At Home With Valley Anchor Tara Hitchcock
Country French Charm

by Danielle D’Adamo
Her signature smile and boisterous laugh greets Arizona residents every morning on KTVK-TV’s “Good Morning Arizona.” Energized, casual and constantly cracking jokes, Tara Hitchcock has become one of the Valley’s favorite on-air personalities, but where does this bright and bubbly anchor disappear to once the cameras switch off? Hitchcock and her family find refuge in a cozy, hideaway estate reminiscent of a French chateau.

“I love it,” she says. “It’s really nice to come home to because not a day goes by when you don’t drive home and think, ‘This is cool that I live here.’”

Cool is an understatement. With roughly 8,000 square feet of Old World charm, the home was built over a decade ago by an Arizona State University professor. Designed as an elegant rural palace, the delicate stone exterior and extended brick driveway draped with lush greenery makes for an impressive entrance to the private European sanctuary.

Vibrant Personality
But this countryside manor is hardly ostentatious. As guests are ushered through the front door, eyes are instantly drawn to a large family portrait of Hitchcock, her husband and three stepchildren. “Pictures are the biggest thing for me,” Hitchcok says. “The pictures really make the house and I wanted that to be the main focus.”

Hitchcock’s main contribution to decorating was filling the home with family photos. Her love of photography and scrapbooking can been seen in vibrant collages throughout the kitchen and family room. “I just love taking pictures of my kids,” she says. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to brag about them?”

But the home needed more than a creative display of the vibrant people living there. With a critical lack of furnishing for five bedrooms and baths, Hitchcock and husband Kenn Francis were determined to bring life to the home.

“I always liked the little things about the house, like the original beam work,” Francis says. “Or the tiny pieces of straw on the wall. It has a lot of character.”

“Yes, it had character but it needed color,” Hitchcock adds. “Everything was beige and it had to go.” That’s where Phoenix interior designer Martin Cuban came in.

“Martin is the guy who did all this because I’m no designer,” she says. “He’s the one who thought of the colors, the pillows and the concept. I told him to just make the home reflect us.”

And that’s exactly what he did: a comfortable combination of Arabic-influenced colors and furniture to contrast the grandiose chateau architecture. Intricate fabric patterns complement the rich wood interior. The textured walls and high vaulted ceilings are offset by bright colors, antique knick-knacks and oversized couches to keep rooms quaint and cozy. But for Hitchcock, there was still something missing to truly make this home.

“The kids used to spend a lot of time in the basement and we never saw them,” she says. “We needed a central room for all of us to sit and play and talk like a real family.”

The result was a 1,000-square-foot family room with two enormous, custom-made sofas perfect for eating, drinking and playing. “We call them the Yao Ming couches,” says Hitchcock. “We didn’t want to have ottomans so we made these out of fabric that you can put your feet on. We want people to relax and stay awhile.”

Fantasy Realm
Keeping things casual and comfortable, the interior of the home was made to reflect the family’s personalities. Everyone has a personal space: a private study and office for Kenn, computer room for Dylan and a few fun rooms for Hitchcock as well such as an intimate craft room for scrapbooking and separate master bedroom in which she can get ready in the early morning hours.

“I wake up at four in the morning, and this way I won’t wake up the entire house,” she says. “I store all my clothes here and I get my own bathroom!”

But Hitchcock says hands down the best room in the house is the kitchen because everyone comes together around the dinner table. The “Cusine de Tara” sign in the cozy French country kitchen marks her territory with an exposed iron pot rack, colorful tile backwash against the stove and a matching olive green fridge/freezer and dishwasher.

“This is where we really become a family,” Hitchcock says. “We always do highlights and lowlights of the day. And the best part is that somebody’s lowlight can be somebody’s highlight, which can make for funny dinner conversations. It’s even at the point where a lot of the kids want to come over here to eat and do this with us.”

Along with the cozy, jumbo furniture and colorful family dinners, there is a fanciful element evident throughout the home. Whether it’s the winding cobblestone staircase to the wine tasting room that mimics Snow White’s castle, or the Lord of the Rings-themed bedroom complete with a large tree, secret loft and hand painted characters, there seems to be a bit of magic afoot.

“This is probably the coolest room,” Hitchcock says of Dylan’s room. “We did an entire Lord of the Rings theme in here and even had Dylan painted into it. Unfortunately, he grew out of it about two years in, but to me, this is the ultimate kid’s room.”

Adding to the magical element of the home, the backyard mirrors something out of a fairytale. Lush green grounds extend out from a countryside-inspired theme with a flowing moat and lively koi pond. A weathered boat rocking slowly in the water completes the pastoral scene.

“The house didn’t have a pool and I thought was strange,” Hitchcock says. “So we added the pool and I just love the view of the pond from our bedroom. It looks like the house is floating on the water. It’s so peaceful.”

Indeed, many would call this home an ideal sanctuary. With the family’s new additions to an Old World classic, it’s easy to see how this TV personality finds peace and contentment at this secluded country manor.

Danielle D’Adamo is Managing Editor of New Homes Today.