Island flair: Coronado renovation rich with tropical touches - The San Diego Union-Tribune

2022-08-26 18:56:31 By : Mr. ZHENGXUE FU

It’s the downstairs shower wall that essentially sums up the style of the newly renovated Coronado home owned by Holly and Art Croft. The 24-inch-by-24-inch Jungle Floral Equatoriale tiles with their broad green leaves capture the look of verdant tropical rainforests found in Holly Croft’s native Hawaii, as do the many tropical plants she’s placed around the first floor. And throughout the main living areas, the furniture, light fixtures and warm colors of the textiles —from upholstery to drapes —create a tropical if modern sensibility.

Art Croft first purchased the almost 2,000-square-foot, two-story home in Coronado Cays in1988 when the community was built. Holly moved in in 1991 after the two had met in Hawaii and had a long-distance relationship.

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom residence reflected the construction and builder choices of the time. The floors were a mix of Saltillo tile and carpeting. The kitchen was closed off by a wall and had the dreaded upper cabinet looming over a peninsula that sat two. The ceilings were low to fit in the inevitable massive fluorescent light fixture. The result was a cramped, closed-in space.

In the nearby living room, the oversized fireplace forced the couple to push their TV console in front of the French doors leading to their ocean-view patio. The guest bathroom had a door leading from the hall and another from the adjacent bedroom that, when open, blocked off the toilet and shower. And the floor? Orange and black checkerboard tile.

It was October 2020 when the couple were finally ready to do their first renovation, focusing on the first floor. By then, the second of Holly Croft’s two elderly dogs had passed. She hadn’t wanted to put them through the stress of a remodel.

There was a good amount of structural work that needed to be done. All the flooring — including the stairs — would have to be replaced and the kitchen and guest bathroom gutted. The couple wanted to remove the wall dividing the kitchen from the dining and living areas to open sightlines and facilitate a large island.

The fireplace in the living room would have to go to provide both more wall space and room for the structural support necessary with the removal of the kitchen wall. The very low ceiling in the kitchen would be elevated to match the rest of the first-floor ceilings and create more volume. Finally, the living room windows needed replacing, and the French doors were converted to a sleeker slider.

All the work, including designing and re-imaging the entire downstairs space, was done by Jackson Design and Remodeling’s team of Jen Pinto, senior interior designer; David Hall, residential designer; and Kathryn Von Groningen, interior stylist.

“When I started thinking about it 15 years ago, I couldn’t afford it,” Holly Croft said. “But when I got serious about it, I looked at the websites of all the major companies and their work. Jackson was really the only company that appealed to me. The projects they did were really cool and different. I just wanted the wow factor.”

It felt like kismet when the woman who helped Croft with her furniture choices at Ethan Allen suggested she use Jackson, and that Jackson advertised on Croft’s favorite radio station, KSDS. Plus, she noticed that they had won a lot of awards.

“I thought, ‘This feels good,’ ” Croft said.

Construction began in March 2021. Croft, a jewelry designer, steered the project, which was completed by the end of September that year. A team led by Todd Jackson, the firm’s president and CEO, visited the home to get a sense of what the project would entail and what kind of structural engineering would be needed. A second team, including designers, came to refine design ideas.

Croft is a cook, so the kitchen became a major project in the renovation. One of the key things Pinto had on her mind were the kinds of appliances her client wanted.

“We want to make sure we get all of our major key points checked off the list,” Pinto said.

They chose a series of Bosch appliances, from the induction cooktop and French door refrigerator to the electric wall oven and speed oven. Inevitable supply chain issues, though, led them to substitute the dishwasher they originally selected for a Miele, which Croft loves.

One of the challenges was determining how to incorporate a new modern kitchen into the space without it looking completely different from the rest of the house. Croft had already purchased two sofas, a dining room set, cabinets, side tables and other pieces from Ethan Allen and other retailers, so design decisions had to seamlessly incorporate those pieces while still developing Croft’s comfortable modern aesthetic that also leaned Hawaiian.

“I took a lot of pictures of their artwork, their existing furniture and some of the colors they were using, and I sensed that tropical theme throughout a lot of their accessories and artwork, the patterns and fabrics,” Pinto said. “So, it was really important to introduce some of those elements into the kitchen in a way that made sense.”

Surprisingly, the kitchen is predominantly in shades of gray. Because Croft was keen to have easily cleanable surfaces, the cabinetry base and island is Fenix, an Italian paper and next-generation acrylic resin material that’s durable, scratch resistant, anti-fingerprint and easy to clean. The darker Grigio Londa color on the island and base cabinets complements the lighter Fenix Bianco Malé on the uppers.

The island countertop has a marble look but is an easy-to-maintain polished Calacatta Luccia quartz, while countertops for the kitchen’s perimeter are polished Haku White quartz. The backsplash is a mix of textured 8-inch-by-2.5-inch white Cloe subway tiles.

Because Croft wanted a clutter-free space, Jackson’s team took advantage of the freed-up area at the end of the kitchen where a breakfast nook had been and built her a long pantry. In the lower cabinet by the stovetop is a pull-out spice rack. On the other side is another pull-out rack, with a shelf with three holes that fit utensil holders that would otherwise sit on the counter. Croft has them all filled with spatulas, whisks, graters, ladles and other tools. There’s also plenty of storage in the island — so much that she hasn’t filled it yet.

“I just have so much room,” she laughed.

Croft is also tickled by how the recessed lights installed in the now higher ceiling illuminate the room.

“I never had recessed lights. Can you imagine? So, when I got these, I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ Something so simple was just right,” she said.

But why are there so many gray tones in a more tropical environment? For Pinto, the answer was clear.

“I thought it was a nice contrast to all the warmth she had,” said Pinto. “Otherwise, everything sort of felt like the same tone. And to me, when you look out in this ocean view at some point in the day it does look a little gray, depending on the season and time of day. So, I felt like incorporating that, especially because that gray has a little hint of blue in it. So that was a cool undertone.”

Pinto also incorporated warm notes to the space with three Boho Charm Pendant lamps from Shades of Light over the island. The rattan shades provide that tropical feel, while the black hardware has the contemporary look of the kitchen. She also placed two open shelves in Walnut Cacao in the corner by the sink. Croft bought three Jewel Metal Base counter stools from Ethan Allen with custom Martel Grain fabric.

With Croft keeping so much of her furniture, there weren’t as many of the usual design decisions in the living room and dining area. The walls were painted a flat pearly white. The floors throughout the downstairs are now an updated, easily maintained porcelain tile, with luxury vinyl plank flooring on the stairs for safer walking, not just for the couple but also their young Boston terrier, Toby, who did go through the renovations with the couple. And the Jackson team redid the stair as well as created a little storage nook below the stairs by the dining area.

The Crofts love the new Shell and Crystal Drum Shade Chandelier from Shades of Light over the dining set, as well as the Macon Chandelier in wood and rope over the stairs landing. The Williams Sonoma Newport Natural Chandelier is the focal point of the living room, with its tiered raffia wrapped metal frame. It’s balanced by the pure Hawaiian-style, orange floral Alfred Shaheen vintage print curtains framing the ocean view; Croft — who loves orange —found the fabric at Ethan Allen.

Also from Ethan Allen are the orange sofa and camel sectional in Sunbrella fabric and the side tables. The colors carry over to the area rugs, including the camel-colored 12-square-foot wool, double-border grounding the sofas and the 9-foot-by-6-foot Novato rug below the dining table.

Then, there’s the guest suite.

“We wanted to open up the bathroom and make it more accessible since we know Holly’s mom stays over once in a while,” said Pinto. “We wanted the shower to be easier to get in and out of. We used the same footprint, but by getting rid of the wall between the vanity and the shower and toilet, we could make the countertop a little wider. And we removed the door between the bathroom and guest bedroom and had a pocket door installed, which created more space as well.”

The old flooring was replaced with sleek Essence Vanilla wood-look porcelain tile. The vanity is a warm yet crisp DeWils Horizons cabinet with brass Tribeca pulls and the same Haku White polished quartz countertop that’s in the kitchen. Above is a black-striped rattan mirror from Ferguson balanced by two wave pattern wall scones from Shades of Light. The fixtures, both for the vanity and the shower, are Brizo Odin in Brilliance Luxe Gold from Ferguson.

“The vanity has a little bit of a teak vibe to it, and a richness and warmth that I felt the bathroom needed. And we did gold fixtures instead of black because it looks killer up against that green,” Pinto explained, referring to the green of the showpiece shower. Pinto had mulled over wallpaper but because the shower tile was going to be replaced anyway, why spend the extra money on wallpaper when they could create a feature with tile.

“I was looking and looking for different tile ideas. Maybe we just do green tiles or a mixture of green and blue. Then I ran into that tile in a showroom, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s it. That’s the pattern.’ ”

“That is one of my favorite things about the house,” Croft said.

The guest room’s queen bed and side tables are from Pottery Barn. They’re accompanied by a comfy looking Serena & Lily bentwood Edgewater lounge chair with a cushion in white performance fabric. A Jamie Young Clear Plum Jar lamp sits on each side table. Across is a chest of drawers from Pottery Barn and above is a Riviera Maya Ceiling Light in natural twine. In both the bathroom and bedroom, Croft has hung paintings by Jan Shaner, a plein air artist from Maui, Hawaii. She’s not the only artist showing in the Croft home. On the wall of the staircase landing are seven paintings by Art Croft.

Croft felt the pressure of the decision making but said that Pinto made it easier by holding separate meetings to deal with specific subjects. When it came to choices, the designer would narrow them to three instead of overwhelming Croft with a wide range.

“A person who goes out there and does this without a designer is crazy,” said Croft. “There’s just millions of choices and you can get so bogged down. And what if at the end it doesn’t look cohesive? Jen absorbed all the information I gave her, and it was like she knew me.”

Caron Golden is a freelance writer.

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