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How Tracy Lynn Studio put a bohemian-meets-vintage glam twist on a single room
As with any open concept, this room needed its spaces defined. The two area rugs from Kravet help do that—grounding the lounge and dining area. The teal, blush, and green colors in the antiqued fabric directed the rest of the room’s color palette.
With a baby and three dogs residing here, all fabrics and finishes were chosen to be “bulletproof,” Weller says. Hence, why the couch from Ultimate Furniture is upholstered in Perennials Velvet, though she adds that the choice for a standard couch over a sectional is a little more elegant. Thanks to the navy color, she also forwent her usual trick for a freestanding couch—placing a console table behind it to mark the end of the lounge area. “The color divides the space enough.”
The most explicitly bohemian furnishing is, of course, the wicker chairs. Both are from Noir Furniture, and the fluffy pillows glam up the seating. In a way, the two chairs are the entry point to more bohemian trappings that pour out of the sliding glass doors and into an outdoor lounge area that’s complete with pouf seating and anchored by woven lanterns.
Great Room Envy — Fireplace
Ryan Gavin
The intended effect when you walk into the great room is “all eyes on the fireplace.” “When the [blueprints] were brought to me, the fireplace did not look like that; it was a big box,” Weller says. She helped overhaul those plans almost entirely into what you see today: a grandiose fireplace reminiscent of the French countryside. A white brick overlay crawls up the back wall to the ceiling for a weathered look. The mantel was custom cast by Mulvey Custom Builders and adorned with Old World details (note the circle and swoops on the face). Inside, it’s all black brick for a modern twist. The Anthropologie mirrors cover a TV, and the gold finish blends effortlessly with other glamorous accents.
The challenge of working in a planned community is most of the homes look the same. In Santaluz, that style skews Mediterranean. Accordingly, the beams are typically very dark. Weller wanted them lighter for this project. “I almost wanted them to resemble the floors, a French white oak,” she says. “It was just taking the architectural integrity of the home and changing it a little.” Another part of that was filling those high ceilings with chandeliers. Both are from Circa Lighting and gleam high above the designated lounge and dining areas much like in a ballroom. Elegant indeed!
The dining table is from Custom Furniture & Cabinets. The choice of a lighter timber connects the table to the mantel, and the blush dining chairs from Essentials for Living add another feminine touch.
Great Room Envy — Feature
Ryan Gavin
Help us recognize the city's most talented local interior designers, architects, landscapers, craftspeople, builders, and home service experts
Welcome to the inaugural San Diego Magazine Home + Design Awards, where we celebrate the brilliance of local interior designers, architects, landscapers, craftspeople, builders, and home service experts within San Diego’s vibrant home design scene.
These awards are a celebration of the creative forces shaping the aesthetics of San Diego and its surroundings. Like brushstrokes on a canvas, we aim to bring attention to the talent and services that turn spaces into living masterpieces.
Your submission is your invitation to step into the limelight. The winners will be featured in the April Issue of San Diego Magazine and posted online. San Diego Magazine is read by more than 164,700 readers each month, and sandiegomagazine.com receives more than 403,000 monthly page views. Your nomination is an opportunity to captivate our affluent readers who turn to San Diego Magazine for insight into culture, food, arts, and the latest in home design.
You can nominate a business or tradesperson whose work and physical business is located within San Diego County. Please provide the name of the business and tradesperson with their contact information. In addition, please include your name and contact information with your entry.
For Transformation entries, provide a high-quality before and after photo to be eligible for the Reader’s Choice vote. We’ve set up an easy-to-use Canva template for your convenience here.
Rally Your Troops! After your masterpiece is nominated, it’s time to gather the votes! From January 8 to 15, unleash the power of your design community. Share, shout, and let your network know that your creation deserves the Reader’s Choice Award, and ask them to vote for your entry.
Nomination Period: December 4, 2023 – January 12, 2024 12 PM
Reader’s Choice Voting: January 12, 2024 3 PM – January 19, 2024
Winners will be announced in the April issue of San Diego Magazine and online at sdmag.com
Best Interior Transformations (Before and After)
Bathroom
Bedroom
Closet
Dining Room
Game Room
Garage
Home Gym
Kids Room
Kitchen
Living Room
Nursery
Office
Stairs/Staircase
ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit)
Backyard Landscaping
Conversion to water-wise landscape
Exterior Home Renovation
Front yard landscaping
Garden
Patio + Porch
Sheds
Swimming Pools
Appliance Store
Architect
Carpet/Flooring
Cleaning Services
Closet Remodeling
Door + Window
Electrician
Escrow Company
Furniture Store
Gardener
General Contractors
Handyman / Repairman
Heating, Cooling, and Air
Home Remodeling
Home Security
Interior Designer
Landscaper
Lighting Stores
Nursery / Garden Center
Painters
Pest Control
Pile + Masonry
Plumber
Pool Services
Real Estate Agent
Real Estate Company
Roofing
Solar
Tree Services
Turf
Upholstery
Bohemian
Coastal
Contemporary
Eclectic
Green
Industrial
Maximalist
Midcentury
Minimalist
Modern
Multifamily Residence
Rustic
Beach Home
Multifamily Residence
Contemporary
Craftsman
Green
Mediterranean-Style
Midcentury
Modern
Mountain Home
Ranch Style
Spanish-Style
Suburban Home
Tudor-Style
Urban Home
Victorian
Inside the remodeled 1970s craftsman of local pastry chef and Extraordinary Desserts owner Karen Krasne
The similarities between baking a cake and remodeling a home might be slim in the minds of most. But to renowned pastry chef and owner of Extraordinary Desserts Karen Krasne, paying attention to detail when decorating anything—be it a gorgeous wedding cake or her 2,200-square-foot house in Mission Hills—is the recipe for a tasteful design.
Krasne began remodeling her 1970s craftsman into the dynamic, contemporary space it is today with the help of local architect Aaron Anderson nearly 15 years ago. “We started with this custom gate, actually,” Anderson says, pointing to a large, suspended steel-and-glass opening at the entrance of the Krasne residence.

Past the gate, guests step into the front courtyard that serves as an outdoor dining room. Beneath a custom steel canopy filtering sunlight into the space—an effect inspired by the oak trees of San Diego County—sits a grand stainless-steel communal table topped with zebra quartzite stone. Along the north wall, a smoky gray mirror magnifies the space.
The intimate courtyard brings the outdoors in, while the architecture and design of the house spill outwards.

“Both Karen and I grew up in San Diego, so the house is heavily influenced by that sort of outdoor living,” Anderson says. “But the interesting thing about Karen is her travels. What she does, as a chef, is heavily influenced by her international travel, so we also brought all that influence into the house. It’s anchored in San Diego, but it has all kinds of international flourishes.”
The south wall of the courtyard is a striking cement fiberboard privacy screen that’s been pierced with an intricate design. “The very first day I met Karen, she brought these Moroccan lanterns she bought on a trip to Marrakech into my office and she said she wanted the front part of the house to be about these,” Anderson remembers. “I had [the lanterns] on my desk, and we just thought about unrolling them and cutting out the design onto a piece of slim fiberboard. The piece is backlit so, at night, this side glows just like a lantern does.”

The old-world, international influences don’t stop in the courtyard. Inside the home, Krasne’s love of traveling is reflected in every room. A hand-carved wooden Moroccan cabinet has been repurposed into a bathroom door. Ornate candle holders from Bali adorn the master bathroom countertop. And in the living room—which expands into a second, bamboo-flanked courtyard through massive stacking glass doors—a feature wall was inspired by traditional azulejos tile Krasne once saw in Spain.

“We tried to take all these different influences—Morocco, Bali, and Paris, where Karen went to culinary school—and balance them with the edgier, modern stuff,” Anderson says. “It’s really hard to take a craftsman house and modernize it without it looking terrible, so I think one thing we all did well was elevating it without overtaking it.”

The kitchen, where Krasne spends most of her time while she’s at home, was renovated last. A large island topped with a Japanese-inspired lithograph on natural quartz sits in the middle of the sunlit room, nearly always covered in a food spread for Krasne’s family and friends. Floor-to-ceiling, built-in cabinetry is coated with a self-healing gray Fenix laminate, giving the space a calming atmosphere.

“Those,” Kranse says, gesturing to ornate, art-deco chandeliers hanging over the kitchen table, “are from an old opera house in Austria. I had them sprayed silver to match the sconces, which all came from the same opera house. I also wanted to bring in French Champagne buckets—I really wanted the space to be about us drinking wine and entertaining.”
The Champagne buckets line a shelf hung above built-in lounge seating. Next to the lounge is an in-wall desk with a stack of her favorite cookbooks on display. There, Krasne researches and experiments with new recipes.
“I have a huge office at my restaurant, but I can’t think straight there,” Krasne says. “You feel the frenetic energy, you hear the tamping of the espresso machine and the phones ringing.” It’s here, in this calming, creative space (and in her personal gym downstairs), that Krasne finds inspiration.
As we exit Krasne’s kitchen and step back out into the front courtyard, she jokes with Anderson that she recently came up with a landscaping idea for the front entrance while on a trip to Puerto Vallarta with her husband.
“I know, with Karen, there’s actually a good chance that it’ll happen,” Anderson laughs. “Karen knows more about construction and putting a house together than any other client I’ve ever worked with. We actually get to a detailed level of thought and design. That’s super rare.”
Inside the vibrant, family-friendly home of interior designer Lisa Franco
Lisa Franco didn’t plan to become an interior designer. She and her husband, Luis, met while working in biotech. But when the couple’s daughter, Samantha, was a year old, she was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Angelman syndrome. Lisa left the industry to focus on Sam full-time. And when the Francos bought their first house in San Diego shortly thereafter, Lisa—armed with a more flexible schedule and a hunger to explore her innate love of design—decided to take the reins on the interiors.
The Francos had tapped Mark Morris of Oasis Architecture to refresh the home. He was skeptical; homeowners who go the DIY route usually end up regretting it. But Lisa’s knack for design was apparent. She pulled samples, chose colors, sourced finishes, and visited showrooms, and others in the industry treated her like a fellow pro. “I just started calling myself a designer, and other people believed me,” she laughs. “My career was in science. Science is problem-solving. Interior design is, too. It’s solving a problem, and making it look good.”

When Morris walked through the finished product, he said, “‘You need to come work for me,’” he recalls. Soon after, she did. Their first project together won Bathroom of the Year in San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles magazine.
As Samantha, now 24, and the couple’s son Ethan, 21, got older, the Francos set out to find a forever home—one that could accommodate a future live-in caregiver for Sam. In 2017, a La Jolla Heights gem jumped out from a listing in the paper: an Old Hollywood–inspired, 1960’s home, once owned by an oil baroness. The Francos bought it, and Morris signed on to bring the build into modern day. The bones were good, and “the house had the perfect entry—grand, yet understated,” Morris says.

The inside, on the other hand, needed work. Full of small, closed-off areas, it had level changes at every turn, like step-downs into bedrooms. Morris and the Francos modified the floor plan with two goals in mind: to create a seamless flow for family time and entertaining and to make the layout safe for Sam to have as much independence as possible.
They leveled out the floors, opened up the once-enclosed staircase for visibility, and installed pocket-door gates to block rooms and stairs as needed. Though the layout changed, “Lisa loved that house and wanted to respect it,” Morris says, so they preserved some original elements: crown molding, light fixtures, closet doors, built-ins.
Today, once you cross the threshold, you step directly into the main living space, or the great room. Just past the L-shaped couch is a million-dollar view: La Jolla’s hodgepodge of terracotta rooftops, the coast, all the way to Mexico.
The home’s primary palette is one of soft gray and white walls with chocolate-brown wood floors. But the Franco house is anything but muted. Lisa’s style is bold, colorful, happiness-inducing. In the great room, velvet pillows add pops of pink, blue, and ochre to the couch.

The great room flows into the kitchen, separated only by a peninsula. When Lisa and Morris design a kitchen for a client, they ask about their everyday routine—and that’s exactly what informed Lisa’s own space. Daily essentials receive priority; open shelves hold flour, sugar, oil, and tea, while a full butler pantry around a corner offers hidden storage.
The most innovative feature is a pass-through cabinet between the kitchen and dining room. Dishes and glassware are accessible from either side, and the configuration lets the dining room borrow the kitchen’s natural light.
The Francos wanted an additional space to unwind with friends, so they tucked a bar into an alcove off the great room. “Sometimes we have a couple come over, and we just want to hang, but our dining room is big,” Lisa says. “So this is an intermediate. It’s cozy.”
The couple pulled the blue from the kitchen island and incorporated gold and stone accents. The wire accents on the bar island are both aesthetic and functional—no need to worry about scuffs from guests’ shoes. Closed cabinets hold their collection of wine and spirits.

On the other side of the great room is Lisa’s office, easily the most colorful space in the house. Her desk is framed by a bay window overlooking the courtyard, while a pendant light fixture, original to the home and refreshed with deep teal paint, anchors the room. “I love whimsy,” Lisa says. The owl-print wallpaper was a touch she couldn’t resist. Luis was skeptical until he saw it installed. “That’s why she’s the designer,” he laughs.
Right across the hall is Sam’s media room, furnished with durable pieces. It’s near the kitchen and dining room, so Sam has her own space but is still in the mix. A mother-in-law suite, which can eventually function as a caregiver’s room, is next-door.

The great room might be the heart of the home, but the lower level is where the fun happens.
A mural of Lisa’s late brother, Michael “Howie” Mandell, who she calls “the life of the party,” is front and center, smiling with arms outstretched. The local artist they commissioned tagged the names of Howie’s loved ones around him, and band posters harken back to Howie and Lisa’s shared love of music.
In the corner is sapo, a Peruvian game (also called “toad in the hole”) that Luis grew up playing. The objective: Throw a gold coin into the toad’s mouth or the nearby holes. The sapo table was a gift from Luis’s mom, who transported it in pieces via plane.
A far wall holds a candy bar, stocked with guests’ favorites, and a mini kitchen with a pink SMEG fridge and toaster. The oversized sliding window opens up onto the grill, the outdoor dining space, and the pool area.

It’s a stunning pool, considering it was once surrounded by green carpet. “It was like going into a football locker room,” Morris says. “The pool itself was spectacular, and we didn’t want to lose that character.” The Francos kept the exposed beams, opened the ceiling and walls, and wrapped the columns in dark brick. “During the day, it feels like you’re outside,” Morris says, “but at night, all lit up, it really feels like its own room.”
Morris and Lisa treated the outdoor space like an extension of the home, creating “rooms” for different functions: grilling, playing, resting, entertaining. A fire pit at the farthest point is an ideal spot to sit and reflect. Lisa designed a “rug” made from tiles that frames the outdoor dining area. They added a ping-pong table for Ethan and his friends. And in the polished, turfed yard, which mimics the shape of the pool, there’s always room for an impromptu game of soccer.

Looking up from the backyard, you can see the family’s gathering spots—great room, basement, kitchen—framed like vignettes through the windows. “Being a good architect is not about bringing your sense of style to the table,” Morris says. “It’s about being sensitive to the environment, the existing [house], and the client’s interests. And if you can cohesively pull that together into a beautiful design that feels like home, you’ve done your job.”
Tips from the trusted experts at Mauzy Cooling, Heating, Plumbing, and Electrical
San Diego summers can be brutal. But since the hottest period is typically late summer into early fall, San Diegans still have time to prepare. The pros at Mauzy Cooling, Heating, Plumbing, and Electrical are standing by to help homeowners fortify their homes against the elements and ensure their air conditioning is as frosty as the penguins that serve as the company’s mascots.
Many homeowners underestimate the load their AC system faces, especially in the inland valleys where temperatures regularly top 100 degrees. San Diego regularly sees multi-day heatwaves each summer, and a system that struggles on the first day will likely fail by the third. Longer run times, unusual sounds or smells, and uneven cooling from room to room are all signs that your system may not survive the next hot spell.
Systems typically last 12 to 17 years, but there are exceptions. If a system is approaching that, or is already there, a professional evaluation is recommended before summer really heats up. A good rule of thumb: If you can’t remember when your system was last serviced, it’s due.
“As technology changes, systems become smarter and smarter,” says Sean O’Connor, an install manager at Mauzy with 42 years of experience. “There are a lot of people out there who will say a system’s only good for 10 years. I don’t buy that—these systems are built to last as long as they’re taken care of.”
There are also a few steps homeowners can take between services to extend the life of their system. Regularly changing a dirty filter—especially if you have kids or pets—and keeping an outdoor unit clean can help head off problems in the future, says O’Connor.
Also, be realistic about whether it’s time to replace a unit. O’Connor likens pouring money into salvaging a faulty unit with patchwork repairs and replacement parts to “tripping over a dollar to pick up a dime.” When one part fails, others are sure to follow, and newer parts may not be compatible with older units. Mauzy recommends homeowners use the 50% rule: If a repair costs more than 50% of the system’s replacement value, and the equipment is over 10 years old, replacement is usually the better long-term value. And don’t forget the ducting. An older house that was built with heat and later had air conditioning added may not have sufficient airflow, regardless of how good the system is.
Last but not least, homeowners should know who to trust when it comes to their homes. Built on three generations of professional integrity, Mauzy has grown into not just a leader for cooling, heating, plumbing, and electrical services, but a leader in the community known for supporting local nonprofits across an array of causes. To ensure complete peace of mind, Mauzy stands behind a comprehensive 12-point guarantee that outlines its commitment to outstanding service, quality equipment, expert technicians who understand how the local microclimates affect HVAC performance, and no upsells or surprises on the bill.
“We go the extra mile. That’s what sets us apart,” O’Connor says. To get a free quote today, visit mauzy.com.

This month's selection includes pool toys for grown-ups, natural deodorants, and decadent Italian furniture
If it seems like you’re the only one who didn’t spend their summer sunning on a yacht off the Amalfi Coast, now you can get a taste of Italy right here in SD. Rest your bod upon a made-in-Italy sofa or bed from Natuzzi Italia, a luxury design and furniture brand that recently opened a storefront at UTC in La Jolla. They carry a wide range of sleek furniture for every room in your house. Hey, it might not be sipping an Aperol spritz surrounded by breathtaking views of Capri, but their stunning sofas make being a couch potato something to aspire to.

When San Diego–based Sarah Moret was looking for natural beauty and body products that actually worked, she became frustrated by the lack of effective deodorants without aluminum and other potentially harmful ingredients. This (smelly) gap in the market sparked the entrepreneur to start her own line of natural body care. In 2018, she debuted aluminum-free deodorant (available in varieties like coconut nectar, white tea, orange neroli, and unscented for the purists out there). Since then, she’s taken her line to Shark Tank, where she struck a deal with Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban, and expanded to offer more products, including body spray and hair freshener. Curie products can now be found in stores like Anthropologie, Walmart, and Nordstrom.

Move over donuts, pizza slices, and alligators. Kids’ swim is over. It’s time for the adults to hop in—and we’re bringing our own toys. Float Factory offers two different styles: one a race car, the other a tank. The tank, a.k.a the Pool Punisher, invites party-goers to engage in high-stakes buoyant battles. The toy comes equipped with a water cannon capable of blasting targets up to 50 feet away. Talk about punishment.
One of the city's top plant designers turns a historic Golden Hill bungalow into a free-range plant sanctuary
leafing home, living room
Tomoko Matsubayashi
For in-demand botanical designer Britton Neubacher of Tend Living, greenery is a must. As an accent. As art. As a scientifically proven mood lifter and health improver. So when it came to finding her dream rental, plenty of places to “put a plant on it” naturally topped her short list of asks.
“The three things I really care about are my plants, my artwork, and my music,” says Neubacher whose designs have appeared everywhere, from avant-garde galleries to the elegant rotunda of the San Diego Museum of Art. “If you can have those things, you will have a happy home.”
She didn’t have to look far. Nestled in Historic Golden Hill, a six-block neighborhood pocket of historically designated properties, the charming 1914 Spanish bungalow was the first she toured. “It truly feels like San Diego,” says Neubacher, who shares the spacious digs with her cat Biggie Smalls and boyfriend Rick Froberg, an artist and singer/guitarist for the iconic local bands Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes.
Throughout the light-flooded bungalow, which features original floors, tile, and brass fixtures, verdant life graces every gleaming wood built-in, wide window ledge, and cozy nook. Including her extensive collection of exotic air plants, Neubacher cares for more than 100 houseplants. And that’s not counting the outdoor ones.
Neubacher and Rick Froberg, a singer/guitarist for one of San Diego’s most brutal and beautiful hard rock bands, Hot Snakes.
Tomoko Matsubayashi
“Much of my art reads like a well-worn punk fanzine; imperfect cut and paste collage that’s been overly xeroxed and handled,” she says. “It doesn’t get much more Wabi-Sabi than that.” Floor pillows by Mr. Blue Skye, art by Billy Sprague and Klassik.
Out front, her potted greenery complements a delicately fragranced English garden planted by “Mum,” the previous British resident, who filled the yard with roses, jasmine, daffodils, and citrus trees. Green-thumbed Mum also built an orchid house, which now serves as Neubacher’s specimen house and plant hospital. (Talk about a bonus room.)
Neubacher’s eclectic aesthetic feels custom-made for the airy interior, as well. “My house is a mix of Japanese, Moroccan, and Californian,” she says. “I think I style with sensual hands. I like organic but different and interesting. I like things that are edgy but beautiful.”
Her art collection showcases local talent, including ceramics by Josh Herman, sculptures by her longtime friend and collaborator Jason Lane of JXL Studio, and several large-scale collage-based works by former San Diegan Billy Sprague. “His pieces are like coming home aesthetically for me,” she says. “They’re warm and soft but punk.”
Vintage Eames shell chair prototype, never produced, surrounded by an eclectic mix of sun-loving cultivars. “My houseplants are free-range. I let them go where they want and learn a lot by watching their movement.”
Tomoko Matsubayashi
The Phi Vortex plant portal created by Neubacher mesmerizes with “the healing rhythm of nature fractals.”
Tomoko Matsubayashi
A neutral palette provides visual rest, while textural Wabi-Sabi art brings interest and warmth. “Much of my art reads like a well-worn punk fanzine; imperfect cut and paste collage that’s been overly xeroxed and handled,” she says. “It doesn’t get much more Wabi-Sabi than that.” Floor pillows by Mr. Blue Skye, art by Billy Sprague and Klassik.
Tomoko Matsubayashi
“I think one of the coolest tenets of healing space design is the Prospect/Refuge principle: try to have a vista (view) in front of you and protection (enclosure) at your back,” says Neubacher. “Plants can make a space feel expansive and cozy at the same time.” Textured Marakshi rugs and pillows sit in conversation with low- to-the-ground Japanese elements, including Neubacher’s Shou Sugi Ban-inspired charred tree sculpture. Table lantern by Isamu Noguchi.
Tomoko Matsubayashi
Elevated “thriller, spiller, and filler” plants draw the eye through the entire space. “Simplicity drives me but when it comes to plants, I’m an unapologetic maximalist,” says Neubacher. “These days I’m more interested in a home full of loved things and living things, than a museum of perfect and constrained things.” Vintage pottery by Gainey and USA. Pendant lamp by George Nelson. Space Age Gollypod sculpture is by JXL Studio for Tend. Organic clay forms are from her Morocco travels.
Tomoko Matsubayashi
leafing home, sun room
Tomoko Matsubayashi
leafing home, plant triangle
Tomoko Matsubayashi
Discover San Diego’s Top Lawyers — the region’s most trusted legal professionals across diverse practice areas.
Daniel A. Kaplan is a founding partner of Panakos LLP with more than three decades of civil litigation experience in both state and federal courts. Mr. Kaplan pursues and defends legal claims on behalf of companies, entrepreneurs, and business owners in high-stakes disputes. He focuses on business disputes including breach of contract, unfair competition, trade secret theft, securities disputes, fraud/misrepresentations, and employment matters.
“The best advocacy combines preparation, perspective, and a client relationship built on trust and candor.” — Daniel A. Kaplan
His clients include real estate investors, private and public corporations, and individuals seeking sophisticated legal counsel. Known for practical judgment and strategic advocacy, he works closely with an experienced and diverse legal team to protect, enforce, and defend his clients’ interests.
555 W. Beech Street, Ste. 500, San Diego, California 92101
619-8000-LAW
Panakos.law