This past weekend, we attended the 2026 Corona del Mar Home Tour in Newport Beach, California, and walked away genuinely impressed by the homes featured this year. The official tour included seven homes across Sand Key, Sandcastle Drive, Port Cardigan Place, Goldenrod Avenue, Jasmine Avenue, Cherry Hills Lane, and Ocean Boulevard.
Some were spectacular in scale and detail. Others felt quaint, cozy, and deeply personal. But every home had something that made it memorable, whether it was the natural light, the indoor-outdoor flow, the material selections, or the way the home responded to its setting.
This year, though, we toured the homes with a very specific lens.
At Beachside Custom Gyms, we were not just there to admire beautiful architecture and interiors. We were there to ask a more pointed question: Was fitness or wellness thoughtfully included in the design of the home?
As specialists in custom fitness and wellness spaces, we are always looking at how homes support the way people actually want to live. And on a tour featuring some of the most beautiful homes in Newport Beach, we were curious to see how many design teams are truly prioritizing movement, recovery, and daily wellness as part of the luxury living experience.
Here is what we found (and to beat the rush, this is the order in which we visited the homes).
1. Sandcastle Drive
This two-story modern home was full of natural light and felt especially well suited for family living with small children. It had a warm, open feel and a livability that made it easy to imagine everyday life unfolding there. The CDM Home Tour described it as having “dramatic angles and views with a warm modern twist,” which felt consistent with your impression of the house.
One of the most notable features was the backyard casita. It was not set up as a wellness space, but it very easily could have been. Situated near the outdoor pool and surrounded by a backyard that felt rejuvenating and refreshing, it had strong potential for a future gym, yoga studio, recovery room, or private wellness retreat.
This was one of those homes where the opportunity was clearly there, even if it had not yet been fully realized.
Project Team
Architect: Richart Design
Developer: SkySail Coastal Estates
Builder: Burkhart Brothers Construction
2. Sand Key
The Sand Key home had an open, easy coastal feel with a strong indoor-outdoor connection. The tour described it as a “stunning single level showcase with a bonus roof deck,” which aligns with your read of it as a free-flowing home with formal moments balanced by more casual gathering spaces.
The kitchen and living areas opened naturally to the backyard, and the overall flow gave the home a relaxed but polished quality. There was no dedicated fitness or wellness room, but the office or den clearly had the potential to serve as a shared flex space for both work and movement.
That is often the difference between a home that simply looks good and a home that fully supports daily life. Sometimes one intentional room decision can completely change how the home functions.
Project Team
Designer: Uncommon Design Haus
3. Ocean Boulevard
Before I even stepped inside, I had a feeling this home was going to be impressive. Knowing it was one of Lisa McDennon’s homes set the tone immediately. As a designer, she has such a strong point of view, and I’ve always admired how thoughtful she is about the way a home feels, not just how it looks. She consistently brings a lifestyle-driven lens to her work, and I appreciate that wellness often seems to be part of that broader vision. She is a phenomenal, deeply talented designer, and that level of intention was evident from the moment we approached the home.
This home was simply extraordinary.
From the moment we entered, the scale of the entryway and kitchen felt expansive and unforgettable. The pool, positioned within an open-air atrium, created one of the most compelling architectural moments on the tour. It somehow felt both indoors and outdoors at once.
This was also the standout home from a fitness and wellness standpoint.
The home included a robust lower-level fitness and wellness space that felt elevated, generous, and beautifully resolved. Even though it was subterranean, it did not feel dark or closed in. Large windows brought in natural light, the ceilings were tall, and the room felt airy rather than enclosed.
Cardio and strength were both represented, and the addition of a reformer, built-in sauna, and massage room made the space feel like a true private wellness suite rather than a token gym. It was one of the clearest examples on the tour of a home where wellness had been considered as part of the larger luxury experience.
Beyond the gym, the rest of the home was equally memorable. The wallpaper textures felt intentional and layered. The stone and slab selections in the bathrooms were bold and beautifully curated. And with crashing waves just across the street, the entire home had a rhythm and atmosphere that was hard to beat.
Project Team
Designer: Lisa McDennon
Design Consult: Valia Properties
Builder: Nicholson Companies
Architect: Geoff Sumich Design
4. Jasmine Avenue
This home felt like a little transportive moment. It had a Napa-like warmth and charm, with a tall, narrow footprint that still managed to feel inviting and well composed. The main living spaces flowed nicely into an outdoor California room patio, which helped the home feel larger and more open than its width might suggest.
The finishes were expertly handled in this home. The tile and millwork were executed exceptionally. It did not include a dedicated fitness or wellness space, but the office had enough natural light and enough usable square footage that it could have worked well as a hybrid office and workout room.
In a home like this, where square footage is especially tight, a garage gym strategy would likely be the smarter move. In Corona del Mar, where every square foot matters, sometimes the best wellness solution is not forcing a gym into the main living footprint, but instead designing one of the support spaces more intentionally.
Project Team
Designer: Sage Design Studio
Developer: Grewal Development
Builder: Stone Creek Builders
5. Goldenrod Avenue
This was one of the most impressive homes on the tour, especially because it may have been the smallest while somehow feeling like it kept unfolding. The home sat around a central pool in a U-shaped configuration, and nearly every wall or window line seemed designed to pull the eye straight through to the backyard and beyond.
The limestone walls, real vines, and tranquil atrium effect made the house feel alive and deeply connected to nature.
And directly off the entry, overlooking the pool, was a beautiful dedicated fitness space.
This was one of our favorite wellness integrations on the tour because it was simple, elegant, and highly effective. The room included a tinted mirror to reduce glare from the water and direct light, which is such a smart detail in a pool-facing workout room. The luxury equipment selection kept the room visually elevated without overcomplicating it.
It was proof that a wellness space does not have to be huge to be impactful. It just needs to be intentional.
Project Team
Designer: Casa CDM
Builder: Kingdom & Co.
6. Cherry Hills Lane
Tucked into Big Canyon, this home felt incredibly detailed and thoughtfully curated from start to finish. The lighting selections stood out immediately, and the wall-to-wall windows allowed the kitchen, living room, and pool area to fully embrace the golf course setting.
The backyard putting green reinforced the lifestyle-oriented nature of the property, but the real highlight for us was downstairs.
This home included a subterranean gym with a dedicated room that could flex for yoga, weightlifting, or whatever the homeowner desired. It was another example of a house where wellness had clearly been considered as part of the overall lifestyle vision rather than added as an afterthought.
Project Team
Designer: Morrison Interiors
Builder: JFB Custom Homes
Architect: Aust Architecture
7. Port Cardigan Place
The final home we visited was a charming cottage-style two-story home with finishes that felt comforting, polished, and deeply livable. It carried a softness that made it feel immediately welcoming.
It did not include a dedicated fitness or wellness room, but the backyard was massive and full of possibility. We could easily envision a custom backyard sauna, a detached fitness ADU, or a standalone wellness studio that would add both lifestyle value and daily functionality to the property.
Project Team
Designer: Alicia Torosian Design
Developer: Taily Properties
Architect: Cynthia Childs
Final Takeaway: Fitness and Wellness Are Still Quiet Luxury
Across all seven homes on the 2026 CDM Home Tour, only three of the seven featured a clearly dedicated fitness or wellness space: Ocean Boulevard, Goldenrod Avenue, and Cherry Hills Lane, (we gave Sandcastle bonus points since the casita could easily be used as a fitness ADU.)
That says something important.
In homes of this caliber, fitness and wellness are still being treated as a quiet luxury rather than a standard design consideration.
In some homes, wellness was beautifully integrated. In others, it had not been considered at all, even when the home clearly had the budget, scale, or opportunity to support it. At Beachside, we believe that in homes built to this level of quality, wellness should be part of the architectural conversation from the start.
These are not fringe amenities. They are some of the most frequently used spaces a homeowner can invest in. A well-designed gym, sauna, recovery room, or movement studio creates freedom, supports autonomy, and helps people care for themselves every single day.
Luxury is not just about how a home looks.
It is about how a home supports the life you want to live inside it.
Designing a luxury home in Newport Beach or beyond?
If you want your home to include a gym, wellness room, sauna, recovery space, or a fully integrated fitness suite that feels as intentional as the rest of the house, Beachside Custom Gyms helps homeowners, builders, and designers bring that vision to life.
