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Tuscan refuge

John Aleman and Yolie Aleman Rodriguez, Goodyear

A heavy rustic gate at the entrance of the John Aleman and Yolie Aleman-Rodriguez home opens to a private courtyard and then closes, leaving the outside world behind. It's the perfect beginning to a tour of the haven the couple has created in their spacious Palm Valley home in Goodyear.

The Alemans each run their own State Farm insurance offices and often work up to 12 hours a day. When they married two years ago they chose this house to be their relaxing refuge. Between volunteering at a Phoenix housing program, speaking at high school career days and golfing with local movers and shakers, Yolie added their elegant but welcoming style to this former model home.

"This house is just so comfortable, it's so much fun," she says. "Whenever I get stressed out, I can go do a little miniature golfing (on the putting green) or go down and watch a movie with my girlfriends.

"There are so many homes that you don't even want to sit down because you feel like you may break something. I wanted our home to be comfortable."

Warm, earthy colors fill the traditional-style house and classic artwork covers the walls but surprises pop up inside and out. In the back yard, the couple's two tortoises, Cuff and Link, roam around the putting green and designer pool. A separate cottage in the courtyard welcomes overnight guests (who often include any of John's 10 siblings) with a closet stocked with fluffy white robes. Inside the main house, an impressive floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace grounds the great room.

A long, massive dining table with iron accents suits their love of entertaining. One bedroom - which the couple plans to use as a children's room one day - has a sports theme with a full-size basketball goal mounted in front of a hand-painted mural of a cheering crowd.

A full basement features theater-style seating and a big screen projection television. In the home gym, another hand-painted mural of a desert scene warms up a blank wall.

Traveling has had the biggest influence on the Alemans' design style. "I went to Italy about five years ago and I knew I wanted to do my home in a Tuscan-style," Yolie explains. Memories of their trips are everywhere, from delicate Lladrò figures from Spain in the foyer's wall niches to a statue of Jesus bought in Sedona that is set on the mantle.

"It's so important to surround yourself with pieces that you absolutely love," Yolie says. "I think the worst thing people can do is get a new house and fill it up with stuff that they don't have a taste or feel for just because there's space available."

Yolie, whose parents were migrant workers, sees her dream home as a culmination of years of hard work. "This is really big for me because I grew up in a 900-square-foot home."

At one point, Yoli traveled to all 50 states in just six years for work. "I was traveling 300 days of the year," she remembers. She has no desire to do it again.

For her, home isn't just a shelter, it's a sanctuary.