The Road to Villa Lucia
How a love of Italy, antiques, and craftsmanship transformed a Paso Robles property into a Tuscan-inspired estate.
By Lily Dougherty
Photography Kelly Teich
What began as a 1990s bed and breakfast has, after a three-year transformation by The Dubb Group in collaboration with The Warner Group Architects, become Villa Lucia: a Tuscan-style estate reimagined by Stephen Dubb as a romantic villa inspired by the warmth, character, and timelessness of the Italian countryside.
Authenticity was the project’s guiding principle. Rather than creating a theatrical interpretation of Tuscany, the team wanted Villa Lucia to feel as though it had existed for centuries. A place for the Dubbs and their vacation rental guests to feel transported. “We wanted it to seem like it’s been there forever,” Stephen says. “Walking into something that feels like you're in a storybook—not the flashiness of something bigger—that, to us, is luxury.” The experience begins before guests even reach the front door. A drive beneath cypress trees leads past the estate’s ten-acre vineyard before the pavement gives way to gravel. “You hear that sound under your tires and that sense of arrival signals that you’ve entered a new place,” notes Kelly Teich, President at The Warner Group Architects.
Speaking with the Dubbs and Kelly, it is clear that the project is the result of a decades-long love affair with Italy that finally found somewhere to land. The Los Angeles based Dubb family had been visiting the Central Coast for years and were always drawn to Hearst Castle and its surrounding coastline before discovering Paso Robles through its wineries. It was there, Stephen says, that the idea started to take shape: the region is abundant with wine, but there were few places that matched the experience they envisioned. “Paso already had the wine, the landscape, and the sense of escape. We felt there was an opportunity to create a stay that matched that magic, something intimate, elevated, and transportive," he recalls. Three years ago, the Dubbs found their property and, after an extensive search, enlisted Montecito-based architect Kelly Teich of The Warner Group to help them make their dream a reality. Their inspiration began in Tuscany, where years of travel shaped their appreciation for the architecture, craftsmanship, and slower pace of life. Hearst Castle found its way into the design as well, most visibly in the pool, whose black-and-white Greek key tile pattern pays homage to the estate’s famed Neptune Pool.
From the start, the Dubbs knew that finding the right architect and interior designer to translate their vision was key for the project. Stephen describes going on a “deep dive” seeking someone who could convert feeling into structure rather than simply draft a floor plan. “The Warner Group was able to tell a story through the architecture,” he says. “It was an easy choice.” That collaborative instinct carried through the project: the Dubbs and Kelly made repeated trips to Italy together, timed most years to Salon del Mobile, Milan’s spring furniture fair, with side trips to Venice, Lake Como, and Florence. Kelly calls the Dubbs some of the best clients he’s traveled with. “They’re up for anything,” he says. “It’s a blast.”
When the Dubbs came to Kelly, they arrived with one firm request: they didn’t want a single element that felt contemporary. “We wanted it to feel like a period before modern design existed,” Kelly says. The challenge was that the preexisting house was a little incohesive—part Spanish hacienda, part Italian villa. Rather than change the building entirely, The Warner Group kept the project inside the existing footprint, while transforming nearly everything else. Both floors were reconfigured: the ground floor opened into one great room anchored by a reclaimed stone fireplace, and an oversized primary closet upstairs was sacrificed to create an entirely new bedroom and bathroom. Wood flooring was shipped directly from Italy. The property’s original travertine pattern was no longer manufactured, so stone had to be custom-fabricated to match. Cast stone at the entry came from a craftsman in nearby Atascadero, ironwork was handled by a local metalworker, and the kitchen island and banquette were built by a Los Angeles millworker, modeled on antique Italian furniture the team sourced as reference.
That same instinct shaped every room inside the house. Over the course of a couple years, Kelly and The Warner Group’s design team combed estate sales throughout Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and the Central Coast, while also making multiple trips to Italy to source antiques. Sofas were reupholstered rather than replaced, antique dressers were converted into bathroom vanities, and a centuries old suit of armor, gifted to the Dubbs by The Warner Group became the finishing touch in the home’s game room. One of the living room’s focal points, a hand-blown Murano glass chandelier, was sourced during a visit to Murano, an island near Venice known for its centuries-old glassblowing tradition. Almost nothing inside of Villa Lucia was purchased new. Each of the six bedrooms was built around its own distinct set of unique pieces, an idea borrowed from a favorite boutique hotel in Venice where no two rooms look alike. “You feel like you're in a different hotel every time,” Stephen says, “just because of the furnishings and the decor.”
Beginning this August, Villa Lucia will be available as a luxury vacation rental, inviting guests to experience the 6-bed, 6.5-bath estate as the Dubbs envisioned it. In addition to exploring the property’s working vineyard, visitors will be able to partake in private dinners prepared by local chefs and wine tastings led by local sommeliers, bringing the region’s celebrated wine and food culture directly to the villa. They encourage guests to walk the vineyard, collect grapes, and get a real sense of, as Stephen puts it, “the lore of wine and winemaking.”
For the Dubbs, however, the goal was never to create just another luxury vacation rental. They wanted a place where guests could slow down, gather around long dinners, and for a while, feel transported to the Italian countryside.
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