Andy Tullis / The BulletinTim Scianamblo and his wife, Jane Dunham, don’t just collect cars. Their house is filled with art and decor from places near and far.

Jane Dunham jokingly says she and her husband bought a huge Bend garage with a three-bedroom home attached to it, but this is no ordinary garage. It’s a car model showroom — the ultimate man cave.

“We needed the garage for my car collection,” says Jane’s husband, Tim Scianamblo, adding a hearty laugh as he leads us down the stairs to the basement/garage level.

The massive car model showroom is immaculate, with a shiny black and white linoleum floor that accentuates the first car you see: a fire engine-red 2012 Porsche Carrera GTS.

“Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve loved cars,” says Scianamblo, 60, who is fulfilling his dream and might be the envy of every male in Oregon. “This 1971 convertible XKE Jaguar is one I’ve wanted since I was a kid.”

Scianamblo opens the hood of his red Jaguar to reveal a large, pristine engine. “It was the last year Jaguar made the OT-6 engine,” he says.

As empty nesters, Dunham and Scianamblo, who have four children between them, aren’t wistful about their circumstances. They’re too busy enjoying retirement.

Scianamblo isn’t the only one with a showroom vintage car. Dunham points out her 1968 Italian Mini Cooper Innocenti. It’s an old woody Mini Cooper station wagon the couple found at one of the many auto shows they frequent.

“I love this car. When I first saw it, I knew I had to have one,” says Dunham, 55, patting the hood of the small car. “It runs really well, but whenever I take it out to go shopping people are always pointing or laughing when they see the car. It’s so much fun.”

Scianamblo says in all likelihood we’ll never see a car like the Innocenti again as there are only about a dozen left in the world.

Several feet from the Innocenti is the 1967 Corvette Stingray. It’s another racing car in pristine, original condition. This garage/showroom is Scianamblo’s trophy case.

While the garage is a striking transformed space that often gets the most attention, the 2,526-square-foot, three-bedroom, 21⁄2-bath home is a customized comfort showcase.

Dunham and Scianamblo moved to Bend from Ohio two years ago after their last child went off to college. On this day, Scianamblo is wearing a green University of Oregon T-shirt. But the couple sheepishly confess they’re both Ohio State Buckeye alumni. Their Midwest roots are undeniable based on their aesthetics for design and building.

The couple incorporates a mélange of old and new styles throughout their beautiful Awbrey Butte home, and they did their research on every piece they put in it.

Being from the Midwest, the couple insisted on a wood-burning fireplace; out went the old gas-burning corner unit and in came a new ledger stonewall, chimney and custom-made iron fireplace.

As a nod to yesteryear, the couple hired Joe Elliott of Dry Canyon Forge in Bend, and he worked his blacksmithing magic, transforming an old metal warehouse floor into their new fireplace.

“The fireplace and the fins (mantel shelving) were all upcycled from this old metal floor that had forklifts running on it for decades,” explains Scianamblo, who wanted a rustic look for the hearth. “The floor itself was probably from the 1920s.”

To the right of the fireplace hangs an antique beaded Native American 1940s leather jacket. It is an antique the couple bought in Findlay, Ohio, which Dunham says holds one of the biggest Native American antiquities auctions in the country.

The couple also added skylights in the living room for additional natural light.

With the home’s open design, the entire northeast-facing wall has windows with panoramic views from the Ochoco Mountains to Pilot Butte. Scianamblo can see for miles when he takes his World War II vintage aircraft carrier telescope onto the deck.

“The Germans made this anti-aircraft telescope; it’s something we found in London,” says Dunham, who explains they hop into antique shops wherever they travel. Their house is full of treasures they’ve collected from all over the world.

As an example, Scianamblo points out the original 1850 Audubon bird prints in the home, which the couple loaned to a Key West, Florida, Audubon museum a few years ago.

The color palette in the open area on the first floor, from the kitchen through the dining room and living room, is edited down to modern hues of creams, allowing their custom-made furniture to take center stage.

Scianamblo did his legwork when he found master woodworkers in the Ohio Amish country to build a stunning art deco bar cabinet that houses Scianamblo’s extensive and colorful antique glass collection.

“The glasses are called ‘end-of-day glasses’ because they were the leftover glass pieces that they used to make these small glass cups,” explains Scianamblo of his collection. “They range in age from the 1800s to the 1920s.”

Scianamblo says Ron Corl, of Ohio, designed most of the furniture in their living room but hired Amish carpenters to hand-build much of it.

The beautiful art deco-inspired bar has a giant dragonfly in the center of the lower cabinets, which is a family symbol for Scianamblo.

“There’s several different kinds of woods in this cabinet; there’s leopardwood, which is very rare, and some cherry wood,” says Scianamblo, gently tracing the wooden dragonfly design with his finger.

The family symbol is carried on throughout the living room.

A side table and a coffee table are giant wood tabletop slabs the couple found in the Ohio countryside. The mixed grains make each piece look like original art.

But the couple’s home wouldn’t be complete without its custom-made, 8-foot long dining table they found at (natural edge furniture) in Bend.

“The legs of this table are made from old salvaged gearing,” Dunham points out.

In Tumalo, the couple found 1940s Ludwig drums that were made into bright red and blue side tables, which gives the room a playful quality.

Adding to that playful side are large eye-catching round orbs that Scianamblo started collecting years ago. They are displayed throughout the main floor. Some are blown glass, some are natural stones and all of them are beautiful.

The open kitchen design is perfect for entertaining. One of the qualities that drew Scianamblo to this home was the granite kitchen counter.

“We were told they imported this slab from India, and it has a very interesting pattern that we’ve never seen before in granite,” Scianamblo said.

The clean design of the birch kitchen cabinets coupled with the Indian granite slab give the kitchen a modern, sleek touch.

Down a small hallway there’s an alcove used as office space. Opposite the alcove is a large master bedroom, which also has a full fireplace. Above the bed hangs another artful tree slab.

Because the couple loves to collect antiques, there are little pockets throughout their bedroom of unexpected beauty and surprises, from the pre-Columbian artifacts to a vintage bamboo fly-fishing rod.

Besides the auto showroom, the courtyard area is the place Scianamblo is most proud of because he helped design the Asian-inspired place of outdoor sanctuary for the couple.

“Before it was just a grassy, muddy area,” says Scianamblo, who envisioned something more for this front area of the house. “We put up these ipe wood screens and frosted glass shoji screens for more privacy, and we took out part of a kitchen wall to put windows along this side of the house along with the glass door that can access this outdoor space.”

Soon after moving in, Scianamblo took out the grassy area and put in a slightly elevated ipe wood deck with a small garden surrounding it. He planted Japanese maple trees and other plants.

“I chose ipe wood because it’s called the 100-year wood; it’s a natural wood from South America that lasts forever,” Scianamblo said.

He also built a beautiful glass and metal outdoor heater for this courtyard area, but the piece the couple love the most here is a giant 2-ton granite boulder that was cut in half and polished and delivered to their home with a crane. A special cement base had to be built to hold the monumental rock in their courtyard.

The couple relaxes at the table in the front courtyard looking quite content. They may be Ohio Buckeyes at heart, but their souls now fully belong to Oregon and the home they’ve made here.

— Reporter: halpen1@aol.com

The couple incorporates a mélange of old and new styles throughout their beautiful Awbrey Butte home, and they did their research on every piece they put in it.