A Renovated 1950s House Is Full of Colorful Tile Inspiration
By Apartment Therapy, November 21, 2018
Name: Stacy and Ben
Location: San Diego, California
Size: 2,930 square feet
Years lived in: 1.5 years, owned
It was the enviable views of the ocean and quirky mid-century details that appealed to Ben and Stacy when they bought this house, which hadn’t been renovated since it was built in 1958. Located in a bohemian beachside community in San Diego, the couple was expanding their family and looking for a place to settle where growing kids would feel comfortable for many years to come. They hired Jackson Design and Remodeling to help them remodel the house.
Ben loves to cook, Stacy loves to bake, and the kitchen was one of the first spaces they focused on remodeling. “We spend the majority of our time at home in the kitchen,” says Stacy. In the now expansive space, a large island allows room for the kids to work on art projects or help with kitchen tasks during mealtimes, keeping the whole family connected.
The rest of the home was designed to capture the couple’s desire for both natural and colorful elements. Hand-crafted details pop up throughout the home, including a hand-forged iron stair rail leading between the upper and lower levels. Two bathrooms echo the detailed tile design in the kitchen with their own vibrant color palettes and patterns. Open, airy, and full of light, the design looks stylish and interesting while also feeling relaxed and comfortable for family life. Ben and Stacy call it “Mid-Century Practical.”
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: We still aren’t sure what our style should be called, but we love natural tones, colorful tile, most everything at West Elm, and we chose a lot of other mid-century modern decor during our remodel.
Inspiration: Our design inspiration relied heavily on websites like Houzz and Apartment Therapy. Thankfully there are a lot of creative people out there willing to share their great ideas.
Favorite Element: The kitchen! My husband is a talented chef and I love to bake, so we spend the majority of our time at home in the kitchen. We made the kitchen window bigger in order to see more of the ocean view, knocked down the wall between the kitchen to the living room, built a walk-in pantry, splurged on a wolf range and sub-zero fridge and built an island big enough to give our kids some counter space to help with meal prep and/or do art projects while we cook.
Biggest Challenge: We moved into the house one and a half years ago, and just last week we finally selected a light for our dining room. This sounds silly, but we have a large skylight over the dining room area, which makes mealtime during the day lovely, but it has been a challenge to find the right pendant that can be suspended beneath the skylight. It should be delivered next month and hopefully we like it!
Proudest DIY: The kitchen backsplash. We decided on an ombre geometric tile concept for the kitchen wall after looking at hundreds of backsplash examples online. With the help of our designer and one of my close friends, I spent several hours creating the tile pattern that is now on our wall.
Biggest Indulgence: Sub-zero fridge
Thanks, Stacy, Ben, and Jackson Design and Remodeling!
