UT Coastal: Picture Perfect by Hill Construction Company

The San Diego Union-Tribune 10/22/2016

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Coastal THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

SAN DIEGO HOMES

SEEING BLUE REMODEL OPENS HOME TO WINDANSEA VIEWS

OCTOBER 2016

The San Diego Union-Tribune 10/22/2016

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PICTURE PERFECT REMODEL FOCUSES ON GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THE VIEW BY SOPHY CHAFFEE

at and Andrea Singer had one main color in mind when they embarked on the gut remodel of their contemporary oceanfront home in La Jolla. “We wanted to see blue from every place in the house possible,” said Nat, standing in the main floor great room that has accordion glass doors open to the front balcony and the azure sea crashing on rocks across the street at Windansea Beach. “We took out all the interior walls here. It was a bit of an engineering feat. We wanted to get as much view space as we possibly could.” The couple bought the 2,300square-foot, three-story home in June 2012, after seeing an open house sign. “When we walked in, the de-

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K.C. ALFRED U-T

The Windansea view from Nat and Andrea Singer’s living room sold them on the house. The ocean’s proximity also required tough materials to withstand salt and sun.

COASTAL SAN DIEGO HOMES CONTEMPORARY, COZY

Coronado home remodel blends comfort and function.

PAGE 14

STAFF EDITORIAL

ADVERTISING

Contributing Editor

Product Manager

Martina Schimitschek

MID-CENTURY TOUCHES

Neutral palette and unusual trinkets grace new interior.

PAGE 22

‘BUTTERFLY KISSES’

Memorial garden features Saturn in rocks, insect-enticing plants.

PAGE 26

Alma Cesena

Brandon Crittenden (619) 293-1504

Photo Editor Samantha Bey Sophy Chaffee Lillian Cox Rose Wojnar Beth Wood

Contributing Writers Rose Wojnar

MIRROR, MIRROR

Designer offers tips on the correct size, style and placement.

PAGE 29

Contributing Copy Editor K.C. Alfred Eduardo Contreras

Photographers

ON THE COVER

CLASSES AND TOURS

K.C. Alfred • U-T photo

A month of resources and events for the homeowner.

PAGE 30

Coastal San Diego Homes • October 2016

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The San Diego Union-Tribune 10/22/2016

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The kitchen features angled sinks that Nat Singer designed, white cabinetry for a modern, clean feel and a magnetic cooktop. “You put the pot on it. You turn it on. It senses where the pot is, it gets hot incredibly quickly,” Nat said.

La Jolla CONTINUED FROM 6 sign was not our style, and the only thing I saw was that view,” Andrea said. The house, built in the 1990s, was dated, filled with glass brick, curved walls and staircase, as well as a chopped-up layout that blocked the view. It took two years for design and permitting, in part because the couple wanted to add a rooftop deck. The couple came up with the design and worked with Joe Diasparra of Hill Construction to make it work. “They were very patient with us,” Nat said. “Nat’s good with spatial things, and I’m good with finishes and colors,” Andrea said. “We work well together.” “A lot of it we did on the fly as we designed it. We wanted this angular look so we designed this kitchen with, for instance, these sinks,” said Nat, pointing to the

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The Singers wanted to maximize the size of the master bathroom. “We decided to make the bathroom big and the actual sleeping space small,” Nat said. two angled sinks cut into the Alpinus granite counter that meet at the “V” of the angled island. “I got out my old trigonometry books and figured out the angles.”

The two do not have formal design training; he’s a former bond and derivatives trader who now advises municipalities on financing, and she’s a Jazzercise in-

Coastal San Diego Homes • October 2016

structor. But they do have experience as, in their words, “serial house buyers.” Their first house in San Diego was an eclectic Mediterranean in Pacific Beach, which they bought to be close to their daughter who attended grad school here and stayed. Their last home on the East Coast, where they’re from, was a 13,000-square-foot Colonial in New Jersey. This project was completed after about a year of construction. They moved into the fourbedroom, four-bath home a year ago. To achieve the contemporary look they were seeking, the couple went with white walls, gray tiles (on the floor and the wavelike textured wall tiles in the master bath), bleached walnut cabinetry throughout and unusual neutral stone finishes, such as the backlit, book-matched onyx panels on the main floor bathroom that look almost like a topo-

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The San Diego Union-Tribune 10/22/2016

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The master bathroom has a view of the ocean through the large master bedroom window. The couple and the builder spent a lot of time looking at the house from across the street to get the right mix of maximizing the view and maintaining privacy.

La Jolla CONTINUED FROM 10 graphic map. They also used glass wherever possible. “The stairwell was a huge engineering feat to get this done, to make it open and make it look like it’s floating,” said Nat of the glass staircase through which you can see the ocean as you go from the main to the third floor. Having maximized the view of blue, the couple turned to furniture, artwork and Andrea’s large collection of teapots and salt and pepper shakers for bright colors that pop. “It’s been a big transition, going from a large Georgian Colonial in New Jersey to a small oceanfront contemporary,” Nat said. “But it’s amazing how much the artwork carried over. And then we found these local San Diego artists to fill it in.” They were taken by the ab-

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Andrea Singer’s colorful collection of salt and pepper shakers from flea markets, garage sales and antique stores pop against the home’s white walls and cabinets. stract paintings of Jeremy SicileKira, a San Diego artist with synesthesia and autism who paints dreams and people’s emotions in bold, bright colors. They used three of his works on the

main floor, which fit well with the bright yellow chair they found in Milan and the multi-colored agamograph kinetic work by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam that changes from different angles. (The

Coastal San Diego Homes • October 2016

Singers bought it on a whim and carried it with them on their honeymoon.) Upstairs, they found abstract, expressive paintings by San Diego artist Constance Athens for the wall next to the glass stairwell and for the master bedroom. The bedroom also features a painting by Woodstock, N.Y., artist Justin Love that used to hang above a wood-and-marble fireplace in their old New Jersey home. The Singers have a “buy what we like” philosophy and are as proud of small pieces from unknown artists as works from better-known ones. “But this is my favorite picture,” said Nat of the view of Windansea through the open accordion doors in the master bedroom to the patio. “I never get tired of looking at this. The beach changes every day. And at night, we listen to the ocean.”

Sophy Chaffee is an Encinitas-based freelance writer and can be reached at CoastalSophy@gmail.com.

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