Inspired By: Sara & Rich Combs, The Joshua Tree House

Husband and wife design team, Sara and Rich Combs, create oases in the desert. The couple’s interior design & lifestyle brand, The Joshua Tree House, has a loyal social media tribe that follows their adventures as they transform dated desert properties into casual-chic, Instagram-worthy spaces.

 Mojave Desert Retreat

Rich and Sara’s property at the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park in California includes three unique lodging options for guests — the House, Casita, and Hacienda. Built in the 1940s and ‘50s, each space has been meticulously renovated, decorated, and outfitted with thoughtful touches to make visits memorable — from hot tubs situated to take in the desert night sky, to record players with a collection of albums curated to set the mood. 

Sara explained how the property evolved: “We began with the House, a space we found on Craigslist and initially bought as our own creative retreat. We listed the space on Airbnb to help pay for our mortgage, and soon found that others were also looking for a space to reflect, reset, and create. Soon, we could barely find openings in the calendar to stay there ourselves, which is when we found the next property with the Casita and Hacienda. We built on what we had learned by designing and renovating the House, and our vision evolved with each space.”

 Getaway in the Sonoran Desert

The designers’ latest venture, the Posada, is a unique 40-acre desert property in Tucson, Arizona, which Rich describes as, “a culmination of the spaces we created in Joshua Tree.” 

 Sara added,“It’s always been a part of our DNA to immerse our guests in nature, so we knew we wanted this space to be near a national park. When we found an old inn in need of some love, bordering Saguaro National Park, we knew it was the perfect spot to bring this dream to life. We’ve recreated the shared areas we found during our travels in Morocco — with a shared living room/lounge, bar, kitchen, dining area, and rooftop patios — while also nurturing the same kind of quiet private spaces we’ve previously created in Joshua Tree.”

Rich said, “Spaces with a strong personality are our favorite kinds of spaces to work with. We initially fell in love with the Posada with its reclaimed ceilings made of saguaro ribs, reclaimed telephone poles, and railroad ties, its years of various forms of saltillo floors, and the forest of saguaros just outside.” 

The Posada has five suites — each carefully designed with products to complement the property’s architecture and  surroundings. “We were looking for pieces that felt like they would blend in with the local southwest environment… like they had been here all along,” Sara explained.

Sara and Rich partnered with Build.com to create unique and inviting spaces for their Summer 2019 opening. Sara said, “We were so impressed with the solid carved stone sinks and brass plumbing fixtures we found through Build.com! It was such a relief to find pieces with such character on a dependable site where we knew pieces would arrive within a week or so.”

The Saguaro Suite features rough-hewn beams on the ceiling, and painted adobe walls. The en suite (dubbed “the Jungle Bathroom” for the lush green plants throughout the space) has a mosaic tile sunken tub and walk-in shower, which are paired with Delta Trinsic fixtures in champagne bronze. The double vanity has two Signature Hardware marble vessel sinks which also feature faucets from the Delta Trinsic collection.

In the Ocotillo bathroom, Sara and Rich juxtaposed the organic wood and adobe with a pair of sleek oval bathroom sinks from the Signature Hardware Atria collection. Above the sinks are wall-mounted Delta Trinsic faucets in champagne bronze.

A shared bathroom on the property has a Delta Trinsic wall-mounted faucet in matte black over a Signature Hardware oval chiseled marble vessel sink. The sinks are set into a custom adobe counter with open cubbies. 

Q&A with Rich & Sara Combs

We asked the couple to share some of their design secrets and philosophy for creating truly unique lodging experiences. Here’s what they told us:

Q: Your story shows a spirit of adventure and a sense of nonconformity. How does your unique outlook translate into the spaces and experiences you create for your guests? 

A: It’s our goal to create an environment that feels like home for our guests; a space for people to reflect, reset, and create. We encourage new healthy rituals and habits to form during our guests’ stays, particularly around finding enjoyment in the most ordinary moments. Slowly brewing a cup of coffee, putting on a record, spending more time out in nature, and simply taking the time to breathe are simple reminders that life does not have to be grand to be special. We like to think that the experience of staying at any of our locations begins before you arrive, and comes home with you.

Q: What feelings do you hope your spaces evoke for your guests, and how do you create the right vibe?

A: We love to design for experiences. Of course we love an aesthetically pleasing space, but if there’s nothing to interact with it’s only as good as a photo. The experiences in a home are what make it feel lived in: playing your favorite record, brewing a cup of coffee, reading a book, lounging in a hammock etc. We spend a lot of time designing experiences; particularly ones that celebrate the ordinary moments we all often overlook on a daily basis. If we can find joy in the ordinary, each day becomes something to celebrate.

Q: What are some great design ideas you’ve brought back from your travels, and how have you implemented them in your properties?

A: Throughout our travels in Southeast Asia, Morocco, and Mexico, our favorite places we’ve stayed have had communal areas. We love meeting other travelers who shape our experiences in each place, and have also found it so important to be the guest in spaces like these so we can remind ourselves what it means to be a host.

Last year we traveled to Morocco, and felt incredibly inspired by the Moroccan riads. There’s an incredible sense of hospitality ingrained into the culture there, and these small boutique hotel type spaces with five or six rooms and shared common spaces were something we craved to recreate here in the US.

Q: If good design is in the details, tell us about some of the little touches you’ve added to make your guests feel special and comfortable.

A: It is truly all in the details! We love curating pieces by local artists and designers, and we collect vintage books from local swap meets and flea markets about the desert, local plants and animals, etc (if our guests leave having learned about the local environment that makes us so happy!).

We love to play with all of the senses in our designs, so music is a huge part of that as well. Putting on a record and being present through each album encourages our guests to slow down and enjoy their surroundings—we especially love curating albums that remind us of the feeling of being in the desert. Some were even written or recorded in the desert, we love bringing it full circle!

Q: What is the starting point for your designs? Do you begin with a mood board? Do you find a single standout piece (or pattern, or color) and use that as a jumping off point?

A: We start by looking to the surrounding natural landscape. While designing Posada, we took fan decks of colors and laid them out in the sand and next to the cacti. Here in Tucson, we found lots of terracottas, dusty greens, ochres, and warm whites which we brought inside. 

From there, we spent time with each room to get a feel for the personality of the building—granted, this inn had a life of its own before we ever found it, so we wanted to bring that story into the present by blending old with new.

Q: Can you share a couple designer “pro tips” for creating beautiful, comfortable spaces?

A: In our book, ‘At Home in Joshua Tree: A Field Guide to Desert Living’ we share our four ‘design mantras’ that we repeat often as we design spaces that are meant to be lived in: blur indoor and outdoor space, curate a home that enhances with use, design for ordinary experiences, and always add plants (real ones). In our book we go into detail on how these mantras guide our design practice.

Our favorite details are often pieces collected over time, and these are often the most affordable pieces as well: vintage books, small baskets, crystals, potted cacti, and old ceramics. etc. add so much life to a space!

Q: You two have been together since high school - and remodels can be very stressful (especially with the size of projects you take on). Any tips for working on a project with your partner?

A: Truly, this particular renovation was the hardest thing either of us has ever done! Knowing from the beginning that the renovation is not going to go completely as planned, and that you’ll learn together along the way makes all the difference. A lot of it is about expectations. We knew that this would be a stressful project, but we made the intention together early on to enjoy the process, embrace imperfections, and to expect setbacks. Even though setbacks can be frustrating, knowing they were coming along the way allowed us a certain sense of relief when we discovered what the setbacks were so that we could find a solution and move forward.

Q: It seems that every project has some surprises. Any tips for dealing with curve balls to the budget or timeline?

A: Always! Knowing that from the start makes all the difference though. With every decision along the way, we always ask ourselves “Do we need to do this to create this experience? Is there another less expensive material or way of achieving the same feeling in this space?” If the answer is yes to either of those questions, we’ll reevaluate our way of building as long as it doesn’t lose the integrity of the project.

In the same way with timeline, at the end of each day when we’re burnt out and exhausted, we ask ourselves “Is there one more thing we can accomplish today?” We believe that those many small decisions add up: a few dollars saved here and there, and a few more tasks completed each day. 

To learn more about the renovation process or booking a stay, follow Rich and Sara on Instagram @thejoshuatreehouse.