Laguna Beach
A full home remodel of a nearly 100-year-old house, two blocks from the coast. New retaining walls, new interior and exterior staircases, a Modpool container pool, and two levels of floor-to-ceiling bi-fold doors.
Select Projects / Laguna Beach
The house was around a hundred years old, set on a slope two blocks from the coast. The homeowners retained Priscilla Crowther of The Kitchen Lady to design a new kitchen. Through extensive client meetings and design development the brief grew, from a kitchen remodel into a full home renovation and finally a complete rebuild. When the structural engineers confirmed that the foundation and framing needed full reconstruction, The Kitchen Lady introduced her long-standing associates Welch & Wandsworth as general contractor.
The Kitchen Lady carried the interior design across two kitchens, two bathrooms and the principal living spaces: the layouts, the cabinetry through Plain & Fancy, the countertops, the flooring imported from Italy, the tile, the paint, the hardware and the appliances. We took the house back to its frame and built it again over two levels, with floor-to-ceiling bi-fold windows and doors along the ocean side and a new roof over all of it. Much of the most important work is now out of sight: new retaining walls were cut into the slope and poured against it, and new internal and external staircases were built to resolve the changes in level across the property.
The project also includes a Modpool container pool, the first of its kind in Laguna Beach. On a site that falls away on almost every side, it required careful positioning, structural support and drainage. That hidden work is what an experienced general contractor is there to manage: foundations, structural framing and concrete, electrical and mechanical systems, then the installation of every finish, all coordinated through one firm.
Project team: Design and design development, kitchens, bathrooms and principal living spaces, The Kitchen Lady. Cabinetry, Plain & Fancy. Structural engineering to the main house, Rigsbee Engineering. Structural engineering to the frontage and the concrete stairs, CalCoast Engineering. Modpool installation, Mason Pool Co. Landscape, ROOTED Design. Project coordination, Keith Fryer Associates. Photography, Keith Fryer Associates.
We are a California-licensed general contracting firm, led by two principals. Clients keep their own architects, engineers and designers. They create the vision. We build it.
What we started with
The old house came apart down to the posts, the chimney and the slab, with the ocean sitting where a wall used to be. Everything that stayed was checked, and everything that did not was rebuilt. It is the least photogenic part of any project, and it decides every month that follows.
The ground
The lot falls away on every side, so before anything could be planted the slope had to be held. New retaining walls, cut in and poured, then terraced back so the levels arrive at the house instead of running past it. The flagstone, the planting and the water all sit on top of that. The part that took longest is the part you cannot see.
The pool
A Modpool container pool, craned in over the house and set on ground that falls away on every side. Everything difficult about it happened before it arrived: the bearing, the support, the drainage and the run of services, all of it designed to sit under a finished terrace and never be thought about again.
The finish
Stucco carried straight and true, glass set into stone with the fixings lined up, planting pockets built into the structure rather than added onto it. Benjamin oversees the finish work, inside and out, and the same attention runs through the house: the kitchen cabinetry, the Kohler bathroom fixtures, the Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove appliances, and the Italian flooring were all sourced through The Kitchen Lady. When it is done properly nobody notices any of it. That is exactly the point.
Cut into the slope and poured against it. The garden, the terraces and the pool all stand on them.
The first of its kind in Laguna Beach. Craned in, then set and drained on ground that falls away on every side.
The levels did not line up. New internal and external staircases, so the house reads as one house.
Two levels of them along the ocean side. The wall opens and the view does the rest.
Over the whole of it. The part nobody thanks you for until the first winter.
Running through the house, laid to hold a line across rooms rebuilt at different times.
Who designed it, who made it, and what we built. Recorded with The Kitchen Lady.
Retained by the homeowners to design a new kitchen, Priscilla Crowther of The Kitchen Lady guided a brief that grew, through extensive client meetings and design development, from a kitchen remodel into a full home renovation and finally a complete rebuild. When structural engineers confirmed that the century-old house had foundation and framing problems that needed full reconstruction, The Kitchen Lady introduced her long-standing associates Welch & Wandsworth as general contractor.
Plain & Fancy, procured through The Kitchen Lady’s established relationship with the manufacturer, one of her long-standing partners: preferred pricing, deep product knowledge and quality assurance in the specification.
A comprehensive interior design scope across two kitchens, two bathrooms and the principal living spaces: spatial planning, workflow analysis, material specification, appliance integration, lighting design and the full range of finish decisions that decide how a finished interior looks and lives. The finish specification ran well beyond cabinetry, to countertop materials and fabrication, flooring imported from Italy, tile selection and layout, paint and hardware, with procurement and installation coordinated across all finish trades.
Construction by Jason and Benjamin. The house taken back to its frame, new retaining walls cut into the slope and poured against it, new internal and external staircases, a new roof, two levels of floor-to-ceiling bi-fold doors along the ocean side, and the Modpool container pool craned in, set and drained on ground that falls away on every side. Installation across every finish trade, coordinated with The Kitchen Lady.
Project photography, Keith Fryer Associates.
Building our dream home was one of the biggest investments our family has ever made. From the beginning, Jason Welch and Benjamin M. Davies gave us confidence that they understood both the construction process and the home we wanted to create. Throughout the project, they guided us with honesty, patience and professionalism, and their commitment to quality never changed.
The finished home exceeded what we imagined. Every room reflects the care and craftsmanship behind it, and the outdoor living areas and Modpool have become a focal point for our family and friends. What stands out most, though, is the trust we developed with the Welch & Wandsworth team. They treated our project as if they were building their own home, and we would recommend them without hesitation.
Homeowners, Laguna Beach, California
They walk the lot together before a line is drawn. Jason takes the structure and the site, Benjamin takes the details you live with every day. Both of them are on site, on every project, and we only take a few homes at a time so that stays true.
Serving the greater Orange County and Los Angeles area, and the Altadena fire rebuild.
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