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.

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Why Nominate

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.

To Enter

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.

Reader’s Choice Voting

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.

Important Dates

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

Nominating Categories

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

Best Exterior Transformations (Before and After)

ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit)
Backyard Landscaping
Conversion to water-wise landscape
Exterior Home Renovation
Front yard landscaping
Garden
Patio + Porch
Sheds
Swimming Pools

Best Home Businesses + Services

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

Homes of the Year

Interior Categories

Bohemian
Coastal
Contemporary
Eclectic
Green
Industrial
Maximalist
Midcentury
Minimalist
Modern
Multifamily Residence
Rustic

Exterior Categories

Beach Home
Multifamily Residence
Contemporary
Craftsman
Green
Mediterranean-Style
Midcentury
Modern
Mountain Home
Ranch Style
Spanish-Style
Suburban Home
Tudor-Style
Urban Home
Victorian

The post Home + Design Awards Voting 2024 appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

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.”

The post Home Tour: The Sweetest Mission Hills Oasis appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

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.”

The post Home Tour: Renovation Brings Coastal Glamour to a 1960’s Abode appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

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.

Finding the Curie

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.

Water Wars

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.

The post Local Stokes: October’s Hottest Picks appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

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

The post Britton Neubacher’s Budding Abode appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Carlsbad Brett Farrow Design

Auda & Auda

Carlsbad’s latest modern eye candy takes its cues from Sea Ranch, an iconic collection of mid-century dwellings designed to complement the rugged Northern California coastline. With wedge-shaped forms, pitched roofs, and cedar cladding, the 13 standalone homes at Laguna Row give off a cool ’70s vibe.

“It’s set right on Buena Vista Lagoon,” says architect-developer-builder Brett Farrow, who trained under Jonathan Segal (the project’s name pays homage to Segal’s Kettner Row in Little Italy). “In the fall, the golden reeds reminded me of Mendocino or Sonoma.”

The oddly-shaped urban infill project, replacing a medical building and parking lot, had some challenging zoning requirements. Narrow but 45-feet tall, averaging 1,600-square-feet, the natural-modern row homes tread lightly and feature five different layouts and window configurations.

“They all have their own character,” says Farrow. “I put angles on it that capture light, air, and views better. They also have tall ceilings and large-format glass that you can open up to the outside.”

Farrow opted not to max out the lot, restoring the lagoon habitat and creating more natural space. A courtyard and European-style lanes encourage community, as does the proximity to Carlsbad Village; Laguna Row is just a short walk from the train station and restaurants Campfire and Jeune et Jolie, both of which Farrow designed.

Though the architect is about to move his young family into a newly completed project of his own in Cardiff, he nabbed one of the striking Laguna Row homes before they sold out. “It’s an amazing, beautiful place,” he says of the surroundings. “I can definitely see us living there someday.”

The post North County’s Latest Residential Development appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Simply White by Benjamin Moore is homeowner and designer Erin Daniels’ go-to for the exterior paint. “It’s not too bright, not too creamy, not too traditional. I usually do the trim the same color but will accent it with copper gutters. I love mixing metal in there”

Seven years ago, when Erin and Jason Daniels moved their young family to the resort-like Lake San Marcos—a community originally built for retirees—it felt like a bold gamble. Now their North County neighborhood couldn’t be more coveted by a new generation of young homeowners attracted to the area’s many amenities. The real-estate power couple, whose boutique Daniels Home Collective also provides design services, deserves a lot of the credit for making it cool.

“We were looking for an established feel,” says Encinitas-born Erin, whose talent for transforming vintage ranch houses, including her own, has been a core part of the couple’s marketing magic on Instagram. “The lake is a thriving community with a huge social life.”

For this ’80s ranch home, Erin opened up the living room floor plan and connected it to the outdoors, which features hillside views.

It also has its own laid-back lifestyle, which they frequently chronicle with the accompanying hashtag #LivingLakeSanMarcos. Set around two golf courses and a long, narrow artificial lake, the tranquil community is just 15 minutes from the coast—important for surfer Jason, who grew up in Florida—and includes four restaurants and the Lakehouse Hotel. “Everybody has golf carts,” says Erin. “We take the kids to school in one. There are vintage pontoon boats. We go out on the lake fishing. There’s golf, stand-up paddleboarding, pickleball, tennis.”

The Danielses, both Realtors, were snapped up by Compass Real Estate to represent the neighborhood, where a selection of single-story ranch homes dating to the ’60s have commanded steadily rising prices in recent years. Erin, a self-taught designer who has gutted and flipped properties in the neighborhood, knows how to help clients envision what a house could be.

The Danielses keep a streamlined design in their home. “Your house needs to be your retreat and sanctuary,” says Erin. “I want the perfect balance of warmth but clean, not cluttered”

“A lot of people have a hard time visualizing,” she says. “I have the eye and can throw out ideas and how much it’s going to cost. It used to be a retirement community, so they’re not huge homes, but we are able to modernize the layout and enhance the character and breathe some new life into them.”

Her usual starting point? Opening homes up to celebrate the scenery. “Most homes in the neighborhood have a view of a golf course, the lake, or the hill that we’re nestled at the bottom of. We can access natural light with windows or sliders. I try to focus on having that indoor-outdoor access to nature and being outside in San Diego.”

Lake San Marcos home – pantry

Outdoor areas create extended living spaces for homes at the lake, which tend to be two- or three-bedrooms. At the Danielses’ home, a 1980 ranch house that looks clean and modern after an inch-by-inch gut remodel, kids Dylan and Ella have plenty of room to play outside with the family’s newest addition, a long-haired cream dachshund puppy named Bella.

The house, the third they’ve remodeled and second in the neighborhood, makes for perfect marketing material with Erin’s spot-on sense of style: “It’s definitely timeless and bright and airy; very California, but I want the home to feel established. For furnishing, I love to mix in vintage pieces, to bring that level of warmth and coziness.”

Lake San Marcos home – dining room

Lake San Marcos home – coffee table

The family’s favorite place is the downstairs living room, which features a vaulted ceiling and a 50-foot wall of windows overlooking the golf course and mountains. “We get great sunsets,” Erin says. “We enjoy hanging out down there and entertaining.”

That joy translates well to attraction marketing. “All the things we do here have drawn people to the neighborhood through real estate,” she adds. “That was a big thing for us. And it was an easy thing to do because we love where we live.”

The Daniels’ home has a California casual vibe that mixes affordable brands, like CB2, with statement pieces with history.

Connection to the outdoors is a big focus for the family, and the layout embodies that. They filled the pool in the backyard for more outdoor dining and lounge space, including a putting green. Landscaping is complete with a mix of evergreen shrubs and large succulents among accent fences. When they’re not enjoying the views at home, they’ll take full advantage of lake life with a fishing excursion or quick golf cart drive to Amalfi for dinner.

The post The Daniels Family Takes Us On a Tour of Their Lake San Marcos Home appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Good DesignHannah designs for aesthetics, but her interiors are filled with practical pieces, too. The dining chairs, for instance, can be wiped clean. The brown leather chairs in the front room, replicas of Michel Ducaroy’s Togo chairs, provide the perfect spot to lounge or nap. And Hannah bought the Roland Kiyola piano to foster her children’s musical inclinations (Jason plays multiple instruments) while staying true to her own midcentury-modern style. Inspired by Scandinavian furnishings but made in Japan, this digital piano comes with Bluetooth so the kids can stream songs while they play along.

Jason and Hannah Weatherred were living in their eighth rental—a condo near the College Area / Rolando Village—with their three kids (Isaac, Justus, and Naomi) when they decided to put an offer in for a home on the other side of Interstate 8.

Hannah, originally from England, had seen that the home at the end of the cul-de-sac was up for auction. She’d peered into the windows, seen the vaulted ceilings, and knew it had just the right amount of space to host the students who attend Jason’s weekend sermons (he’s a college pastor).

“We put in a bid that was $40,000 less than the starting bid, but we sort of thought, ‘What have we got to lose?’” Hannah says. “We knew nothing about the condition of the home, but we started bidding with strangers over the phone. Next thing you know, everyone else stopped bidding, and we bought a house!” The home they won turned out to have been designed by architect William Krisel, who pioneered affordable midcentury-modern tract housing and designed several other homes in the neighborhood.

Flexible FurnishingsHomeowner Hannah Weatherred (pictured here reading to her son, Justus, while daughter Naomi plays with new puppy Benjamin on the floor) loves to play with shapes. She purchased the trio of multitasking ottomans from Blu Dot because of their versatility. They function as extra seats (on Sundays), foot rests, or a table for family board games. On the couch, block-print pillow covers from Block Shop Textiles in Los Angeles reinforce the room’s gray-and-yellow color scheme.

Hannah and Jason got the keys to their home a month later. The house, built in 1960, had sat vacant for three years prior to their purchase, so there was a lot of work to be done. Jason’s parents moved from Washington state, where he’s from, for six weeks to help the couple get their new home into a livable state. Since Hannah and Jason spent most of their money on the home, they intended only to repaint the interior and rip out the carpeting and tile throughout to replace it with wide-plank, light-oak flooring. When they started demolishing the floors and removing baseboards, however, they realized the home had some major damage.

The foundation was cracked, there was mold in the HVAC system, the electrical work was shoddy, and there was a 4 foot by 1.5 foot beehive inside one of the walls that was oozing black honey and harbored thousands of dead bees. Initially, Hannah planned for a purely cosmetic kitchen makeover—painted cabinets and new hardware—but the crack in the foundation crept under every existing cabinet, and the mold from the HVAC system spread to the upper cabinets. The kitchen needed to be completely demolished. With these unforeseen expenses, the Weatherreds blew through the money they’d budgeted for the renovation.

“My amazing in-laws offered to help us with the kitchen,” Hannah says. “My father-in-law even donned a hazmat-type suit to rid the kitchen of mold.”

With a blank slate in the kitchen, Hannah visited the dream list she’d been compiling in her head. It included navy cabinets, waterfall countertops made of marble, and simple brass knobs and pulls.

“I had a week to design, source, and order cabinets and appliances so we wouldn’t be without a kitchen for months,” Hannah says. “My father-in-law agreed to come back for the installation.”

Natural ElementsHannah believes the earth provides the best design resources. So there’s at least one plant in every room, oak planks blanket the floors, and the countertops come from slabs of quartzite from Brazilian Exotic Granite. That doesn’t mean, however, that she shies away from a bit of contrast, too. Hannah wanted to add Lew’s Hardware solid brass knobs and pulls to the cabinetry in the kitchen, but the budget didn’t allow it. Then she donated their salvaged cabinets to REStore and serendipitously spotted the exact hardware from her list there.

Hannah, who studied fine art in college, went to work figuring out the kitchen. She measured the footprint, ordered a suite of appliances from Costco, and worked with Cabinets.com to map out and purchase her Shaker-style maple cabinets.

Aiming for a custom look without the custom price, Hannah opted for deep drawers rather than door-front cabinets in some spots, and she configured the cabinets on either side of the refrigerator so they’d be flush with the walls. Jason constructed a frame behind them so the cabinets sit only slightly back from the standard-depth fridge. And he and his father framed two pony walls—one holds the sink and dishwasher and allows for countertop eating; another created an oversized island to hold the trash and recycling bins and lots of storage.

Hannah didn’t like the look of manmade surfaces. She longed for unique countertops that suggested movement. She wanted natural stone that wasn’t too high maintenance. She was steered away from marble and fell in love with a gray-and-white quartzite with veining that looks like a painted mountain range.

Del Cerro home – piano

Art of WordsHannah turned a favorite Bible verse into artwork. “In the tumultuous times we live in, we all need to remind our souls to have hope and march on!” she says. The hand from Dear Survivor and the Rory Pots vase beneath represent Hannah’s affinity for supporting artists she’s met in person and virtually.

“It reminded me of Yosemite Falls, and I knew it would make a beautiful statement in the open floor plan,” Hannah says. So she bought three slabs—enough for the countertops, the waterfall edges, and one entire side of the island.

Lighting came next. Though it was flooded with natural light during the day, the house became cavelike at night. Only two spots in the building were already hardwired for overhead lighting, and they were both in the family room. Since a six-week renovation often meant working late into the night, Hannah, Jason, and Jason’s father moved lamps around as they worked. Hannah bought sconces for the main living room first, then slowly added lamps, pendants, and recessed lighting throughout the home as their budget allowed.

Hannah’s first chandelier purchase hangs in her favorite room: her husband’s office, which also serves as a guest room. The modern six-light fixture brightens the vaulted wood ceiling, the only place in the home where the wood beams aren’t hidden behind drywall. To make the room larger, the couple borrowed space from the hallway and created a niche of open shelving.

Del Cerro home – detail

Del Cerro Home – Kitchen

In their room, Hannah and Jason spent several days during quarantine creating a feature wall behind their bed. She found a timber mill in La Mesa selling two-inch, light-toned hardwood dowels. The mill cut the dowels in half for her, and Jason cut them individually to ensure each would be level with the ceiling. Then the couple installed the dowels using a nail gun and hardwired pendants on either side of the bed.

“I lean toward minimal, European design,” Hannah explains. But she also likes to add something unexpected in every room. In the entry, she couldn’t find a wallpaper she fancied to create the statement she had in mind, so she made her own instead by painting the bottom portion of the wall a dusty rose color. In the linen closet, she removed the door, cleverly wallpapered the floor, and brought order to the towels and sheets with a system of pull-out mesh drawers. In the living room, a huge canvas waits for her hand to paint a masterpiece.

Outside, Jason built a wooden fence around the property, and the couple had help building retaining walls and a concrete basketball court in the backyard. They added a regulation-size hoop shortly after they moved in. “I joked that I didn’t have a kitchen, but my husband and kids had their court,” Hannah laughs.

In the front, Hannah continues adding to the home’s curb appeal. Drawing inspiration from their getaways to Palm Springs, she removed lots of concrete (she let her oldest son, Isaac, use a jackhammer) and created a sense of movement with large boulders, crushed rocks, and sculptural succulents and cacti. “I love that desert look,” she says. Shortly after they bought the home, the Weatherreds stripped lava-like rocks from the columns that sit on either side of the front door. But they didn’t have the columns and entry stuccoed smooth until this summer. They replaced the front door with a custom model and bought the matching garage doors, which open horizontally instead of vertically.

“My husband is six-foot-six,” Hannah says. “He wouldn’t be able to stand up straight in the garage if the door was overhead. But these doors each weigh, like, 500 pounds, so our neighbors helped us install them.”

Next on the to-do list is an overhaul of the garage, which doubles as the laundry room. Hannah ordered cabinets and designed a dowel system to install above the washer and dryer where she can hang clothes.

Del Cerro Home – bedroom

Between the LinesAfter renting—and not being able to hang lights—for 14 years, Hannah insisted on pendants above the nightstands in the primary bedroom. “I know it’s completely unnecessary, but I loved it,” she says. During their bedroom makeover, they finally ran the outlet wiring up the wall and through the ceiling.

After that, she plans to remodel each of the bathrooms. “They are low on the priority  list,” she says. “It might be a few years before we get to them.” In the meantime, she made cosmetic changes to the hall bath, replacing the builder-grade mirrors, light fixtures, and faucets, and adding hardware to the existing vanity.

Though they’ve made progress—and even rent out the complete rooms for photo shoots and filming—the to-do list never ends. “I’d love to have my home done,” Hannah says. “But I’m working on enjoying what I have and not worrying about what I don’t.”

The post This Couple Bought Their Del Cerro Home Before Ever Setting Foot Inside appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Home – hillcrest exterior

Interior designer Jennifer Riley can recount how she acquired nearly every object in her 1909 Craftsman home.

The ostrich egg she has nestled in a glass bowl on her coffee table, for example, was something she coveted on Instagram. “I follow this designer, and she shared a story about an ostrich egg, and I was like, ‘I want an ostrich egg,’ and I happened upon this one a few days later at a consignment shop in Temecula,” says Riley, who owns Hohm, a full-service interior design firm and online shop.

Another favorite: The Victorian silver tray with hunting scenes around the edges, which she keeps on her mantel. She found it at an antique mall in a paperweight booth, where it was hidden beneath a pile of random objects.“I cleared off the top and saw these seals, hunters, and ocean scenes. I had never seen anything like it and I had to have it.”

So it goes for nearly every item in her three- bedroom Hillcrest abode. With the exception of a few accent furnishings and decorative items, everything is antique, vintage, or an otherwise unique find from a consignment shop, thrift store, flea market, or estate sale.

“I’m drawn to the aesthetics of these pieces, but I also love the historical part, the sustainability aspect, and the price that is typically so affordable,” she says.

Riley grew up in a Victorian Queen Anne home, built in 1892 (it’s actually next door to her current home). Her parents—both antiquing hobbyists—filled the home with ornate, period-specific furnishings, and put historical Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper on every wall, including the ceilings.

Home – Hillcrest – Riley dining room

Designer Jennifer Riley found the signed serigraph print at a flea market for $15 and spray-painted the frame black. The lamp belonged to her grandmother, and the black- and-white photo leaning against it is of her great-grandmother dressed in a man’s suit. “I have no idea why and I just love the image of her,” Riley says.

“I have a natural affinity for old, historical homes and things,”she says. “The craftsmanship and attention to detail is unparalleled. It’s all I’ve ever known.”

It’s an upbringing that fostered her passion for—and eventual career in—treasure hunting.

In 1984, Riley’s parents purchased the house next door to their Victorian, where she resides now. They bought it for her grandparents, but didn’t begin the slow, 40-year-long restoration until after Riley’s oma and opa both passed away. After that,

she spent her teenage afternoons and weekends working on the Craftsman home.

“At some point, a previous owner painted all the doors white,” she says, cringing. The interior doors are all original—and redwood—so Riley and her mother spent long hours stripping and refinishing each of them. They also patched the original lath-and-plaster walls where necessary. Then in the early 1990s, Riley’s parents had the kitchen in the Craftsman completely rebuilt, but all of the cabinetry was done to mimic what it would have looked like in 1909. Following that major redo, not much was done to the home until she moved in, in 2003.

Back from Los Angeles with a refocused desire to pursue something she loved (she had been working as a screenwriter), Riley opened an antique shop on Adams Avenue. The brick-and- mortar location was short lived, but she has always maintained her antique-dealing business, renting booths in local antique malls and selling at weekend flea markets throughout Southern California. Most recently, however, she’s moved the business exclusively online. She visits secondhand shops, antique malls, and swap meets regularly, always seeking out the truly unique, the signed, or the total bargain. Some of it she’ll resell; other items find the perfect place in her home.

Riley had been searching for a terracotta lamp for a long time but wasn’t willing to pay the $300-plus price demanded. Then she found this one at a consignment store in Encinitas for $29. She already owned the silk shade. “I was ecstatic when I found this,” she says. It quickly became one of her favorite items in the whole house.

“The hunt is like an aphrodisiac,” Riley explains. “It takes patience, but the thrill of finding something that gives me a visceral reaction, something rare, beautiful, and something I love for, like, 20 dollars is such a rush.”

What she loves has changed over the years. She’s collected and displayed Asian artifacts, done the shabby-chic thing, and even dabbled in eclectic boho accessories. But through her phases, Riley’s stayed true to her mantra, which happens to be printed on the coir mat just outside her front door. It reads, “home: (hohm) n., the place in which one’s domestic affections are centered.”

To be sure, she’s updated. She and her father spent the better part of 2020 repainting everything, including the insides of the closets. They started with the walls. Riley selected Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee in a flat finish for every room except her own, where she used Sherwin-Willliams’s Jasper Stone. All the trim got a fresh coat of Swiss Coffee in a semigloss finish. Then they hired someone to restore the original redwood and fir floors. Finally, she and her dad ripped out and completely redid the full bathroom in the hall.

Riley has a room where she displays the Native American artifacts and artworkher parents have acquired over the years. The signed photograph shows Acoma Pueblo, a village outside Albuquerque in New Mexico. Much of the pottery in the room is from this community, including a hand-painted plate depicting an animal motif, “and the craftsmanship on it is out of this world,” Riley gushes.

“The floor was totally rotted,” she says, “so we had to rebuild it, installing new joists next to the rotted ones and then putting a new subfloor on top of that.”

The culprit? An original cast-iron tub with a leak that the pair smashed with a sledgehammer, removed, and replaced with a walk-in shower. The change is modern, yes, but Riley was considering the possibility that her parents might one day leave their three-story house across the yard to live in this one-story. To be fair, it doesn’t look out of place in her 112-year-old home. She successfully sourced a black-and-white basket-weave marble tile for the floors and a black  subway-and-bullnose tile for the baseboards. It’s nearly identical to the tile in her parents’ original Victorian bathroom next door.

“I would never drastically alter the footprint of an old home or knock down walls,” Riley admits. “I watch HGTV, and I see these shows where people save these old homes, but then they rip them apart, and to me, that’s a total disconnect. I want the inner architecture to shine.”

Relics from trips Riley remembers taking with her family fill the cabinet. “We did Keet Seel, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona,” Riley remembers. “We did Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico. We hit all the big ones, and my dad would collect along the way.” His souvenirs include Kachina dolls from various Native American tribes.

In her living room, Riley’s furniture centers around the original fireplace, constructed of clinker bricks, which are denser, heavier, and more irregular than standard bricks. “They’re uneven and imperfect but so beautiful,” she says.

She’s filled the rest of the room with secondhand goodies, family heirlooms, and some new items, too. She refers to her current design direction as “antiques with a modern flair.” On either side of her orange sofa, an estate sale score, sit round tables from Wayfair. The stools behind the couch came from Target, and the gauzy, linen-like curtains hanging above the windows were bought at Ikea.

Art throughout the home comes in the form of landscape paintings, portraits, vintage photos of her family’s favorite places, transferware plates, and mementos of her grandparents, like the collection of her grandmother’s copper pots that hang in the kitchen above the 1930s stove. And in every room, there are always fresh flowers, which Riley considers “life-giving.” She fills pretty vintage vessels with whatever’s blooming in her cutting garden or something from the flower market.

While the fireplace is original, it’s been redone. Master stone mason John Pottinger, who also did all the brick work around the pool, laid the rough-hewn clinker bricks—some are burned and charred. Riley cross-stitched the framed pot that is resting on the piano when she was 16 years old.

“In my bedroom, I’ve gone with a very spare, eclectic European look,” Riley explains. After repainting the room, she cut some of the furnishings and tchotchkes. “My hobby and my business allow me to redecorate my home when the mood strikes, edit often, and resell what doesn’t work in my space anymore.”

For instance, she most recently repurposed the room where her brother stayed when he lived with her a couple of years ago. She turned it into a home office, and in the closet she initially created a mini mudroom, where she could sort mail, store bags, and put on her shoes. When it wasn’t being used, she changed it into a place to display some of her prettiest vintage fashions and accessories.

Recently, Riley converted a guest room into a much-needed home office. She scored the antique rug (for a song) early in the morning—always the best time to go, she says—at a flea market. She’s had the rolling lawyer’s chair, a college graduation present from her parents, for 25 years. The linen- like window treatments match the ones in the rest of her home and all came from Ikea.

“My design process is constantly evolving,” Riley explains. “The way I approach design in my home and in my clients’ homes makes each project singular and different from anyone else’s, and that’s what is truly enchanting to me about what I do.”

Hohm Decor

@_hohm_

The post Designer Jennifer Riley Embraces the Old in Her 1909 Hillcrest Craftsman appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The infinity-edge pool and Jacuzzi see daily use. Ellie and Finn swim with neighborhood friends, the dogs enjoy regular dips, and Tim and Renee swear that there’s nothing better than enjoying a stunning sunrise or sunset while soaking in the hot tub.

Jenny Siegwart

For Illinois natives Renee and Tim Moore, living in Southern California had been a goal for more than two decades.

“In 1998, Renee worked in the hotel industry, and we had free travel to use, and neither of us had ever been to San Diego,” Tim recalls. “So we came out here, rented a car, drove the 101, and ended up in Encinitas. We absolutely loved it. Every year since, we’ve come back— sometimes multiple times—and we knew we wanted to move here.”

But the timing was never right, so after every trip, the couple returned to their Chicago suburb and went about their lives: They had kids—Ellie, now 15, and Finn, now 12—and advanced in their respective careers, always casually keeping an eye on the Encinitas real estate market.

They decided they had to make the move before Ellie entered high school, or they would end up having to stay put until after Finn graduated. So in June 2019, the couple put their house on the market, thinking it would sit for a couple of months while they figured out the move west. It sold in four days.

“It was crazy,” Renee says. “We’d accepted an offer and then an all-cash, close-when- you-want offer came in, but we thought it was bad karma not to follow through with the initial offer.”

The Moores spend lots of time outdoors. After all, the weather was one of the reasons for the move west. This covered patio is where the family of four plays Jenga and other games, and where Renee hosts the occasional ladies’ night.

Jenny Siegwart

And coming to San Diego in a seller’s market, they needed karma on their side.

Without a solid plan, the Moores left Illinois. Renee and Finn flew with the family’s two cats; Tim and Ellie embarked on a 32-hour road trip with the three dogs (since moving, they’ve acquired two more). Renee had secured their Realtors years before during one of the family’s SoCal vacations and had stayed in touch with them via text.

With designer Hanin Smith’s help, the couple sourced local cabinetry, countertops, the dining nook table, and ocean wave art from photographer Josh Bernard

Jenny Siegwart

Olivenhain – kitchen 1

Thekitchen originally had a dated look with black-and-copper recessed ceilings and heavy light fixtures. New appliances, lighting, and an expansion gave it a fresh update.

Jenny Siegwart

“Houses were selling so fast, Tim and I were stalking Zillow,” Renee says, “and I was finding myself saying, ‘Well, this could work’ to homes that had termites or were in terrible shape—homes I’d normally never look at.”

Then they came to this home in Olivenhain, an area the couple hadn’t even considered. Tucked back on a dead-end street, off a road that winds past lots of open space, this house had a rural feel, which the couple liked (their Illinois town’s population was 6,000).

Renee remembers, “We walked into this house, through the double doors to the yard with the infinity-edge pool and a view of blue skies and green trees, and I said, ‘Done!’”

The roughly 5,000-square-foot home was actually bigger than they had wanted, but in a market that required immediate offers, they put one in and got it.

The interiors, however, didn’t fit the couple’s taste.

“It was a mix of Tuscan and other Mediterranean influences,” Tim says. “The house was built in 2002, and very little had been done to it.”

Large white columns peppered the first level’s floor plan, black-and-copper recessed ceilings dominated the kitchen and home office, heavy light fixtures hung from 20-foot ceilings in the entry, and oddly placed steps created levels that interrupted the overall flow.

“But the home had good bones,” Tim explains. “We figured we’d live in the house for a year, then renovate.”

Olivenhain home – lamp and table

Jenny Siegwart

Formal dining rooms are not out of style yet; they can be made modern with just the right combination of drama, comfort, and elegance. Smith made magic here with black cabinetry from San Diego Custom Cabinets, a mix of seating, and the nine-light brass chandelier and standing mirror.

Jenny Siegwart

That plan lasted three months.

Initially, the Moores thought they wanted to keep the Tuscan vibe but make it cool. “I’ve seen older Spanish-style homes that look amazing,” Renee says. They thought they could get away with just patching a few things up. “Maybe we’d paint the kitchen cabinets and upgrade the appliances.”

So they hired a painter.

“It was terrible,” Tim says. “Instead of it making the kitchen look more modern, it was like putting lipstick on a pig. The kitchen looked like it didn’t go with the house.”

They needed more help. Luckily, Renee had already done her homework on interior designers. She’d been following local businesses on Instagram for over a year (even before they put the plan to move in motion). That’s where she found Hanin Smith, the interior designer behind Beachy Bohème.

The Moores reused where they could. They repurposed leftover stone from the bar to create the vanity in the powder room. Smith found the hand light on the wall at Anthropologie. “It’s a cool statement piece,” Renee says.

Jenny Siegwart

Olivenhain home – doorway

Jenny Siegwart

A black marble fireplace and wood mantel replaced the original built- in cabinetry that flanked a Tuscan-inspired fireplace. On either side, Smith created a symmetrical design with matching geometric sideboards, accordion round table lamps by Regina Andrew Detroit, and custom-framed “Sunstars” art from Cattie Coyle Photography

Jenny Siegwart

Smith and Renee clicked, and what started as some help with a few cosmetic changes quickly spiraled into a full kitchen, living, and dining remodel. To create the home they wanted, they needed new flooring, a bigger kitchen with an adjacent dining area, a new stair runner, and different light fixtures.

To help execute the plan, Smith referred the Moores to general contractor Alena Blasio, owner of B.A. Worthing, who collaborated on the kitchen design to make some dramatic architectural changes.

“The initial layout was constrained by these awkward steps that took you down to a sunken living area and then back up into the kitchen,” Blasio says.

To maximize the kitchen footprint, she infilled the stairs with concrete, removed a walk-in pantry to create a symmetrical design without forfeiting storage space, and removed the inset detailing on the ceiling to create uniformity.

The kitchen demo started on March 17, 2020. Two days later, the state issued its first stay-at-home order, and no one showed up to work the next day.

“Our kitchen had been gutted, the grocery store shelves were empty, and nothing was open,” Tim remembers. “But we just rolled with it. We barbecued a lot.”

Luckily, contractors and construction crews in the midst of projects were quickly deemed essential workers and permitted to return to work.

“We wanted everyone to feel comfortable and be able to decide for themselves if they wanted to come back to work or not,” Renee says. “We said we’d respect their decisions whatever those may be. Everyone showed up and got back to work. We just stayed outside or upstairs during the day.”

Still, the pandemic caused other delays. Cabinets manufactured in Tijuana took longer to make and got held up at the border, and lighting that required extension rods and chains (to accommodate the 20-foot ceilings) were hard to come by when everything was closed. So the remodel took a full three months to complete. But the Moores agree that the new kitchen was well worth the wait.

“The way it’s designed allows for multiple cooks in the kitchen,” Renee says. “It’s very communal, and I love that it keeps everyone connected.”

It’s also quite striking. Smith helped the couple select a rustic alder wood for the cabinetry, a charcoal stain for the island to show the wood’s texture and grain, and brass hardware for a touch of glamour.

“Renee has a fun, whimsical energy,” Smith says. “She wanted things that weren’t in everyone’s houses, so we were able to be a little quirky with selections such as lighting fixtures.”

Most of the budget went to the high-end appliances and total kitchen remodel, but where they could, they reused materials. The powder room sink, for instance, was leftover quartzite from the bar countertop in the dining area.

“Hanin really helped us make the best use of the money we spent,” Renee says. “We ended up keeping some things we didn’t love, like the columns, and decorating around them with colors and a style that feels like home.”

The rest of the makeover needed no further structural changes, only a few more simple swaps to switch up the look. They added fresh paint, new art, wallpaper to the office, and a bold animal-print carpeting on the stairs.

Olivenhain home – family inside

Jenny Siegwart

The couple admits they have a hard time leaving anything alone. Tim would love to replace the double doors to the backyard with some sort of sliding or accordion door, and Renee wants to redo cabinets in the living room and update the primary bedroom upstairs. But they don’t plan to go too wild—both Tim and Renee agree they’ll downsize once Finn goes to college.

“I couldn’t imagine living here in this big house when it’s just us and the dogs and cats,” Renee says.

“We’d love to find something near the beach that doesn’t feel like it’s on top of the one next to it,” Tim adds.

Wherever it is, the Moores know their next place will be somewhere nearby—because while this house is only temporary, they’ve found their home in Encinitas.

The post Take a Tour of the Olivenhain Home That Inspired a Cross-Country Move appeared first on San Diego Magazine.