Decorist Founder Selling California Wine Country Home for $12.5 Million

The renovated residence overlooks Mt. Diablo, the San Pablo Bay and the San Francisco skyline

V.L. Hendrickson | Mansion Global

A modern mansion at Sonoma Mountain in California wine country hit the market Tuesday for $12.5 million—and you can bet it’s well designed.

That’s because the seller is Gretchen Hansen, the founder of the online design services brand Decorist. Set on 6.5 acres, the Sonoma residence offers “classic modernist qualities—beautiful lines, amazing light and open spaces,” said Hansen, who sold Decorist to Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2017. She and her husband, Lee, bought the property that same year for $4.87 million, according to records with PropertyShark.

“I also love how it embraces its site on Sonoma Mountain so beautifully by bringing many elements of the outdoors in,” she said in an email. “In particular, I fell in love with the giant boulder atrium you see when you walk in the front door.”

Hansen oversaw a makeover at the approximately 6,400-square-foot home, which overlooks Mt. Diablo, the San Pablo Bay and the San Francisco skyline—as well as the surrounding grounds.

“I wanted to keep these classic modern and organic elements and make the house feel very current by bringing in all new materials including marble, limestone, plaster and oak, so it’s now a very fresh take on a classic form,” she said. “It’s a dream to be in this house—you really don’t want to leave.”

No surprise, the house also has walls of windows throughout to frame views and let light in, as well as 13-foot ceilings in the living room. There’s also a limestone fireplace, plus a skylit dining room with a bar, a family room and a sleek kitchen with two ovens and a breakfast bar.

The home has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, and the main suite offers even more vistas, a fireplace and a bathroom with a soaking tub, the listing said. There’s also a sitting room with a wet bar that opens to a deck.

There’s a media room and a 1,500-bottle wine cellar downstairs, while outside features a pool and spa, raised garden beds, a bocce court, several terraces and a shaded ping-pong table.

An entire 5,000-square-foot complex, dubbed the Point, is set up for entertaining with a kitchen, a hot tub and a fire pit.

Plus there’s a one-bedroom guesthouse with a full kitchen and its own garden and driveway.

Caroline Sebastiani and Kristie Eddy of Sotheby’s International Realty’s Wine Country Sonoma Brokerage have the listing. They were not immediately available for comment.