October 2, 2026

Inside Chalet Tournesol, Valerie von Sobel’s World Within a World

An hour from Palm Springs, in the pines of the San Jacinto Mountains in Idyllwild, is the private garden estate of artist and philanthropist Valerie von Sobel. Named after her son Andre’s favorite flower, Chalet Tournesol is a visual universe she has constructed entirely her own, built on instinct, composition, experimentation and rule-making. Walking through it, von Sobel feels like an extension of the house itself, and the house, in turn, like an extension of her.

Vine-covered pergola walk to the front door under a painted Isten Hozott welcome sign — The vine-covered walk to the front door, under a painted sign reading *Isten hozott*, Hungarian for “welcome.”

The Estate

Two hours (and a continent) away from LA, Chalet Tournesol, acquired in 1995, offers multiple visual worlds within a single property: European alpine in the shape of an A-frame chalet, but also Japanese, romantic, and woodland, almost none of it reading as Southern California. Some homes are interesting because of their architecture. Others become interesting because of the person who has lived in them, collected for them, and slowly built a world that couldn’t belong to anyone else. That’s Chalet Tournesol.

Breakfast table set on the X-rail balcony above pine forest and the San Jacinto foothills — Breakfast on the balcony, above the pine forest and the San Jacinto foothills.

Mountain Chalet Meets French Countryside

The A-frame chalet is furnished like an old European country house, with hand-hewn beams, brick-and-oak parquet, an antique hunt-scene canvas in the entry, a wrought-iron stag chandelier above the double-height library hall, and an antler chandelier suspended over a stone fireplace.

Antique hunt-scene canvas above a carved tree-trunk console under hand-hewn timber beams — The antique hunt-scene canvas in the entry, and the stag chandelier in the double-height library hall.

Double-height library hall with a wrought-iron stag chandelier, plaster bust and mountain-view window — The antique hunt-scene canvas in the entry, and the stag chandelier in the double-height library hall.

Some of the rooms carry the thread further: one wrapped wall to wall in brown toile, a painted European tile stove in the corner, and a powder room lined entirely in pleated rose fabric, soft, romantic counterpoints to the hall’s heavier, hunting-lodge weight.

Toile bedroom with a pale blue slipper chair, silk curtains and a painted European tile stove — The toile bedroom, with its painted European tile stove.

A-frame living room with an antler chandelier and French doors open to a mountain-view balcony — The antler chandelier in the A-frame living room, and the powder room lined in pleated rose fabric.

Powder room lined in pleated rose fabric with a gilt chandelier and an antique commode sink — The antler chandelier in the A-frame living room, and the powder room lined in pleated rose fabric.

Japanese Design

Following a deeply personal loss, von Sobel sought to create negative space by designing a Japanese suite composed of tatami, shoji, and pale maple beneath a silk canopy, a style she described as having “the best kind of silence.” Proof that interiors aren’t merely an expression of taste. They can be responses to what we need emotionally at different periods of our lives.

Maple platform bed beneath a billowing silk canopy with a tatami step and paper sconces — A maple platform bed beneath the silk canopy in the Japanese suite.

Black lacquer desk facing a shoji window that frames the red torii gate, beside a woven-wood fireplace wall — The suite’s sitting room, where a shoji window frames the red torii gate in the garden.

The Chapel

The smallest and most personal structure on the property is a white chapel with a steeple, built by von Sobel as a re-creation of an Austrian chapel from her past, its stained glass and wooden pews intact inside. It’s well suited to intimate wedding ceremonies and film or editorial work in need of a built-in chapel set.

Chapel interior with a lace-draped altar, carved candlesticks, painted saints, stained glass and wood pews — Inside the chapel: a lace-draped altar, painted saints, stained glass and wooden pews.

Whimsical Grounds

Outside, the property continues through a series of distinct settings: a red torii gate marks the entrance to a Japanese garden, where an arched footbridge strung with paper lanterns crosses toward a woven tea bower. Granite boulders, climbing vines, and white roses soften the transition between structured garden and wild mountain landscape. At the end of a flagstone path stands the chapel.

Red torii gate and bamboo fencing in front of the vine-covered guest cottage — The red torii gate at the entrance to the Japanese garden.

Flagstone path winding to an arched wooden footbridge under pines hung with red paper lanterns — The arched footbridge, strung with red paper lanterns.

Flagstone path leading to the white steepled chapel past a rustic fence and a linen-draped garden table — The flagstone path to the chapel.

Why It Works

Four distinct visual universes sit within a single property without ever feeling disjointed. For productions, that range is practical as much as beautiful: a multi-look brand day can move from old-world interiors to a serene Japanese suite to garden-set romance without a single company move. It’s a rare kind of location, one built less around a single aesthetic than around the idea that a house can hold more than one world at once, and still feel entirely whole.

Best for: Fashion & editorial, interiors & design, beauty & quiet luxury, multi-look brand days, and private events.

View Chalet Tournesol →

Photography by Redd & Eve Visuals. Styling by Studio Maggie Barr.

“`