Home Interaction

Their restaurants past and present are memorable for haute cuisine and luxe, perpetually glam interiors. So, it would be easy to presume that when restaurateur Liza Goodell and her husband, chef Tim, had a new home built several years ago, it too would be encoded with the sophisticated DNA of their Domaine Restaurants such as Aubergine, Troquet, Red Pearl Kitchen and Dakota.

Well, yes and no.

Wine cellar: The Goodells’ collection of wine is housed in a glass-covered cellar next to the dining room.

Newport Harbor Home and Garden

When: May 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Cost: $65, includes lunch and afternoon reception

Information: newportharboreducationalfoundation.org

The home in Dover Shores, which will be featured at the Newport Harbor Home and Garden Tour on May 12, was a creative collaboration that started off with Christian Light’s architectural design.

“We loved the Rockledge house in Laguna that Chris designed,” Liza says. “But we wanted something that would suit our huge lot and feel more like a modern barn.”

Although the original house on the lot was in good shape, it occupied the rear half of the lot, leaving little room for a backyard. “There was a lot of wasted space,” she says. “The original house was also very chopped up. I think it had something like six small bedrooms upstairs and low ceilings.”

The Goodells’ wish list included “more space to entertain, a somewhat modern feel to the architecture, but not necessarily to the décor,” Liza says. “We had always lived in very small homes before, so each kid having their own bathroom was key. We should have built their own laundry rooms, too. Me, I just wanted a massive yard and closet.”

Inside, the interiors have the modern sophistication we’ve come to expect from Liza. A polished concrete floor anchors the first floor, and there are frameless glass doors in unexpected places such as the den. Eye-catching light fixtures dangle like giant earrings from the ceiling in the breakfast nook, kitchen and powder room. You know you are in a restaurateur’s abode when the focal point of the dining room is the adjacent wine cellar, with a stunning temperature-controlled, floor- to-ceiling, wall-to-wall display of the Goodells’ collection visible from behind glass panels.

At the same time, the house exudes warmth because it has none of the overdone, propped-to-death, (desperately) trying-to-be-cool affectations that have plagued some houses of late. Instead, Liza’s touch is relaxed, uncontrived and true to how she and Tim are and how they live with their two children.

In the dining room, which Liza says is still quite unfinished, wicker and bistro chairs flank a long and large farm table that once graced Portia and Ellen DeGeneres’ wedding reception. Traditional rugs throughout the house soften the edgy vibe of the concrete and have become a thematic element that ties many rooms together.

“I like mixing the genres,” Liza says. “I don’t like things too perfect. I do have very sentimental things that I will never part with. Many are from Aubergine, our first restaurant.”

Her design approach is often instinctive rather than calculated. “I have no formal training in design,” she says. “It’s trial and error, and there have been some major errors. I do, however, have a very realistic idea of function, mainly from doing the restaurants. You can have the most fabulous over-the-top toilet that you paid 10 grand for but if it doesn’t flush [properly] – well, you get the idea.”

In any restaurateur and chef’s home, the kitchen is the star of the house – and it’s no different at the Goodells’ home. “Tim really wanted the Molteni range,” Liza says. “It is beautiful and a work horse, but not very precise. I’ve burned a few things in there.” There are two dishwashers, a no-brainer.

“The massive island is where it all happens. It is the bar, the table, the cocktail hour spot, and on occasion, a very nice place to fold laundry, since it has a great view of the backyard.”

And what a backyard it is. A sculpted raised wooden deck flanks an inviting pool that sits next to a set of outdoor rooms: A living room, dining room and kitchen.

Of all the parts of the home, the kitchen and the outdoor rooms draw people the most. Here, Liza says, “entertaining is a free-for-all. I like things very casual. But I also like to use my best things. We use fine crystal with inexpensive wine, with homemade pizza eaten off a cutting board. I love it when my kids just happen to invite friends over. I like a lot of noise and bustle and I like people to eat. I don’t think we have ever had a formal sit-down dinner. It just never happens. We are always in the kitchen and pouring into the backyard.”

As much as the Goodells’ restaurants have been culinary and design showcases, their home is all about them and their lives outside of their business.

“You can have the perfect house or the hottest designer around to decorate, but if the house is empty, it’s not the best design,” Liza says. “I always say the best design is the one where people are having fun, eating and drinking, and making a mess.”

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