Mike and Cheri Hayes were vacationing in Sedona back in 2020 and fell in love with the area. The married couple was looking for homes and ultimately decided to purchase a lot to build a dream home, largely intended for entertaining. Mike estimated that in the two years the couple has been in the home, they’ve had about 85 friends visit. Mike interviewed a few architects in the area and wound up at Nancy Weinman of Weinman Architectural Services’ home. Mike, along with his daughter, loved Nancy’s home and originally wanted to build a home that was similar to Nancy’s. As the design process got underway, the plan evolved. The Hayes’ home features high ceilings and lots of windows, just like Nancy’s. But the Hayes’ four-bedroom and five-and-a-half-bath home is very distinct.
The home’s outdoor saltwater pool. Photo by John Lloyd.
“That was a key piece of design on the lot was, ‘How do we maximize views?” says Mike. “Whether it be the terrace or the pool or the family room or the observation deck, it was all about maximizing the views and then creating really an indoor, outdoor living experience.” How did the design team achieve the indoor/outdoor experience?
A dining table on the home’s outdoor patio. A firepit is also nearby. Photo by John Lloyd.
By having massive windows that open up to the outside and having indoor tile in the kitchen that flows outdoors. The kitchen also includes what Mike calls “the cantina,” which is a corner bar that spills from the indoors to the outdoors. In total, the property features 4,300 square feet of interior space and about 4,000 square feet of outdoor living space.
The home’s sprawling kitchen island. Photo by John Lloyd.
A Closer Look at the Kitchen & Living Room
The impressive chef’s kitchen includes a long list of high-quality features, including a striking induction stove and a three-sided fireplace. The dark wood cabinets were made by a company based in Cottonwood. To give the home some continuity, those same cabinets were also installed throughout the rest of the home. The kitchen and living room are one large space. The slate tile wall near the fireplace, which measures roughly 14 feet high, provides a focal element. The walls are decorated with black and white photos taken by a photographer based in Sorrento, Italy. Mike spent time there for work and got to know the photographer. The kitchen’s sprawling island – Mike estimated it measured five by 15 feet long – is a common gathering spot in the home.
A small table just off the kitchen. Photo by John Lloyd.
“We love to entertain friends. We have people come stay with us all the time here. It’s just perfect for entertaining. A lot of times, people end up migrating into the kitchen,” he says.
Another shot of the living room. Photo by John Lloyd.
Mike tells us that the couple will often have upwards of 10 or more people staying with them at any given time. Great conversations aside, one must presume that many of the guests also end up staying in the kitchen due to its striking views of the red rocks. “It’s not a bad place to watch a sunset or a sunrise. I have to say,” says Cherie. “It’s just stunning. We have the airport right in front of us as well. We get to see planes coming and going, and the hot air balloons we see every morning. So that’s a pretty neat feature for guests to see when they’re here.”
The home’s luxe game room. Photo by John Lloyd.
The Game Room
Being a home designed for entertaining, it’s fitting that the Sedona home also has a massive game room complete with three big screen TVs mounted on one wall, a pool table, a Foosball table and a wet bar. Located just off the game room is an outdoor bocce ball court. “The game room is just nicely laid out so that a number of people can be in the room watching games at the same time,” Mike says.
The master suite. Photo by John Lloyd.
The Bedrooms
Due to the pairs’ focus on entertaining, the bedrooms in the home are small but offer stunning views. “They’re small, but very comfortable. All have at least one big window,” says Mike. The primary bedroom has two walls of windows with automated blinds that block out the sun. The main bathroom features a spacious glass-enclosed walk-in shower and a deep soaking tub. The wall above the tub? It’s a thin slate (this material also appears on the wall of the game room behind the TV) that lends a textured look to the space. It was such a pain to install that the contractor who put it up said he’d never do it again. The home features three other bedrooms. Two of them feature en-suite bathrooms. One bedroom even has two queen beds in it to allow for more guests to rest.
An exterior shot looking of the home, which features a view of the kitchen and outoor living area. Indoor/outdoor living was a major part of the home’s overall design. Photo by John Lloyd.
The Home’s Exterior
The multi-level home was designed to blend seamlessly into the environment around it. “We’re building a pretty big place. So we wanted it to blend well with the nature around us. We’ve done almost no landscaping to the property because I just loved the feel of what the natural topography was,” he says. Their guests are asked to make themselves at home. Cherie recently added makeup mirrors in the bathrooms to make their visitors feel more accommodated. We had to ask what their guests have thought of their custom built house. “People are amazed every time they come, just at the overall beauty. The attention to detail inside, the attention to the build of the house in general,” says Mike.
An overhead shot of the featured Sedona home. Photo by John Lloyd.
The Cantina & Outdoor Patio
Just a few steps from the kitchen on the outdoor patio is an infinity-edge saltwater pool with views of Sedona’s red rocks. The outdoor patio also houses a Bullfrog hot tub. The couple also put up a full bath so people could shower before getting into the pool and after hiking. “Just another feature that just allows it to be really easy indoor, outdoor living,” says Mike, of the shower. In keeping with the indoor/outdoor theme, the pair has a corner bar that starts in the kitchen and extends outside. Above the bar is a massive TV where football games are often on. Mike is a huge sports fan and enjoys watching many different games. Nearby the outdoor patio is an outdoor terrace featuring green turf, lounge chairs and a cornhole. Originally, Mike had planned for a small putting green, but the idea was scrapped. Mike says he spends plenty of time on the terrace admiring the scenery. “It’s a great feature to have that 360 view of the area. It’s amazing at night,” he says.
