Jo Asprey is making an exceptional imprint as her role in this special house nestled in the Raasaf Hills community is not just custodian, but curator. This is easy to understand as Jo is the proprietor of a well-respected Signature Gallery in Huntsville, Alabama. Many elements from the gallery – whether paintings, blown glass, sculpture, stick figure or furniture – have found their way to her Las Cruces home. There is a business side to Jo with her ownership of Adventure Aviation at the Las Cruces International Airport, and a philanthropic connection to New Mexico State University. She is also the key proponent of the annual Las Cruces Air Show and is busy planning this May’s event.

Jo is a busy woman, but when it comes time to relax, her hillside home is a true sanctuary and gallery. The house itself was designed by Bruno Leon, who approached the design of this home and several others in the region with a very artistic viewpoint. The design was to be a Nautilus Chamber and the sweeping roofline is the defining element of the home. The roof only makes contact with the house at five bearing points. The house is an original adobe and this relieved the pressure on the adobe walls. This unique connection between the sweeping roof and the walls allows for glass to be positioned between the walls and roof. With this element the house absorbs light from east and west as the day progresses.

Jo purchased the home in 1994 and moved in 1997. After 10 years in the house Jo felt it was time to change the personality of the house.

“It was time to go modern with flair,” Jo says. Jo likes color, so the house was planned as a gallery to always consider showing the art elements. Jo met Kindell Cook, of Dale Schueller Homes, at another project and when it was time to do the makeover of her home it was an easy decision to call Kindell and Dale.

Step one was to find a place for Jo to live during the remodeling. This was necessary as the whole house was affected by the construction with the shutdown of the electrical and water plus demolition of walls and the floor. Ginny, Jo’s sister, and Kindell helped Jo decorate a cute apartment owned by Ginny to serve as temporary headquarters for Jo, her son and the cats. Dale went to work on the interior changes, which included pulling up the flooring and installing in-floor radiant heating. I am not sure who wanted this feature more, Jo or her three cats. A new heating and air conditioning system was installed. This was followed by new guest bedrooms with adjoining bath and a new hallway bathroom.

On a trip to Santa Fe, Ginny found a large water feature made of curved black granite. Kindell and Ginny were trying to find something to make an entry statement where an old entry coat closet used to be, and this find was perfect. With great effort from Dale’s crew, a landing was constructed for the large piece of black granite, and the water feature was set in a copper pan surrounded with river rock. Tech lighting provides the finishing touch to highlight the water feature and make the statement Jo, Ginny and Kindell envisioned.

The living room has new glass doors and a glass wall opening up that room to the outdoor patio living area. A series of wooden cabinets and bookcases were installed which make up the back wall of the living room, specifically designed to house Jo’s blown glass collection. The outdoor patio got a facelift with a cooking area and new patio furniture. Ginny, along with husband Jed, furnished several 12-foot metal Saguaro cacti, numerous metal barrel and fishhook cacti along with metal palm trees from their company, Subcon, that represents Desert Walk Desert Steel Sculptures. Several metal sculptures from Dale Rogers are also included: a grouping of stars at different heights sitting outside Jo’s bedroom window was included to make sure there were always stars in the line of sight to the mountain vistas; a special raven statue with an ode to Edgar Allen Poe sits on the edge of the patio gathering area and a Big Dog metal sculpture awaits at the house entrance. Yard art from Richard Kolb’s Bandana Yardbirds finish the exterior plan.

Dale also installed a new kitchen with Wolf Sub-Zero appliances and a kitchen counter with a special poured glass top. From Subcon, Ginny supplied “men climbing” pulls from Soko for all of the cabinetry. They are quite unusual and fit well with the gallery to home décor scheme.

The master bedroom took on a transformation as well with a new wall and a walk-in closet. In the bathroom, backlit vessel sinks from Morrison’s make a stunning statement. The master bath then became the type of bathroom certified by NASA, as the state-of-the-art shower and Jacuzzi system from Ariel was installed. This shower system is a one-piece unit that had to be put into position before the bathroom walls were built. The Ariel system comes with steam, sound, lighting, a variety of jets and nozzles, a Jacuzzi tub and, of course, a remote control. Just a few feet away they installed a Toto Neorest toilette that is full of features and a control panel. Some of the features are warm water rinse, air drying and automatic opening and closing. It has everything except “Hal’s voice” from 2001 Space Odyssey to greet you. This is truly a high tech bathroom. Continuing with the high-tech approach, “tech” lighting was installed throughout the house. This tech lighting focuses light on specific targets and is a perfect match for art and objects of art.

While Dale was doing the “heavy lifting,” (the granite water feature), Jo and Kindell planned the color scheme and selected shoji blinds for window coverings that have a modern oriental look, collapsing into a single panel left and right of the window. They planned for new furniture and the positioning of the art Jo wanted to place in the house. Prominent is the blown-glass collection that features Josh Simpson’s New Mexico Skies. Furniture elements were brought in from a custom furniture designer, “Sticks,” and three unique and colorful chairs from Robert Harman. Jo, Ginny and Kindell made trips to market in Hickory, North Carolina, to Chicago for the Kitchen & Bath Show and Santa Fe to select items for the house. Also, the trio made a trip to Jo’s Signature Gallery in Huntsville to select the pieces coming to Las Cruces. Jo selected pieces of sculpture in glass by Loretta Eby, sculpture by noted Arizona artist Susi Nogoda Berkquist and several pieces by Marian Pope, renowned watercolor artist. The Las Cruces collection also includes a few whimsical pieces by Brian Andreas and Grant-Noren who designs and paints faux finish pieces. Many of these artists that share the house with Jo can be viewed at the Signature Gallery (www.signaturegallery.com).

One of their great finds at market was bedroom furniture from the “Walt Disney Collection” of Drexel Heritage. This furniture group, highlighted by the bed, is patterned after the custom furniture Walt Disney had in his home. The hall bath is another area that is a work of art with sculptured granite walls and a pedestal sink from the Stone Forrest in Santa Fe. I can envision guests during a cocktail party just hanging out in the bathroom because of its unique and classy look.

After nine months of displacement Jo and the cats were finally back home in a place of comfort. Whether entertaining or just enjoying the 180-degree vistas of the Organ and Doña Ana Mountains, Jo is always surrounded by her great friends, the beautiful artists and artisans that she chose to join her in her home.