Good Taste in Healdsburg

Mitch Laufer and his partner, Michael Dadario, paid $2.3 million for this hilltop home in Healdsburg, Calif., in 2007, according to public records. Mr. Laufer says they then spent approximately $1.3 million renovating the home and landscaping the garden. 'We had to reconfigure the entire property and then built a three-car garage and a 780-square-foot guesthouse,' says Mr. Laufer. Olga Soboleva

The couple originally planned on building a house until they found this property on the multiple listing service. 'It was 80% of what we were building and modern and beautiful, but not too hard around the edges,' says Mr. Laufer, 53, a marketing consultant in San Francisco with Mdadario & Associates. Mr. Laufer and Mr. Dadario founded Mdadario & Associates together. Mr. Dadario is now chief administrative officer at Lucky Brand jeans. Mr. Dadario says he will miss the rose bushes and the vegetable garden. 'When we're there you tend to just want to cook,' says Mr. Dadario, 55. Olga Soboleva

The 2,800-square-foot house sits on 19 acres and looks out at the vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley. 'Every day and every hour you see something different, you see a different painting,' says Mr. Laufer. 'Because the house is so high, most of the time it's above the fog line.' The couple have used the property as a second home. Their primary home is in San Francisco. Olga Soboleva

The couple chose stainless steel counters in the kitchen and blue limestone floors. Guests tend to gather around the 8-foot long onyx island, says Mr. Laufer. The couple are frequent visitors to the local wineries and recommend the rosé from Unti Vineyards (about 10 minutes away), though they are also fans of the Lambert Bridge winery, which is just at the bottom of the hill. Olga Soboleva

The main house includes three bedrooms and three full baths. Shown here is the master bedroom with its stacked-stone fireplace and white oak floor. On Friday nights the couple usually venture into the center of town (door-to-door it's a 14-minute drive, says Mr. Laufer), where they sit on the patio at Bistro Ralph and order the chicken paillard. They bring their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Geri. '(Geri) matches the house perfectly,' says Mr. Laufer, noting that she, coincidentally, is the same color as the wood floors. Olga Soboleva

Mr. Laufer says the master bath, shown here, was originally cramped. 'When we bought the house they had a very small vanity, it was only about 5 feet long,' he says. The couple put in a 10-foot-long vanity and added the window at the end of the room looking out at the valley. They also put in the blue limestone floor and the gray ceramic tiles on the walls. Olga Soboleva

The couple like to sit around the fireplace in the living room, shown here, on cold winter nights. They bought the property as a weekend getaway, though they also have a midcentury modern house in Palm Springs. Mr. Laufer says they are selling because it's time to downsize and they have bought a smaller home in downtown Healdsburg, which they are now rebuilding. 'It looks like the house on Chemise but smaller—it's a little more Frank Lloyd Wright,' says Mr. Laufer. Olga Soboleva

The deck, shown here, has a wide overhang that protects against the sun and the rain. There are infrared heaters if it gets chilly. Off the kitchen is a built-in barbecue. The couple planted olive trees and cook with their own olive oil. They drop off the olives at a local olive mill, where they are pressed, says Mr. Laufer. 'The olive oil is delicious.' Olga Soboleva

'When we bought the house there was no planting around the pool, it was nothing but stones—it's not fun getting out of the pool and walking on rocks,' says Mr. Laufer of the 50-foot pool with a gray bottom. The couple put in concrete around the pool and added a fire pit nearby. The property also has a pétanque court. Olga Soboleva

'I'm going to miss it, but I want to live downtown,' says Mr. Laufer. 'I like the small village feel.' The home was first listed in January 2013 with an asking price of $4.2 million. The asking price was lowered to $3.595 million on Feb. 1. Frank Nolan of Vanguard Properties and Sheri Morgensen of Sotheby's International Realty share the listing. Olga Soboleva