Published: Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010
Updated: 10:09 am Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010
Throwing a curve at linear design
The Spangler home in Shell Beach disappears into its environment
Comments (0) | 
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closeWhen Mike Spangler purchased his nearly three-acre hillside lot in Shell Beach five years ago, he envisioned building a sprawling Mediterranean estate. What he ended up with was nothing close—but no less dramatic.
A resident of Shell Beach since 1969, Spangler took to heart the fact that his home is at the northernmost point of town.
“I wanted to build a house that was fitting as an entrance to the beach community,” said Spangler. “It had to be a little out of the ordinary.”
- Throwing a curve at linear design
-
TIPS FROM THE SPANGLER HOME
NATURAL ART
A natural stone scrap or remnant can make an unusual, textural wall hanging. When stumped on how to fill a wall in his great room, Mike Spangler found a small slab of quartzite at a slab yard. Its swirls of russet and brown echo the hues of the home’s woodwork.
THROW A CURVE
Curves can make a modern or austere room feel more inviting. If you can’t
incorporate curves into your architecture, try adding a patterned rug with a circular motif. Repeat those curves in the lines of a chair, the swirls of a wrought iron lamp, or a pattern in your tile, wallpaper or window coverings.
START WITH NEUTRALS
Neutral, muted hues on walls, flooring and other permanent materials are soothing and easy to live with. Add a jolt of color with art and rugs. They can easily be rotated to change up your color palette.
When zoning restrictions made his vision of a Spanish home out of the question, he approached San Luis Obispo architect Steven Puglisi.
Regulations required that Spangler build up, rather than out, to attain the 3,800 square feet and ample garage space that he desired. They also called for a flat roofline to preserve views from Highway 101. The natural conclusion was to build a house of contemporary design.
Spangler and Puglisi wanted the design to blend almost seamlessly into its environment. To this end, they created a two-level structure whose architecture echoes the stepped hillsides surrounding it. Its earthen hues and naturalistic landscaping allows the house to blend even more with its surroundings.
“People who drive up and down the road all the time don’t see it,” said Spangler.
The upside of modern design was the opportunity for Spangler to draw on one of his passions. A metalworking hobbyist for much of his life, he turned his craft into a business when he opened SLO Works, a welding shop that is just one of his many enterprises.
Spangler used the home to experiment with novel applications for metal. The garage doors, one of the few metal elements not fabricated in Spangler’s shop, are aluminum and stainless steel. A steel cylinder supporting the bar in the kitchen was given a texture that suggests gently billowing seaweed. It was created by metal artist Steve Prachel using automotive abrasives. Spangler designed the exterior railings, then, with the help of Hank Vangalle of SLO Works, fabricated the handrail out of oval stainless steel tubing typically used for NASCAR exhaust pipes.
His use of glass was equally imaginative. In several areas, including the front door, kitchen counter-top and backsplash, he used cast glass. Each piece required artisans to design a mold to produce a specific texture and shape. The finished glass has a fluid, rippling effect that is evocative of the ocean.
As the design process came to its conclusion, Spangler had some concerns.
“We made a model and it looked an awful lot like a dentist office,” he said. “I was afraid of having a home that was too modern.”
He worked with Puglisi to integrate curves that soften the hard lines of the home. The dropped ceiling in the kitchen, originally sketched out as angular, was bent into a gentle serpentine curve that extends to the living room fireplace.
From Italy, he sourced black oak interior doors that have a subtle s-curve. Even the kitchen cabinetry has a slight camber.
Wood further warms up the space, and here Spangler was no less discriminating. The cabinetry in the kitchen and den, built by San Luis Obispo company Woodtech, is a combination of mahogany and zebrawood. To give them the sheen he desired, craftsmen borrowed yet another technique from the automotive industry and gave them a high-gloss automotive finish.
Once the home was complete, Atascadero company Kuznetsoff Design helped to source modern furniture; a San Luis Obispo firm, The Design Collaborative, helped to infuse color into the neutral-hued space. Spangler chose rugs in subtle water-inspired hues and modern designs to punch up his brown porcelain tile floors, which were chosen to accommodate his dogs, Scout and Turbo. Vivid modern artwork, mostly purchased from Hawthorne gallery in Big Sur, adds graphic interest to the white walls.
The Spangler home took two years to build and was completed in 2007. Spangler now shares the home with Robin Irwin.
The home has given Spangler a new perspective on contemporary design.
“With contemporary, you get a lot more freedom to do personalized things,” he said. “Looking back, I’m really glad we went with it.”
Writer Rebecca Juretic lives in San Luis Obispo.
RESOURCES:
Architect: Steven Puglisi Architecture
General Contractors: Mike Spangler, Mark Sullivan
What you should know about comments on SanLuisObispo.com
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
- Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
- Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
- Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
- Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and leave him a public message.
- Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
- Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
- Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
- Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.