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Byline: PHIL BERG
Okay, married guys, take notes: Californian Ron Mintle convinced his wife that in order to build and finish the unique additions to the desert mountain home they bought four years ago, he needed space-a lot of space-to store building materials. After all, he was planning a 3500-square-foot outdoor living room, barbecue and pool area, complete with a faux-stone concrete cave grotto containing a room-size wine cellar and a stone deck with a pond one story above his deep pool. Mintle actually met with the builders of the world's most famous grotto, the one at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion, to get details on how to make the cave-style stonework and story-high waterfall.
His wife bought into the construction-shelter rationale as part of the reason he needed a big garage. Mintle built a 3000-square-foot garage about 100 yards down the mountain from the house, which isn't yet finished. The garage was completed six months ago, including pool table/conference table/computer desks and a kitchen in a room called the VIP Lounge, which is nicer than any Admirals Club room at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Mrs. Mintle has faith that Ron, entrepreneur, mechanic, designer and owner of an international software ...