TLC reality show Four Houses 2013 winner and poker player shows off Las Vegas home
Southern Nevada is one of the top choices for retirement homes, particularly for those migrating from California. For Bob and Doralee Rae, his retirement coincided with her growing interest in poker, and the choice was clear: move to Las Vegas.
“Doralee and I wanted a warmer climate for retirement with lots of recreational options,” Bob said. “The cost of living is about half of Palm Springs and Scottsdale … and very competitive to Tucson and New Mexico.”
In 2008, the couple paid $1.6 million for a single-story house in the Red Rock Country Club on the 18th fairway, gutted it and turned it into a stunning showcase of indoor/outdoor living. It is their second home in the community. The first was a two-story, but they decided a single-story would be best for their long-term needs.
“We wanted everything that you typically find in a larger home, but in a single level, smaller space,” Doralee said. “Most important was the view. It was important to us to see and hear running water in every room.”
They restructured the main rooms so that all have a fireplace, along with the ability to view and hear sounds from the backyard pool.
In 2013, Doralee and the home were contestants on the TLC reality show “Four Houses,” featuring four proud local homeowners invited to preview, critique and score each other’s homes for the chance to win $10,000. Doralee was the winner of that particular episode.
“The best thing to come out of it was now I have a relationship with Murray (Sawchuck) and (his wife) Chloe,” Doralee said of her Las Vegas magician co-contestants.
During the home renovation process, Bob was commuting from the Bay area for his job as president of Meyer Corp., maker of cookware, working closely with Rachael Ray and Paula Deen on their product lines, while Doralee entered poker tournaments.
“I play because I have a love for the game, and I live here to seriously play poker,” she said, although she said she doesn’t consider herself a “professional” level player yet.
Nicknamed “Lady Pink” for her trademark pink cowgirl hat, her friends showed support at this year’s World Series of Poker by wearing matching pink hats. Out of 7,192 players, she finished 233rd, “in the money,” in the Monster Stack event.
What looks like a typical Mediterranean-style home from the outside is really much more special inside.
The exterior is trimmed with a stone veneer, which was also used around the main fireplace in the living room.
Like many of the homes in this development, it has a small, nicely landscaped front yard with a 10-foot gate that opens into a welcoming courtyard with seating in front of a fireplace surrounded by lush foliage.
“This is where we host the trick or treaters,” Doralee said.
The lot is surrounded with about a half-dozen date palm trees.
A casita with full bath, which is as nice as any hotel room in a luxury resort, is accessed from the front courtyard.
They added an epoxied, stamped concrete walkway from the casita to the backyard and added the same finish to the rest of the courtyard. From the exterior, music flows out of hidden speakers and continues to play throughout the house as you enter through a 12-foot-high arched custom metal and glass main door.
The style could be called desert contemporary. The colors are warm earth tones, with plenty of natural materials like silk and leather. Marble flooring is used throughout the main areas with a plush textured carpet in the master bedroom. The cabinets in every room are hand-painted pecan, and each room has just the right amount of them to keep any clutter neatly tucked away.
The back of the house features multiple floor-to-ceiling windows, and each room has glass doors opening to the patio, with an infinity-edged pool and an elevated hot tub where friends gather to take in the view. It is trimmed with desert plantings, four fire pits and multicolored rotating lights that add visual interest at night.
The master bedroom suite is just off the front door, where a tall, lighted water wall feature provides a soothing sound as you enter the spacious room.
Lighting is provided by recessed pot lights built into a bulkhead over the bed, as well as into the coffered ceiling. The entire wall behind the bed is upholstered with a rust-colored silk fabric. In this room as well as the others, the ceiling is a darker brown than the walls, but a recessed border of lights was added to provide indirect lighting.
The master bath has the same light marble floor and trims as the rest of the house to provide continuity.
“It’s more calming, especially in a bedroom,” Doralee said.
There is a glass block wall allowing filtered natural light, a modern glass chandelier over the tub, glass-enclosed shower and separate vanities and closets.
There are two other bedrooms. One is set up as an office, and the other is used as a library and media room. Both have Murphy beds neatly built into the wall and plenty of built-in storage and lighted display cabinets.
The library/media room is next to the dining room and has glass doors that let in light, but has retractable blackout drapes when being used as a guest room or for movie viewing.
Floor-to-ceiling bookcases are accessible via an attached ladder. It also has a hidden door that pivots to open into the hallway between the other bedroom and kitchen. Four reclining leather club chairs provide comfortable seating, and when watching a movie, the aquarium disappears behind the retractable viewing screen.
The office/guest bedroom has a wall with three stacked television screens, and has a full bath and an exterior entrance. Like the living and dining room, it has a coffered ceiling, but this room’s ceiling is trimmed with laminate wood that would typically be used on a floor.
A circular tan leather sectional arranged in front of the living room fireplace “can comfortably seat 12,” Doralee said. “Guests say it’s so nice to be able to sit comfortably with the sound and light coming in from outside.”
A warm faux finish was used in the coffered ceiling sections to draw the eye up. Two large, “one of one” color photos of rock formations by Rodney Lough Jr., who has a gallery at The Shops at Crystals (Aria), flank the fireplace.
The living room flows into the dining room and bar made of white onyx stone lit from underneath. A small space walled off with glass houses the couple’s 600-bottle wine collection.
The family room and kitchen take up one side of the house. An area with pool equipment on the side off the kitchen was redesigned to incorporate an outdoor breakfast nook. They sectioned off the equipment with panels and a gate, and on the other side added glass doors opening to a small patio containing planter boxes filled with desert flowers that Doralee tends to.
The kitchen appliances are all top of the line, with a range hood over a center island with gas cooktop. The modern, chrome and glass pendant lights hang above a tiger skin granite countertop. There is also a full outdoor kitchen.
The home has dual two-car garages on one side of the house. Both are tiled, air-conditioned and used for party overflow.
“This is one of the nine or so lots here that has not only a fairway view, but views of the (Red Rock Country Club’s) lake and the Strip,” Bob said.
How lucky for them to taken a gamble and ending up with their dream home.