It’s a house devoted to family life and art—the two things most dear to the hearts of Jake and Corrin Messing.
Their vintage 1918 two-story home, within walking distance of the Healdsburg Plaza, was reimagined to comfortably accommodate three young children. The space hums with the kids’ noise and is deeply personal, filled with cherished objects found in nature, treasured art, travel souvenirs, and furniture Jake made himself. As Corrin puts it, “It’s a well-worn, well-loved space. With kids, nothing is too precious.”
A decade ago, the couple left burgeoning artistic careers in New York City to embrace a slower life in Jake’s native Healdsburg—a far cry from bustling Brooklyn, where they had been living with their firstborn, Goldie, now 10.
Jake grew up on 170 acres in the hills west of Dry Creek Valley, a property christened Deergnaw by his parents, Russ Messing and Arlene Naschke. Former Haight-Ashbury hippies, they moved to Sonoma County during the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s and are now well known locally for the award-winning olive oil they sell at the Healdsburg Farmers Market.
Jake’s childhood was rustic and idyllic. The family cabin lacked electricity until he was 4. He spent his days exploring the property’s forests of madrone, oak, and redwood, along with its gardens and large pond.
Although he was drawn to New York to attend the Parsons School of Design, by his early 30s, he felt ready to leave city life behind and raise his children with the same connection to nature he had enjoyed. At the time, Jake had an established career in high-end corporate design, illustration, and merchandising for companies like Harry Winston, Bergdorf Goodman, and Tiffany & Co. Corrin, who grew up in upstate New York, also was a successful designer specializing in branding, styling, and event design.
“We were excited to make the move,” Corrin says. “We were feeling a little burnt out. So we made a conscious decision to leave. It’s nice to have more space, and to have the quiet.”
After searching the county, the couple chose an early-20th-century cottage in town rather than a rural retreat. The children would still have Deergnaw to roam, but daily life could unfold on foot—walks to shops, restaurants, and the park. The house also included a backyard for playing and an accessory unit for Jake’s studio as he transitioned to more fine art and commissioned pieces. They weren’t keen on the old kidney shaped pool, but it has since become a summer hub for the family, now expanded to include Dia, 7, and Leo, 2 ½.
Although the house came with preapproved remodeling plans and original features they hoped to preserve, such as a brick fireplace, built-in cabinets with leaded glass doors, and coffered ceilings, once renovations were underway they discovered extensive fire and water damage behind the walls, forcing a full interior gut. They did salvage a claw-foot tub, which now anchors the upstairs children’s bathroom, part of a 1,000-square-foot addition with three bathrooms.
Art is everywhere: children’s drawings, family photographs, paintings, and posters. A recurring motif is hands, including casts of their babies’ hands, and a prized drawing by illustrator Ben Shahn depicting an artist’s hand holding a stylus. “Hands tell such a story about a person,” Jake says. “And for me, being someone who is creative and works with my hands, they’re my tool. The human experience is so tactile. It’s how we create everything in the world. I think there’s power to that.”
The couple carved out a cozy music room and library filled with instruments, travel books, and a vintage stereo and turntable, complete with classic rock and jazz vinyl records. Jake built the dining room table from reclaimed beams salvaged in Brooklyn and repurposed legs from a sewing factory. Driftwood collected on their honeymoon in Maine became a console table.
The heart of the home is the kitchen, where family life and socializing center around a 5-by-6-foot soapstone island. French doors open to the backyard, where swings hang from a tree the kids call “Maple” and a playhouse Jake built anchors the lawn. One wall of built-in cabinets serves as a gallery of objects and art gathered over time and through travel. Corrin’s favorite is a brass brooch handmade in the Peruvian Andes.
With backgrounds in styling and visual design, the couple has an eye for arrangement: Every surface feels intentional. “We find beauty in things that are just normal or found… that may not be precious to other people,” says Corrin. “If we display it in the right spot, it takes on a different meaning.”
Corrin still does small art projects for friends, but now works as a group facilitator and prevention specialist at Verity, a Santa Rosa-based nonprofit serving incarcerated youth at Sonoma County Juvenile Hall. She has also collaborated with Healdsburg chefs Ari Rosen and Jorge Flores to develop a culinary skills program at the facility, which will offer paid restaurant work to selected students.
Jake remains focused on his art, drawing inspiration from the natural world just as he did when tramping the local fields and forests in his youth. From his backyard studio—sometimes shared with his children—he often works in the vanitas tradition of the Dutch masters, who explored themes of transience through objects such as wilted flowers, an hourglass, or skulls.
His work can be seen locally, including in an upcoming show at Paul Mahder Gallery in August and in the stairwell of Harmon Guest House, where a mural he calls “Blue Harmon” depicts butterflies and a magnificent blue heron, one of his favorite birds in the local landscape. “There is something about their length and power,” Jake says of the birds. “It always feels like a blessing to see one.”
Like many longtime residents of a town turned world-class destination, he feels a sense of push and pull.
“It’s not what it used to be, and part of me wants to hold on to that,” he says. “But I love that it’s such a beautiful place to live and raise kids. After 14 years in New York, I always knew I was coming back here at some point. It’s such a deep part of who I am—and my soul and spirit.” jakemessing.com
See Jake Messing’s work
Harmon Guest House
Blue Harmon, completed 2022
227 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, harmonguesthouse.com
Paul Mahder Gallery
Artist show in August
222 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, paulmahdergallery.com