[relaxing music playing]
TERRY ADAMSON [VOICEOVER]: Healing--
I think for me, it's being able to have a deep sense
of gratitude and appreciation and joy,
being where the physical pain and the emotional pain
does not distract me from the beauty in the world
and from what I really enjoy doing.
This house was very, very instrumental.
For me, it was a real turning of the corner
because it was something that I could
feel really excited about.
With building a house, it's kind of like a metaphor for what
was happening in my life.
My kids and I were getting our strength back.
We were getting our joy back.
[music playing]
I just feel very at peace being here.
I think there's something incredibly healing,
really, about the ocean.
[music playing]
I'm Terry, and we are in Malibu, California.
And I have lived in Malibu about 40 years now.
And my heart is really here.
I absolutely love it.
This property was the first house I looked at.
The view is amazing.
We're about a three-minute drive from the beach.
It had everything I wanted in a neighborhood.
If you saw the house before--
it was built in the early '70s, tract home,
very low ceilings, pretty dark.
It wasn't taking advantage of the views.
And it was awesome because I got to make it me.
Judith is one of my closest friends in the whole world
and she's a designer.
She was incredible.
And Paul is amazing-- the architect.
She collects stacks of books and magazines on homes and designs.
And she said, just look through, and
any time you see a photo that you like,
just put a Post-it there.
It was so interesting because she
said, everything you've gravitated toward is French,
which--
I had no idea that's even what I wanted.
There was a place in Provence that my husband and I went
that we loved so much, and it was just
this amazing, welcoming place.
And that's what I'm trying to capture and recreate.
[music playing]
This home was really my grieving project.
I'd lived in Malibu at the same home
for 30 years, where my husband and I raised our kids.
I never planned on moving anywhere.
But unfortunately, my husband was killed in a very
tragic hot air balloon crash.
He buffered my kids and me with his body and saved us.
He was an amazing man-- the absolute love of my life.
[music playing]
I was in the hospital for months.
It was too hard for me to live at our home
that we had without him.
I really wanted a project because the grieving was
so painful, and I knew the distraction
would be really healthy for me.
If you walk in, very open--
all of this, before the remodel, it was a flat, very
chopped-up kind of house.
Everything got really opened up.
These old barn wood beams--
these were taken off barns in different places
around the nation.
I think they give the home a really
warm, rustic kind of feel.
Our goal is all shared to create
a beautiful house for Terry.
And I'm just thankful that there was the commitment
to use quality materials.
It allows you to create a patina to the house,
and I just think that gives it so
much character from the start.
JUDITH SCHLEY: We brought in a bunch of old antique doors
to the property, and have them constructed
to shape when you walk through that front door that's
a front door.
It's a heavy door.
TERRY ADAMSON: This is the living room.
This is California plein air art that
was passed down through generations
from my husband's family.
This is actually paintings that are Malibu in the 1800s.
All the couches and chairs are really comfy just to sit in,
and very inviting for people to come and hang out.
[music playing]
I wanted the kitchen and the dining room area all one
big, open area because I love to socialize,
and I know when you go to people's
places, people kind of gravitate toward the kitchen
and hang out.
You know, it's fun to drink wine together.
And my friends will come and we'll make the appetizers
and the dinner together.
[chatter]
Some, like-- we have such an amazing daughter--
daughter-in-law-to-be-- godson, friends.
WOMAN: And dog.
TERRY ADAMSON: And Molly.
So one of the very first things we bought for the house
that Judith and Paul and I fell in love with are these tiles.
They're from France.
And you can see the splash of it above the stove.
And I love them so much.
The whole kitchen was designed to go around them.
These are just unique antiques.
And we bought as many as they had left, and that was it.
And we ended up with none to spare-- like, we
used every single tile.
And we're lucky we had just enough.
This big window, which was something
that was so important to me to have in the house--
I wanted to have a big unobstructed view of the ocean.
PAUL WILLINGER: The back of the house
was really conceived as a series of three pavilions.
So if you look at the bedroom, there's
a stone post on each side and an open version of it,
where we're sitting now.
And then you have a more closed version
of it in the dining room, with the large arched window.
So I think together, they create the sense
of a house of pavilions that looks out onto the ocean.
TERRY ADAMSON [VOICEOVER]: After the accident,
I was in the hospital for months.
I was in ICU for over six weeks.
I wasn't expected to be able to walk.
I wasn't expected to live.
And I really fought to live because of my kids.
So that, to me, was just this incredible, like, oh, my gosh,
like it's possible.
[music playing]
I come into the home--
I do just have this feeling of sanctuary.
It's like peace and a kind of a spa feel.
And I kind of feel on vacation in my home.
I gutted the pool and put a new one in.
My late husband's family, generations ago--
they created a title company.
And it was Malibu Pottery and Tiles.
There aren't titles like those, really, anywhere.
They're so special.
Those are all custom-made, hand-painted reproduction
of the original Malibu tiles.
It was important for me to honor him that way, too.
So my very favorite part of the home is the master bedroom.
In the morning, this is what I wake up to.
So I've got the beautiful pool, and then looking
out right over on to the ocean.
Paul ended up being able to, like,
square this and push it out so that we could take
advantage of the ocean views.
Its all floor-to-ceiling glass.
We've got all the soft, muted, kind of off-white calm colors
with blue accent.
And I just-- these are colors that really made me happy
and they remind me of the ocean and the sky.
And yeah, so the room is just--
is very cozy, and again, all about the views.
[music playing]
These are the two guestrooms.
But each of my kids kind of has their room.
So this is my younger daughter Megan's room.
Out here, we have a really lovely fountain that we
had made, with custom tiles.
Here's just a little rocking table and chairs so-- if people
just want to come out here and have coffee and read a magazine
or hang out or have breakfast.
It's a whole other feel to the house--
different than being over the ocean, just so
peaceful, with the wind whistling through the leaves,
and the birds.
In the beginning of the grieving process,
it's hard to think clearly.
But I feel like this house was really,
really a wonderful decision.
And I completely switched careers out of law
into coaching-- life coaching-- because that's
where my heart is.
I knew that I wanted to do something where I could help
other people who had gone through major traumas
and really difficult life transitions,
to help them get through it.
What ends up happening as it gets to the point where,
at least for me and for my daughters, too--
where we really are honoring my husband.
So the grieving-- it's very bittersweet.
[chatter]
Oh, wow.
Beautiful.
TERRY ADAMSON: And we've got the [inaudible]..
We'll pass them around.
WOMAN: Oh, look at the clouds right now.
That is beautiful.
You know, last week, me and Lauren saw whales.
MAN: Oh wow.
That's right, yeah.
MAN: From here?
From here.
You can see the--
their, like, spout, whatever.
And yeah, we called it a wishing whale.
Oh, I love that.
Instead of a wishing well, a wishing whale.
Make a wish every time we see a whale--
TERRY ADAMSON [VOICEOVER]: It's like, he won't be there
at my daughter's wedding, but he will be there with us
spiritually.
I really believe that.
Great company.
Cheers.
TERRY ADAMSON: I'm at a point now where I feel like I'm just
so grateful and blessed that I got
to be with him for 37 years, and we get
to raise our kids and form--
help form their personalities.
And so instead of, like, feeling sorry for myself
that I don't get him physically here for the rest of my life,
I just feel so blessed for everything
that we had and built together.
And I still really love him.
You've got to feel the pain and go through it.
But get through it and see, like, on the other side,
that there is sunshine.
[music playing]
[running water]
[birdsong]