. She seemed to really like it. It was at one of her favorite stores.

I got this for my birthday. Nick got it for me. This is a local artist from—

yeah, and a friend—

Phoenix.

Friend store. There's a lot of like friends art in here, I suppose.

Yeah, the Local Nomad.

Local Nomad.

We have a lot of goodies from her, actually.

Right.

That is— that is—

yeah, so a lot of local, um, to Phoenix.

Yeah, yeah, which I love. I love the intentionality behind that.

Cool. Well, thank you, honey. I appreciate you. This is the first video we've done together, I think, for the— for the channel.

For yours? Yeah, yeah, you've been on mine a lot.

Oh yeah.