The Silverleaf Village: Comfort, Style and Luxury in a Distinctive Scottsdale Setting

Inspired by the charm and elegance of a European village, the collection of 19 rural Mediterranean-style homes is a short walk from the acclaimed 50,000-square-foot Silverleaf Clubhouse. Private club amenities include a spa, fitness area, resort and lap pools, and fine and casual dining.

Twelve villas and seven club cottages in The Village at Silverleaf range from 2,733 to 6,000-plus square feet and reflect attention to detail in all aspects of design. The homes incorporate large backyards for pools, spas and outdoor kitchens and, depending on elevation, you can chose study and sitting rooms, second floors, and sun-suffused lower levels.

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

Inside, features include Dutch doors, operable window walls, limestone fireplaces, antique timber trellises above the garage doors, and floors repurposed from trains that once traversed France.

All of the homes are designed and customized by Don Ziebell, Oz Architects; built by Rod Cullum, Cullum Homes; and represented by Silverleaf Realty, all in Scottsdale.

The Village at Silverleaf embraces the signature Arizona indoor/outdoor lifestyle and features some of the finest mountain and city lights views in the American Southwest. Also at your doorstep is the Tom Weiskopf-designed championship golf course as well as the club’s driving range.

The scenery is sublime: The spectacular foothills, mountains and canyons of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve—the country’s largest municipal natural preserve—adjoins the community and provides direct access to neighborhoods. At 30,580 acres, it’s the nation’s largest urban preserve, offering 130 miles of hiking and nature trails, recreation, and exploration.

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LUXURY LOCK-AND-LEAVE IN THE FOOTHILLS
“We love the easy lock-and-leave luxury lifestyle and the serenity and design of the community. It’s like a European village, a charming location where you walk to golf, to dinner, the spa and then home,” says Lauren Rautbord, interior designer at Paul Lauren, who enjoys a customized 6,924-square-foot villa in The Village at Silverleaf with her partner.

For Rautbord, architect Ziebell is an “extraordinary place- and style-maker and a master of materials” because of his skill in creating a community style and vibe, as well as modifying the floorplan to accommodate their design goals.

For example, he enhanced the original plan to bring more daylight into the lower level with an additional 30-foot wall of glass, extended the stair treads, and created an upstairs master bedroom suite with a walk-out loggia.

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He also sourced materials from around the world. From France, he acquired an antique limestone fireplace hearth and an outdoor fountain; Belgium, reclaimed limestone for use on first-floor walls and lower-level window surrounds; Chicago, vintage bricks; and reclaimed beams from structures in the Western United States.

“No traffic, no noise. Our home makes for elegant, serene indoor/outdoor space,” she says. “We enjoy sunrises over the mountains and inspiring Alpenglow sunsets, with the city lights twinkling.”

While the homes embrace the comfortable, luxury lifestyle that Silverleaf is known for, they’re life-centering sanctuaries, too, with quiet courtyards and entertainment patios and loggias for enjoying the views.

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“This is a perfect lifestyle home for us: low maintenance, security, access to hiking trails, immediate access to the clubhouse for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and drinks) and walking access to the fitness and spa facilities,” says Peter Niederman, a seasonal resident who purchased and customized a cottage with his wife, Linda.

“Cullum Homes and Don Ziebell were extremely accommodating, making the lifestyle changes to our home plan and interior that we requested,” he explains. The original layout for their three-bedroom home was comprised of 2,800 square feet with an upper loggia, but the couple wanted a four-bedroom with the loggia, and the square footage was increased to 3,400 to accommodate their needs.

The original design program was also more traditional. “Linda and I have transitioned our personal lifestyle taste to more ‘transitional modern’ versus the old-world look and feel.” That, too, was accomplished.

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A GOLD-MEDAL TEAM FOR THE VILLAGE AT SILVERLEAF
Merging indoor/outdoor living that doesn’t compete with nature was a priority for Ziebell, who also created the Silverleaf Clubhouse and well-known projects such as the Royal Palms Resort and Spa in Phoenix; Kukui’ula Plantation Clubhouse and Spa, Kauai; and Glenwild Golf Club, Park City, Utah. He brings his 30-plus years of design experience into each home at The Village at Silverleaf.

“The homes at The Village at Silverleaf are a design vocabulary called Rural Mediterranean, a mix of Mediterranean styles suitable for a hot sunny climate in a street-village concept that allows easy walking access to the Silverleaf Club amenities,” Ziebell explains.

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“The design allows for sufficient outdoor living space including courtyards, covered loggias, and second-floor spaces that emphasize views, while not creating so much area that it becomes a maintenance burden.”

Rob Cullum founded Cullum Homes 32 years ago. The multi-award-winning design/build/renovations firm has completed homes in Silverleaf and other prominent luxury communities such as Mountain Shadows, Desert Mountain, and the town of Paradise Valley.

The villas and cottages at The Village at Silverleaf blend contemporary components, old-world materials, and traditional craftsmanship, including maple cabinetry with dovetailed drawers, and garage doors incorporating tongue-and-groove-fitted red cedar.

Photo by Michael Baxter

In addition to the luxury details, the homes also have energy-efficient components such as insulated concrete form (ICF) construction. “This provides for a well-insulated, air-tight home and a quiet house,” he explains.

In addition, Daikin VRV (variable refrigerant velocity) and VRT (variable refrigerant temperature) are the newest standards in air-conditioning, essential in the Arizona desert. “This technology allows us to have a different temperature in every room and only condition the air in the rooms being used, thereby providing an extremely energy-efficient and quiet system,” he explains.

Photo by Roehner + Ryan

Also standard in each home are Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances, a clean-air filtration system, and trutankless water heaters.

Rautbord and Niederman praise the exemplary home design and building process, and are enjoying their new lives.

“Silverleaf as a community exudes similar qualities to the community we also live in in Colorado, and we wanted a home and a community here that our grown adult children felt welcomed when they visit us from Denver,” he says.

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“Our goal was a contemporary setting and a sense of timelessness for the old pieces that have meant so much to us,” she says. “Now that our home has come together so well, it’s even better than we thought it would be.”

Produced in partnership with our friends at The Village at Silverleaf. For more information on luxury living at Silverleaf, click here.