Whenever architecture and landscape come together in such a pleasing and picturesque union of light, color and space — such as at 42 Alviso Drive in Camarillo — deciding on a favorite area of the house comes with many options (both for inside the house and out).

Similar to a museum or Italian villa, the residence has a rectangular body, arranged into asymmetric blocks, or wings, at each end, offering a sprawling space.

Tucked neatly beyond lush front gardens, the home is, both structurally and aesthetically, a blending of Victorian-era Italianate-style elements — albeit contemporized — that presents a family home prime for entertaining.

"The sellers have entertained up to 200 people comfortably in this house," says the home's listing agent, Pamela Rocklin. Smooth, creamy amber tumbled marble reveals a horizontal hallway. It is one of the residence's visual continuums, spreading into the left wing of the main house, into a master suite with en-suite bathing area, and into an office, a breezy area wired for computers.

The left wing features also a carpeted maid's quarters and guest bedroom (also with en-suite bath), and a hall bath. Light fills this Las Posas Hills residence, a region of Ventura County where residents enjoy an idyllic Mediterranean climate.

One is never far from the outdoors in this home: to the right of the entrance sits a formal dining room characterized by views of both the front garden (from a spate of windows, shuttered for privacy with white plantation-style louvers), and the rear "pond" and fern grotto (revealed from two sets of glass French doors which open from the hall).

The question of where to retire after dinner is not without its options. Down the hall from the dining room is the game room. Opting for a brandy is as easy here as taking in a game of billiards or playing a DVD on the jumbo flat-screen television.

And, with a bank of low-situated bay windows that face a down-sloping front lawn, the room achieves privacy via plantation shutters (favored throughout the home) that shield both the windows and two sets of French doors opening to outdoor patios from either side of the room.

Take to the living room, just beyond the entrance, for a chat by the soaring Bouquet Canyon flagstone fireplace, or perhaps along the rear vertical panels of glass that make up the solarium. In this house, if the outdoors beckons, as the saying goes, there are many roads to Rome.

Open a sliding glass door from the child's bedroom down the hall from the game room to find a walnut-colored timber pergola supported by white, Tuscan-style tapered columns. Multiple glass French doors open from the kitchen and adjoining step-down family room to the copper-hued, dolphin-blue-tinged Bouquet Canyon flagstone rear patio.

Further options abound in this terraced area. A small seating area lined by a bed of multi-colored spring flowers sits overlooking the pool and landscaped gardens, beyond. Parallel to the family room, replete with one of the home's three fireplaces (all faced in Bouquet Canyon flagstone), is the barbecue area: a freestanding flagstone prep area inset with a stainless grill.

Meanwhile, distinct sunning and seating areas dot the pool area, marked by a circular raised corner fire pit and conversation area. A swim to the opposite side of the fire pit delivers you to a woodland-like setting of trees and flowers, which offer a softness to the garage-cum-guesthouse just beyond.

A slow-sloping, deep drive of cobble-looking stone whisks you down to the all-inclusive ensemble of guest house, extra-deep, four-car garage, a laundry room, separate gardener's or artist's studio and racquetball court/media room.

A fawn-colored automatic iron gate divides the drive to the two-story structure and echoes the curves found in the garden — from the rear pool line that continues upward, into the high terrace, to the cobblestone pavement and flagstone pathways.

The spacious home, while not oversized, is nonetheless of a comfortable, human-scale design, of which consideration for aesthetic and practical qualities reside in a graceful union.

On the exterior, wide, rough-hewn trim board cheekily panels the walls of a child's bedroom, and low-pitched, complex rooflines complement as well as echo complex interior ceiling heights, punctuated by judiciously placed skylights.

This house is designed for a sense of luxury in every room, which is clear from the kitchen — an ample space of warm umbers and ambers you wouldn't be surprised to find in a French country chateau.

Two dual, stainless sinks, in separate, root-beer-hued granite-topped counter-prep areas, indicate this as a bona-fide chef's kitchen. A Viking stainless Sub-Zero refrigerator-freezer butts up against the stainless oven, in logical placement. And plentiful overhead and lower cabinets of golden alder provide storage in this working kitchen.

Underlit cabinets and richly colored prep spaces anchor the otherwise light-dominated space, enhanced by recessed lighting. Brushed nickel, tapering hanging lamps similarly enhance the dining experience at the bar, so-to-speak (actually at the center island). For a garden-view, choose the corner dining area.

The cook might have the best vantage point from in front of either of the separate sinks, however, both of which face the adjoining family room fireplace. The third fireplace, located in the master suite, is the flipside of that in the living room.

In the master suite, a searing, pitched ceiling of natural wood paneling joins the towering stone hearth to create an atmosphere of lodge-style spa meets medieval chateau. Sheer linen drapes delicately cover the vertical windows that flank the bed, offering diffused light into the aptly darkened sleeping quarters.

The en-suite bathroom features a spa tub and separate commode and shower (of tumbled stone with glass door). A separate dressing area features a built-in alder vanity with dual sinks set into a milky marble counter top.

A pleasant "resort-style retreat," says Rocklin, is an apt metaphor for this approximately 4,000-plus square-foot house, arguably culminating in the master suite, where a private romantic garden of stepping stones and vertical greens waits just outside a glass door.

To view the home, listed at $2,250,000 with Rocklin for Coldwell Banker Previews International, call 40039; for a virtual tour, visit http://www.californiamoves.com/pamela.rocklin, click on "my listings."