Photo courtesy of Vicki Blakeman Westlake Village interior decorator Vicki Blakeman designed this retreat area for a home in North Ranch featuring elements she believes make for a nice retreat, including a chaise longue, good lighting, a view, and a table for personal items.

Dana Rene Bowler / Star staff Ellie M. Ignacio sips a cup of tea early Wedneday morning in her backyard in Oxnard. Ignacio spends a few hours every morning enjoying her breakfast and tending to her garden. "This is my slice of heaven," Ignacio said.

Photo by Chuck Kirman / Star staff Mark Bass and his dog, Taiko, enjoy his 1981 Westfalia Volkswagen that he calls his home retreat. He loves to spend time in it for rest and relaxation.

In a world of traffic, deadlines, meetings and play dates, serenity can be elusive.

In an effort to re-center themselves after a busy day, many eke out an individual oasis at home, or in the garden.

Some, like Kay Wolverton Ito of Camarillo, are lucky enough to have an entire room to convert into a personal retreat. Others may simply have a closet or a corner of the bedroom or kitchen.

"When our kids were growing up, we had a desk area that was part of the kitchen," said Ojai architect Marc Whitman. "Our son hung out there and did his homework. It wasn't anything special — just a space where he could put his things."

When it comes to retreats, one size does not fit all. Interior designers agree that a critical part of creating a successful home retreat is to figure out what the word "retreat" means to you.

"I think the important thing is to have a place to get in touch with yourself," said Ojai interior designer Kathleen McMullen-Coady, "to find out where you are at that moment in time."

McMullen-Coady specializes in creating what she terms "sacred spaces" in a home. Her business, omspace.net, helps people create areas where they can meditate, pray or just relax.

Some people like incense and shoji screens. Others, like Coady's husband, Scott, need a flat-screen TV and a computer. Scott Coady said he can hibernate for hours in the sanctuary his wife helped create for him in their guesthouse in Ojai.

One of the touches he really likes is his wife's suggestion that one wall be painted a burnt orange and the other walls beige.

"Because the walls are painted that way, it's not just a dumb square space," Coady said. "It has dimension and character."

The square room includes a wraparound leather couch and folding chairs so he can invite friends in if he wants. Coady is an international consultant for business development, so he also sees clients in his sanctuary.

"I've got a TV in the top corner with cable so I can get sports. Flat screen is really important for a guy," Coady said. "We need our video games. Guys need their technology and toys."

Westlake Village interior designer Vicki Blakeman sees certain trends when she designs home sanctuaries for men as opposed to women.

"I think men care very much about physical comfort," Blakeman said, such as "an extra-deep chair or recliner. They usually want access to a computer or a TV or both. They're not as concerned with writing letters."

Many men, she said, create retreats in their garages, where they can have workshops designed for whatever hobby they enjoy, such as woodworking, model trains or photography.

A room of her own

As the only female in her Camarillo home, Ito realized she needed a testosterone-free zone.

"I'm a married mother of three boys, ages 6, 10 and 11, and my husband's an avid sports fan," she said. "Even our dog is male."

So recently, she removed the peeling wallpaper in a third bedroom that was formerly used as a storage and guest room. She painted two walls a vivid light green, added a pink girly valance to the window and a plush white rug.

She reads on the futon, Diet Coke in hand, or sews, writes letters or does paperwork at a little table she has set up. The window overlooks the backyard, which gives it a nice light, she said.

An overturned plastic storage tub is her coffee table, and she keeps her craft materials in polka-dot or brightly colored storage bins. Instead of marking her territory as her male dog might, she glued a sparkly, foam letter "K" on the door.

"I just need some peace and quiet," said Ito, 43, "a place that's not filled with Legos and toy cars. I come here to write letters and paint my toes and read a book."

She also has a collection of Barbie dolls on one shelf. Because it's so cozy, her sons sometimes want to join her in her sanctuary, where they read or play games.

"I can even get my younger boys to play Barbies with me," she said, "as long as it entails playing some sort of sport with the dolls. Barbie soccer is a favorite."

Elements of a retreat

One of Ellie Ignacio's greatest joys is her morning ritual in her backyard sanctuary in Oxnard.

With dew still fresh on her orchids and roses, Ignacio, 74, slides open her French doors and steps out onto the backyard of her tract home across from Oxnard College.

She sits under an arched trellis twined with white climbing roses. Next to her garden bench is a small table where she places her coffee cup and letters. Ivy topiaries are grouped together at her feet, fronting a profusion of scented roses. A cascading rock fountain in the corner of the yard bubbles and splashes.

"There are so many things going on in life, like deaths in the family, the loss of friends, my daughters far away," said Ignacio, whose two daughters live in Arizona and San Francisco. "This is like a sensory garden. I can't hear the ambulances or firetrucks because of the water. It has a calming effect."

Whether a retreat is indoors or outdoors, screening noise can be an important element of your ideal sanctuary, Blakeman said.

"You want to create a space where you can be without having other negative or distracting things impinging," she said. "Usually it's a space that's separated both visually and noise-wise — an acoustic separation from other parts of the house that tend to be noisier."

Because the master bedroom often is in a quiet area of the house, many choose to create a sanctuary in a corner of the bedroom, she said.

It's also important to decide exactly what you want to do in your sanctuary, she said. If you want to write, journal or read, find a small desk for the room.

"Instead of two nightstands, try a chest nightstand on one side of the bed and a nightstand on the other," Blakeman said. "Desk height and nightstand height are often similar."

She also recommends putting a settee or love seat at the foot of the bed and adding a few pillows, which might make a nice place to read.

Comfortable seating and adequate lighting are staples in a good sanctuary, she said. In one North Ranch bedroom, for example, she angled a stuffed chaise longue in one corner of the bedroom, then added a table and a lamp.

Another client, she said, wanted a meditation space in one room, so Blakeman created a zen area with small statues of Buddha and big floor pillows in the middle of an otherwise uncluttered space. She added live plants to give it subtle life and color.

"That's the place where you could also have running water, a fountain," she said.

McMullen-Coady created a meditation space for a client in a living room that didn't get used much. The designer created a low platform area and placed a tatami (woven straw) mat on the platform and surrounded it with shoji (translucent paper) screens.

"We put in a tiny fountain and a tiny low bookcase where she had her meditation books," McMullen-Coady said. "That was her spot."

Whatever shape your space takes, make sure you place personal items around the area, McMullen-Coady said.

"The main thing is to have things that matter to you, symbolically," she said. "They are just for you and not anyone else."

Some people may enjoy solitude but also like a sense of connectedness, Whitman said; the Ojai architect said he recently created little closet spaces for kids right off the kitchen, where they could go and do their homework while staying within earshot of the family.

"It could be their own space, but they're not separated," he said.

The size of a space may be important to some, he said. Coziness is important, within limits.

"It does have to be an intimate size, but that's a personal thing as well," Whitman said. "Some people want it to be a cubby kind of thing where they feel comfortable. Others would feel claustrophobic."

Rolling retreat

Mark Bass of Ventura calls his retreat "Lolita." She's 27 years old, said Bass, 51.

"My wife lets me have an affair," he joked.

"Lolita" is a champagne-colored 1981 Westfalia Volkswagen minivan that serves as Bass' rolling retreat.

"It started with a really beat-up and sad little Volkswagen I bought for $1,400 from Oak View," Bass said.

McMullen-Coady helped Bass upholster the van with retro gray and green patterned seat covers and curtains. He's got a stove, a radio, a foldout bed, a water tank, a refrigerator and swiveling driver and passenger chairs: "command central," he calls them.

Bass, a contractor, then decided he liked hanging out in the van, so he added a few extras, like a solar panel on top to power the inside electronics.

"I thought, What if I set up my van to be a fully sustained habitat?'" he said.

It worked so well, he took the van to the August 2007 Burning Man event in the Nevada desert and was able to power the interior appliances with his solar panel.

He says he and his dogs, Thunder and Taiko, like to hang out in the van. Now and then, he, Lolita and his wife, Rusa, share the day together.

"My wife and I put the dogs in the van and just drive up the coast and park," he said.

Whether it's a rolling, garden or home retreat, McMullen-Coady urges those in search of sanctuary to include one more element: "I would really encourage my clients to dream about what they really want for their future," she said.

"I think it needs to be a place to journal, to dream about what you want your life to be. Then, you can take small, incremental steps toward making that happen."