.svg)
An A-Frame Above the World
Where the Mountains Meet the Desert Sky
There is a particular stretch of highway in the San Jacinto Mountains where the pines thin and the desert valley opens beneath you — vast, amber, and still. This is where Adele and Carlo found their second home, perched above the Pines to Palms Highway within the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto National Monument, with 360° panoramic views that shift from snow-dusted peaks in one direction to the shimmering floor of Palm Desert in the other. The A-frame rises from its hillside with quiet architectural confidence, and from the moment you arrive, the feeling is immediate: you are somewhere genuinely apart.
The Story of the Space
Inspired by the clean restraint of traditional Scandinavian cabins and the warmth of modern Japanese architecture, this home was completely reimagined — every room considered, every detail resolved. Soaring 30-foot ceilings draw the eye upward through floor-to-ceiling glass, pulling the mountain panorama directly into the living space. Morning light arrives early and generously, flooding the open-plan kitchen and dining room as the desert valley glows below.
The custom solid oak dining table anchors the living space with a quiet solidity — it seats eight, and it invites the kind of long, unhurried dinners that only happen when the setting is right. Each bedroom has been given its own character: the master loft, tucked into the apex of the A-frame with its private spa; the Lavender Room, east-facing with a 400-square-foot private patio and en-suite; the Sage Room, where the desert view commands attention from every angle; and a fourth room with custom-built bunks generous enough for adults as well as children.
Downstairs, a dedicated cinema room houses a 135-inch screen, a professional JVC 4K projector, and full surround sound. The master spa holds an egg-shaped bathtub, rainfall shower, and an infrared sauna. A complimentary EV charger sits quietly in the drive. Nothing has been left to chance.
Why Locèlle Loves It
This is a home that earns its setting. Where many mountain retreats lean on their views and leave the interior to chance, Adele and Carlo have done the opposite — treating every room with the same architectural rigour they bring to their work. The result is a property that holds its own whether the curtains are drawn against the stars or thrown open to the desert at first light. It is also, quietly, one of the most well-positioned homes on our roster: three of California's most distinct landscapes within an hour, and a national monument on the doorstep. Stays here tend to feel longer than they are — which is, in the end, exactly what a great home should do.
A designer retreat at the threshold of three of California's most extraordinary landscapes.
Nestled within a protected national monument yet within easy reach of Idyllwild, Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree, this is a home positioned at a remarkable intersection — mountain solitude, desert light, and the kind of considered interior that makes leaving feel like a small loss.
Adele and Carlo
Every detail tells a story.
Discover how this home was designed, curated, and brought to life—inside and out.
Where you’ll be
Mountain Center
,
California
,
United States
Neighborhood highlights
Desert, peaks, and open wilderness in every direction — The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto National Monument surrounds the property on all sides, offering some of Southern California's most dramatic hiking terrain — from the challenging summit trails of San Jacinto Peak, accessible via the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, to the quieter, boulder-strewn paths of the desert floor below. Idyllwild, just twenty minutes up the mountain, is a beloved artists' colony with independent galleries, a celebrated jazz festival in summer, and the kind of unhurried high-street feel that larger California towns have long since abandoned. In winter, the surrounding mountains offer cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, while spring brings wildflower blooms across the desert that rank among the most spectacular in the American Southwest.
Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, and the Coachella Valley — The desert opens at the foot of the mountain in one of California's most culturally and visually rich regions. Palm Springs, thirty minutes away, offers mid-century modern architecture of genuine significance, a thriving independent food scene, world-class spa retreats, and the Aerial Tramway itself — a ten-minute gondola ascent from desert floor to alpine wilderness that remains one of the most extraordinary transitions in nature anywhere in the state. Joshua Tree National Park, less than an hour east, needs little introduction: a landscape of otherworldly rock formations, ancient Joshua trees, and some of the darkest, most star-filled skies in the American West. Between the two, the Coachella Valley offers date farms, open-air markets, the annual Coachella and Stagecoach festivals, and a stretch of desert highway that, at dusk, is genuinely difficult to leave.
Three Landscapes. One Extraordinary Home.
