Living

Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009

Home goes from country to contemporary in Cambria

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The words “beach house” may conjure images of wicker furniture and seashell prints. But Peter and Kathy Charbonneau had quite a different vision when they renovated their coastal Cambria home.

When they purchased the house in 2000, the Moorpark couple used it as a vacation home. By 2006, Peter, who was retired from law enforcement and Kathy, a semi-retired registered nurse, were ready to permanently relocate to the Central Coast.

The 1988 home, which sits a block from ocean bluffs, was sufficient for weekend getaways, but needed a major overhaul to function as a full-time residence. The Charbonneaus collaborated with Cambria’s James Glitch, who served as both their general contractor and designer.

The modern Cape Codstyle house had a sunny, country interior that clashed with the couple’s contemporary aesthetics.

“There was lots of bright yellow and dark green. The kitchen cabinets were painted colonial blue and the floors were light maple,” Kathy remembered. “It was a little bit more country than we were interested in.”

They began the remodel downstairs by adding a bay window in their office /guest room, remodeling the bathroom, and adding dark-stained oak floors. Here, they were content to maintain the colonial Cape Cod feel of the house with casual fabrics, bead board wainscoting in the bath-single, room and cottage-style furniture in the guest rooms.

When they turned their attention to the upstairs great room, their objectives were different.

“We wanted the space to be more formal, more urban,” said Kathy.

Glitch suggested removing an upstairs sunroom, raising the kitchen ceiling, and removing view-blocking kitchen cabinetry to enhance the openness of the space. They also replaced a white painted brick fireplace with a clean-burning model sheathed in marble tiles.

In designing their new kitchen, the couple gave a subtle nod to the traditional architecture of the home. Instead of contemporary cabinetry, they chose white Shaker-style doors with simple lines that complement the modern glass mosaic tile backsplash, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.

The couple was downsizing from a 3,000-square-foot home to a roughly 2,000-square-foot one, so storage was a top priority. They pushed their front door out two feet to gain access to previously unused space under the stairs.

A Murphy-style wall bed helps their downstairs office do double duty as a guest room. Well-designed built-ins, like a roll-out pantry and cabinetry for firewood and stereo equipment, help keep the space neat and organized.

The couple purged the vast majority of the furnishings from their previous, more traditional home, handing them off to their grown sons as well as local charities. Even treasured collections were pared down; a gallery of 50 family photos in their old home was narrowed down to six favorites, which were artfully mounted above the stairs in stainless steel frames.

To maintain the minimalist look of their new home, they were choosy when selecting new furniture, lighting and accessories. Everything needed to be functional, visually striking and appropriately scaled.

To help them meet their very specific requirements, they used designers Michele Fanning and Beth Lawless-Black from San Luis Obispo’s The Design Collaborative.

The Charbonneaus and their designers ordered custom-made pieces when ready-made furniture couldn’t be found. For instance, Kathy wanted a round Ottoman for the great room that divided into four pieces for maximum versatility. After an exhaustive search, she hired San Luis Obispo’s Fine Touch Upholstery to create one. A custom credenza made by Grover Beach’s Knowlton Brothers was designed to house the couple’s CD collection and photo albums. The dining room hutch, built by Cambria carpenter Bob McDonald to match the kitchen cabinetry, looks like a piece of freestanding furniture but is actually built-in.

Some items, including their modern dining room table, were found online.

“I wanted a glass extension table that could seat up to 12, and I didn’t want to have to store leaves anywhere,” said Kathy.

After hours of searching online, she found an Italian piece by Cattelan Italia with extensions that slide out on each end. She purchased it through Web retailer www.europebynet.com, which shipped the piece from Italy then arranged to have it assembled in the Charbonneaus’ home.

The Charbonneaus found it challenging to find pieces that worked within their subtly nautical color palette of tone-on-tone blues, accented with crisp white and silver. For example, they found a piece of art for the space above their great room credenza that they loved — except for the color. The artist agreed to produce another one that coordinated with their wall color.

The couple is thrilled with their remodeled beach house, as well as their scaled-down, pared-down existence.

“It is interesting that we both prefer the uncluttered space we now call home,” said Kathy. “We love this remodeled home and after two years still comment that we can’t believe we really live here — in paradise.”