Walking through the lead glass doors of Sally Coss’ home in Valencia is like walking into a delightful dream. At once elegant and whimsical, Coss has collections beautifully displayed throughout the house and in every nook and cranny. The walls are full of paintings, pictures and mirrors in charming arrangements. The tables, counters and cabinets are full of figurines, tea pots, tea cups and crystal Christmas trees. But it is the hundreds of cute, charming and adorable porcelain bunnies all over the house and garden that make you realize this is a very special home. After raising five kids, Ted and Sally Coss built their dream house in 1991.

A building contractor, Ted took nearly two years to finish the three bedroom, 5,700 sq. foot house on nearly one-acre overlooking the 13th hole of the Vista Valencia Golf Course. Sally Coss said they designed the home to include exactly what they wanted, including a liquid mica-backed granite countertop in the dining room that winds in a dramatic spiral around the back of the staircase. While they had many wonderful years enjoying and decorating their charming home, after a long illness, Ted Coss died in June.

Meanwhile, Coss is moving forward at warp speed - cooking, canning, decorating, gardening and volunteering for her church.

“I have lots of nervous energy,” she said.

However, a house of this size needs more than one set of hands to keep it in order. Mercedes Herrera has been traveling up from the San Fernando Valley for 25 years to help keep the house pristine.

“It is important to find someone you can really trust,” Coss said.

Coss grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Chicago, where Ted was in the service. They married in 1958. When his father became ill, they moved to Tujunga, where Ted grew up. Taking over his father’s construction company, Ted formed T.M. Coss Inc., a contracting business. They raised their five children - Elizabeth, Michael, Jacqueline, Patrick and Virginia, on a one-acre property off of Lost Canyon.

A longtime member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, Coss does more than her share of volunteer work, including hosting the OLPH Teabags Luncheon and Fundraiser - an annual event that will be held this year on April 29.

“We were going to call ourselves the Martha’s, after Martha in the Bible and Martha Stewart,” Coss said. “But my daughter, Virginia, suggested Teabags and we loved it! Everyone loves the bags.”

This will be the seventh year for the annual fundraiser.

“This will be the first year Ted will not be with us for the Tea,” she said. “He really loved showing off our house.”

LIVING ROOMS

After completing the house, Coss sought decorating assistance from her friend, George Young, an interior designer.

“He still guides me when I have an idea for something new,” she said. “He gives me food for thought.”

The Coss’ started buying antiques in Pasadena and Glendale. In the living room, she pointed to the two high-backed sofas.

“They must have come from a brothel,” she said. “They are probably from the 1930s and covered in red velvet –I was scared to show them to Ted until I bought them, and I immediately had them recovered.”

Of all her collections though, she said she loves trees the best.

“You notice, I have paintings of trees all over the house,” she said. “I have brought a little bit of Wisconsin to California.”

KITCHEN

Coss said she loves to cook for all of her functions and puts up preserves from her fruit trees. So, not only does she boast a wonderful “cook’s” kitchen designed with her nephew, David Inman, but a side porch, with work tables, large open shelves, a sink, Subzero freezer and a half-bath accessible from the patio.

“It is well-used porch,” she said. “I love a second sink to wash pots and pans.” In the main kitchen she hangs her pots and pans and keeps her daily dishes on the shelves. “When I unload the dishwasher, I don’t even have to open the cupboard door,” she said.

GARDEN

While one could spend an entire day enjoying the house, it is the garden that ultimately takes over your senses. One could easily say that if Ted and Sally’s collections and memories are inside, their hearts are in the garden. Walking onto the back patio, you come across a garden shed and sitting room. Below the well-groomed patio, lawn and pool, Coss’ garden continues down the terraced slope The winding stone paths lead through to hundreds of roses, including those named for each of their five children, nine grandchildren and many friends. Among them are “Queen Elizabeth,” “St. Patrick,” for their kids, “Anastasia” and “Pretty Jessie” for grandchildren; “Mary” for five of her friends. As you make your way down the seven levels, you can stop and rest at one of 10 shady arbors. She has also planted a vast variety of fruit and citrus trees, Azaleas, Camellias, lavender, a Bay tree, Ceonoethus, Rockrose, a variety of native grasses, succulents, Clematis, Lilies, Iris, Valerian and Olallieberries. To hone her gardening skills, Coss took horticulture classes at Descanso Gardens. “I work every end of it, and really get into it,” she said. “It is amazing to stand here and look up, the view always changes, it is different each month.”

Standing by a huge display of “Snow in Winter,” Coss said most of her garden has recovered from the killer frost that ravaged SCV gardens this past winter. Her worst casualties were the lavender, Ficus and Meyer lemon tree. She said the secret for her spectacular garden is constant watering, irrigation and fertilizer.

“I weed as I go along,” she said.

OPEN HOUSE

With such a beautiful home, Coss loves opening it up for numerous events and charity functions. Her house will once again be featured on the Memorial Garden Tour on Sunday, June 10. During the winter, the OLPH Teabags use her garden room to design a tree for the Boys and Girls Club “Festival of Trees.” She said even though her kids are all grown and gone, they try to have as many Thanksgivings and Christmases there as possible. Coss said her daughter, Virginia, is a Valencia mom; and her youngest, Elizabeth, is moving to Singapore to teach art therapy. Her oldest, Michael, is a land developer in San Louis Obispo, daughter Jacqueline is an insurance agent in Arkansas and Patrick is a massage therapist in Albuquerque, N.M. Although she regrets that her children are scattered, she admits it allows her to travel. But mostly she loves creating a magical place to live and dream, where all of her children, grandchildren and friends can gather. Coss only wishes she had a few more years to enjoy it with her husband, but his legacy lives on. “He is here with me every day in spirit,” she said. “I feel him in the garden, he is here with us now.”

source :www.the-signal.com

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