Corona del Mar Today: Home tour to feature Roger’s Gardens home

The Corona del Mar Home Tour, the Corona del Mar High School PTA’s only annual fundraiser, will take place Tuesday and feature seven homes, including the owners of Roger’s Gardens’ Cameo Shores home.

Tickets are $75, and include breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien from 8 to 10 a.m., lunch at Sherman Library & Gardens from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and an afternoon reception at Bliss Home & Design from 4 to 6 p.m.

This year’s tour features the home of Kerry and Gavin Herbert, owners of Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar.

The couple had lived in a 1960s home for years when they began house hunting, looking for something that was a better fit for them and their two young girls. In the end, they said, they ended up tearing down the home and designing a four-bedroom dream house complete with pool, playhouse, library, wine cellar and custom features such as a Ruby’s Diner-inspired dining table in the kitchen.

“We found the table on a diner website,” Kerry Herbert said. “It’s like going out to dinner every night.”

“The best thing about this table is the girls lean against you and tell you about their days,” Gavin Herbert said. “It’s where we have all our family meals.”

The 4,400-square-foot home was built on one story, and neighborhood rules restricted the height to 14 feet. Gavin’s favorite spot, the wine cellar and library, is sunken, which allows for a roof deck on top.

Kerry Gavin considers several features of her home her favorites — the Ruby’s table, her daughters’ bedrooms with custom murals, an inlaid wooden medallion on the floor of the entryway, a 1930s-era gas station sundries display cabinet, which has been repurposed for a powder room shelf, and a reclaimed wood center island in the kitchen.

“Here’s the smoothie station,” she said, opening an appliance garage with a blender, then opening a window from the kitchen to a booth outside where kids wet from the pool can sit down for a snack.

She also had custom tiles made for her laundry room that show a favorite outfit of each family member hanging on a clothesline, and a kitchen refrigerator and cabinet in an inky blue that they bought on a whim at a New Year’s Eve party, then redesigned their home around.

Regular Roger’s Gardens shoppers will notice shelves and counters filled with items from the shop, including folk art angels, orchids and other ornaments. Plein air artwork from Roger’s studios fill the walls, and at holidays, the couple goes all-out.

“You should see it on Fourth of July,” Gavin said.

For the home tour, they said, they planned on adding fall decorations throughout the house.

The home tour also will feature homes in the Port Streets, the Flower Streets, Spyglass and Big Canyon neighborhoods.

“We’re on pace to sell a record number of tickets this year, which is so exciting for CdM,” said Michele Caston, co-chairwoman of the event. “The homes are over-the-top spectacular. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity to tour some of the most beautifully constructed, designed and landscaped properties in town.”

Last year’s tour raised more than $200,000.

For information on the tour, including online ticket ordering and a list of retail shops where you may purchase tickets, visit https://cdmhometour.com.

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Sweet Lady Jane Bakery to open in 2015

Construction is underway at the future Sweet Lady Jane Bakery location, 3732 East Coast Highway.

Owner Daniel Mafrice said the bakery would probably open in January.

In April, a psychic shop closed in the space at 3732 East Coast Highway, about two years after it opened in the former John Blom photography studio space.

Sweet Lady Jane Bakery received a special-use permit from the city’s zoning administrator in November 2012. The bakery will sell sandwiches, salads, breads, 29 flavors of cakes, as well as pies and tarts. They will serve breakfast and lunch, as well a late-night dessert menu.

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ArtFusion Gallery closes

A Corona del Mar art gallery that opened this summer has apparently closed, with For Rent signs in the window and plastic covering the glass.

The ArtFusion Gallery opened in June at 3800 East Coast Highway. The owner did not respond to interview requests last summer or this week, when the gallery had closed.

The gallery had sold original and vintage art and was granted a city business license in May.

Previously, the space was occupied by the Skye Montgomery boutique, which closed this winter. That shop had been in business in the location since 2009.

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Harper’s boutique ends five-year run

Five years after opening, the Harper’s clothing boutique has closed its location at 2610 East Coast Highway.

Owner Erica Thomas did not respond to messages, but a sign in the window and the shop’s website says the business will now be entirely online.

The shop closed as of Oct. 1, Harper’s Facebook page states.

Corona del Mar Today appears Sunday in the Daily Pilot. Read daily updates at coronadelmartoday.com.