Come With Me to Santa Fe! Food, Luxury Homes, and Art

SN and I recently had the pleasure of attending the ARTsmart Art of Home tour in Santa Fe. Sponsored by Keller Williams Realty, it's an annual, free event that combines art from local galleries with luxury homes for sale. This year, the event fell on the same weekend as Santa Fe Restaurant Week, pairing two of my greatest loves, houses and food. How could we possibly resist?

If you're considering visiting New Mexico, be sure to add the ARTsmart Art of Home tour and Santa Fe Restaurant Week to your travel itinerary, if at all possible. We always drive up from Albuquerque for the Santa Fe Parade of Homes every summer, even though we think it's overpriced...but maybe not anymore because this was so much better.

At one of the homes, we were thanked because attending this event supports local school children...but probably only if you buy some artwork, right? And...we didn't. You know what will help set things right though? An awesome blog post to spread the word for ARTsmart!

That's right, nifty reader. By visiting my site right now, you are actively helping to educate the children of Santa Fe, NM. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Each of the 6 fabulous homes you're about to virtually tour is currently available for sale. Oh, and at the end of this post is a reader-favorite, a Sexy Nerd Quote of the Day. It's a funny one.

Let's get started!

1150 Canyon Rd ($1,325,000 for 2,524 sq. ft.)

You know I chose this outfit because I thought it looked "artsy".

The first home on our blog tour is located steps from the many art galleries of Canyon Road, which is a must-do for anyone visiting Santa Fe. It's one of 5 residential condos that actually used to be part of the Manderfield School, built in 1927. You were wondering why your new million-dollar home says Manderfield across the top, right?

This was actually our second visit to this property. Each time, I've been stunned by the natural light. How did they turn a dilapidated school into this?

SN gave me a bit of a scare here. When I remarked that you don't get a lot of house for your money when you live on Canyon Road, he not only insisted that it's worth the price because of the location, he said that we work hard so if a million dollars is what he has to spend to live where he wants, then a million dollars is what he is going to spend. He's not willing to live a few blocks away just to save a few hundred thousand dollars.

He's going to be expensive when we retire, isn't he?

92 Avenida de las Casas ($2,750,000 for 7,675 sq. ft.)

We admired the unique fireplace and artwork in this dining room, though the chandelier/ceiling fan gave us a laugh.

There's a hot tub right off the master bedroom.

This entryway alone is more breathtaking than most entire houses, including mine.

Couldn't you just spend the rest of your life lounging by this pool, enjoying the gorgeous New Mexico weather?

A wet bar dates most homes and is usually an excuse for a remodel, but I'd be happy to make an exception for this one.

3304 Monte Sereno ($2,100,000 for 4,128 sq. ft)

I've never seen a light fixture like this. (And we just built our custom dream home - I've seen all the light fixtures.)

bedroom with amerisleep mattress and unique ceiling

Our master bedroom isn't small, but I'm pretty sure you could fit 3 of ours in here.

Even the walk-in closet has a coved ceiling with vigas.

This has me dreaming of all the places in our new home where I should have included a window seat.

For me, the part of this home was the artwork on the back patio. It's a statue by my favorite artist, Jill Shwaiko. Her work is inspired by petroglyphs of big horn sheep. When you plan your visit to Santa Fe, be sure to include a stop at her Indigo Gallery in Madrid, NM.

1005 Paseo Barranca ($2,250,000 for 9,100 sq. ft.)

My husband and I are home tour enthusiasts, thinking nothing of traveling to another state for a good Parade of Homes. It's so much fun! We've probably toured thousands of luxury homes - and this house is one of the most unusual ones we have ever visited.

The balcony I'm standing on? It overlooks the pool room, which is indoors. It used to contain an actual indoor pool, which has since been filled in. Now it contains a pool table.

The homeowners have moved to Florida and are currently offering this home as a rental. It's popular for large gatherings, including weddings and family reunions.

The style of the house is a bit...confused. It started life as a somewhat normal home, then was added onto...and then was added onto again...and again.

There are some stunningly beautiful details, like these antique wooden doors and this pot that has been converted into a sink.

There are modern light fixtures and contemporary sinks scattered randomly throughout. I'd like to buy this house just to be able to rip all that out.

When building our dream home, our plans were delayed while I sought out a surprisingly elusive quatrefoil window. This house has several of them!

401 E Alameda ($1,300,000 for 2,011 sq. ft)

This is the sort of hacienda Airbnb dreams are made of. Saturated with charming Southwestern style, it's steps from the Santa Fe River Park (hence the hefty price tag) and can be used as a single family home or up to two vacation rentals.

cozy bedroom with dark walls and amerisleep mattress

This is exactly the look I'm going for in our own master bedroom - a dark, cozy cocoon. It was such a welcome surprise to see this in real life, as my SN has been unconvinced. (He likes to bring up the time I painted my closet ceiling black - and frantically painted over it immediately after.) Now he understands the snug vibe I'm envisioning.

Considering this adobe house is on the smaller side, you get a surprisingly ample kitchen. The plaster nicho is crying out for a more substantial piece of art.

The concrete counter has inlaid turquoise! How amazing is that?

I think I'm going to borrow this idea for the outdoor kitchen we are designing. That's the best part of home tours - finding inspiration that improves your own home.

I'd also like to paint my doors to match this one. Curse my lack of artistic skills!

841 Vista Canada ($1,800,000 for 4,921 sq. ft.)

This was the stop on the ARTsmart Art of Home tour that made my jaw drop. Can you believe that enormous glass skylight? The wood beams are such a nice touch.

Just when you thought this house couldn't wow you further, there's a charming patio right off the kitchen.

An amazing indoor patio. I could have stayed in this room all day if you-know-who hadn't kept pulling me out. He said it would be miserably hot in the summer. On the cool, overcast day we visited, it was heaven.

My #1 most beloved feature in a house is an indoor/outdoor vibe. I would buy this one in a heartbeat if I lived in Santa Fe.

(And, you know, if I had an extra 1.8 million dollars laying around.)

That concludes our Santa Fe home tour.

But wait, there's more! (Bonus points if you read that in the voice of an infomercial announcer.)

After visiting the final home, we stopped at Plaza Cafe Southside to sample their Santa Fe Restaurant Week menu. At only $15 for 3 courses, it was quite the bargain.

We enjoyed sharing fried calamari and chile con queso. (Spellcheck insists it should be 'chili' con queso. That's not how we do things here in New Mexico. This is queso made with our beloved green chile.)

Avocado tacos with quinoa, sesame, and poppy seeds. Amazing!

For dessert, we got slightly carried away and ordered the two desserts that were included with our prix fixe meal, plus a third.

The coconut cream pie and quatro leches cupcake were good, especially after I took the pie home and drizzled the heck out of it with salted caramel and chocolate syrups. The red velvet flan, above, was our favorite.

Oh, you also ordered food to go, you think. How considerate of you, bringing a meal back for your parents.

No...this is how much food we had leftover. I love Plaza Cafe Southside! (The avocado tacos taste even better the next day, by the way.)

Now for that "Sexy Nerd Quote of the Day" I promised you.

Him: Hey, you didn't eat your celery.

He steals my food right off my plate, takes a big bite, and instantly makes a face.

Me: That's a green onion.

He's so ridiculous, that SN of mine.

For more Santa Fe travel tips and must-do ideas, check out one of my all-time favorite posts, The Grump Goes to Santa Fe.

Enjoy this post? Please share it!

Santa Fe budget travel guide food and architecture

Cake Mix Pancakes with No Eggs

When making Cake Mix pancakes , the scrumptious possibilities are endless. Red Velvet cake mix pancakes. Chocolate cake mix pancakes. Butter Pecan cake mix pancakes. Funfetti cake mix pancakes. (Yes, Funfetti cake mix pancakes!) With this 2-ingredient recipe, you can turn your favorite cake mix into your favorite pancakes. Pancake making at its finest. Cake Mix Pancakes with No Eggs Personally, I think my funny napkin is the icing on the (pan)cake. It's Sunday morning and you're planning to do all the things today - scrub those grody baseboards, polish your quartz countertop that was supposed to be low maintenance but actually isn't at all, sort through the disaster that is the freezer. While on your superhuman kick, you think I'm going to make my family pancakes for breakfast. Not just any pancakes - the best pancakes ever. I may even serve them as breakfast in bed! You pull out your favorite pancakes pan. Yeah, you're awesome sauce. But oh...

Chemical Peel Before & After

This article has been updated! My new chemical peel post, which includes pricing, Jessner peel before and after photos, product recommendations, and a helpful timeline for scheduling your treatments, is at the bottom. My original Jessner peel post (one of the most popular on my site of all time) is at the beginning. Original Chemical Peel Article Considering a chemical peel? I recently underwent my first Jessner peel and thought I'd share my results, post a Jessner peel review, and answer some frequently asked chemical peel questions. (I'm guessing that "Does a chemical peel hurt?" is a biggie!) I'd been planning to order an over-the-counter peel when we were in Iceland , but my computer led me a different direction. I decided to do this on a whim after Groupon greeted me one morning with a great $40 chemical peel deal. Now, I can read your mind. You just gasped in horror and thought You trusted your face to a discount chemical peel?! You're won...

10 Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks

You're in for a treat. Today I'm sharing my best canned cinnamon roll hacks and improvements for turning store-bought cinnamon rolls, like the Pillsbury Grands ones or even the store brand, into something special. Dry cinnamon rolls? No thank you. They need to be OOEY and GOOEY. That's just Cinnamon Roll 101. All of these ideas keep Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls soft, company-worthy, and delicious. These are also great for taking homemade cinnamon rolls up a notch, but what a pain that is. With these better-than-homemade canned cinnamon roll hacks, you'll never bother to bake them from scratch again. Test out some of these ideas tomorrow. Won't it be nice to dig into a mouthwatering cinnamon roll for breakfast? You can't get a better start to your day than that. 10 Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks No Eggs Needed! Actually, make that 11 easy ways to improve store-bought cinnamon rolls: you can top them with homemade coffee whipped cream . Yum! Nope, make that...

How to Move a Mattress

My site is popular for reviewing memory foam mattresses. With today's bed-in-a-box options lasting much longer than the traditional 7 years of a spring mattress, there's a good chance you'll eventually need to move one. But how? This is how to move a mattress without damaging it - even by yourself! When we were faced with the challenge of moving our beloved Amerisleep AS3 to our new home, it seemed like my readers would enjoy the details. This handy tip should work for any memory foam bed, including Casper, Leesa, and Nectar. I'm happy to report there is an extremely simple way to do it. Apartment and dorm dwellers rejoice! How to Move a Mattress At first, I wasn't sure how to move our king-size mattress down a flight of stairs. It's a problem we've dreaded solving ever since we made the decision to build a new house. The answer? It was right in the back of our truck. Ratchet straps . This solution could also serve as a 'How To' for returning ...

Dental Memes

As the manager of two successful dental offices, my favorite memes are ones I can share with my dentistry dream team. Happy Team = Living the Dream! You don't have to work in dentistry to enjoy these. After all, everyone is a dental patient. You have visited the dentist within at least the year...right? (No guilt if you haven't! I've scheduled patients who haven't seen a dentist since the 1970s. Dentists, dental assistants, dental hygienists, and dental administrators have seen it all. We love this field because we love helping our patients. It's never too late to get back on track!) Funny Memes for Dentists Reminder: National Dentist's Appreciation Day is March 6th! Funny Memes for Dental Hygienists Reminder: National Dental Hygienist Appreciation Week is always the 2nd week of April! Funny Memes for Dental Assistants Reminder: National Dental Assistant Appreciation Week is always the 2nd week of March! Funny Memes for Dental Office Administrators Reminder: Ad...

Window Seat Idea - Dream Home Inspiration of the Day

See it? Waaay at the back of the photo? I like how the window seat extends past the window all the way to the wall. How about you? If that's not your style, how about one of these lovely window seats? I'll seat you, my pretty, and your little dog too. How perfect would this be in a home office? I'd swap out that wimpy rug with a larger one.

Reuzel: Grooming Tonic Industry Review

I'm looking out for you, my bloggy friends. At my last haircut, the hairdresser shared his favorite hair product of all time, REUZEL (which I'd never heard of), with me and I had enough sense to get the details to share with you. He didn't even have a bottle of it to sell me. It was a genuine, honest review. Also, are they still called hairdressers? Is this the equivalent of calling your flight attendant a stewardess? Stylist? Barber? Reuzel Grooming Tonic Review You know those men who have the softest, most perfect hair and it seems so unfair because most men don't even care about their hair? (Or so they say.) I think this is their secret. While you're here, be sure to read my funny haircut story . Geez, I'm awkward. The fact that I was brave enough to ask to take this photo at the salon is proof I love my blog readers. Never heard of it? That's probably because Reuzel Grooming Tonic is marketed toward men. From reading their endless 5-star reviews, men ...

Instant Pot Oatmeal & Quinoa Recipe (Healthy Egg-Free Breakfast)

*Do not add chia seeds - see note at the end of this recipe. In response to my popular Instant Pot Explosion blog post, I've had a few blog readers ask for my oatmeal with quinoa recipe, which is made in the Instant Pot. This seems a bit odd...you guys aren't trying to recreate that gooey mess in your own kitchens, right? My recipe does make delicious, foolproof Instant Pot oatmeal. It's only for patient people though. Whatever you do, do not manually release the pressure valve at the end of the cooking cycle! This recipe is also great in a Crock Pot, though that method takes longer. I like to set the temperature to Low before bed. What a hearty, indulgent breakfast to wake up to! I've been cooking up batches of my Oatmeal with Quinoa for years, long before I'd heard of the Instant Pot, and have even gifted the dry ingredients to health-conscious friends and family, who've suggested I sell this. Shark Tank, here I come! Oatmeal with Quinoa No eggs/...

Hello Fresh Complaints

Hello, my bloggy friends. I have a HelloFresh complaint and believe they are pulling a scam. Yours truly came *this close* to falling for it. Maybe scam is too harsh of a word. Sneaky? You can decide for yourself. The fact that there are so many Hello Fresh complaints online does seem suspicious. My main complaint about Hello Fresh has to do with their promotional rate, which seems like it is set up to be intentionally misleading (more on this below). Despite so many people complaining about being charged more than they thought they'd agreed to, Hello Fresh maintains this as part of their business model and continues to mislead. So it's intentional, right? I do not recommend Hello Fresh. For starters, the service is just ingredients-by-mail with recipes, not meals. You can buy your own ingredients for much less, especially now that most grocery stores conveniently offer pickup and delivery. Excellent recipes are easy to find. Click here for a list of top-rated, reader-favori...

3 Minute Toaster/Convection Oven Smores

These are perfect when you're craving a quick, sugary treat. They work equally well in a toaster oven and a convection oven. Best of all, compared to eating an entire bag of Oreos (something I have never done), they're quite healthy. What's that, you say? You already know how to make s'mores in the toaster oven? Well then, sit back and enjoy the ooey-gooey marshmallowy photos. (And if you're someone who works with me, please keep the "I've seen her polish off an entire bag of Oreo cookies" nonsense to yourself.) Step 1: Put desired amount of graham crackers on a toaster oven/convection oven-safe pan. Looks like it's time to clean this pan, Sexy Nerd Optional 1st step, which is Sexy Nerd's favorite: Spread peanut butter on each graham cracker (I'm not much of a peanut butter fan - WHAT?!? - so I skip this step.) Cover with yummy marshmallows. Top with chocolate chips. Place in the toaster o...

Kitty Deschanel

Search This Blog