| This charming 1950's era
Capitola Village home includes three levels, with the upper
two enjoying beautiful views of Capitola Beach and the
ocean beyond. Before our clients purchased this property
in the Spring of 2010, it had been illegally expanded to
a triplex. Our challenge was to renovate this house
to a single family residence. The City of Capitola
was very helpful and eager to approve our plans for
this conversion. The result is a welcome addition
to the special community that is Capitola-By-The-Sea.
Our initial task was to generate a plan and budget that
would secure the job for Costa Bella, as the owner’s
were entertaining bids from other Santa Cruz area contractors.
Our competitive pricing and willingness to invest a lot
of upfront planning and consulting time secured the job
for our firm. We devised an interior construction plan
that would completely redesign the kitchen, opening up
adjacent walls to maximize the beach view from the second
level. On the third floor, we planned to relocate interior
walls to create a new main suite with large bathroom, walk
in closets, wet bar and new skylights.
We began the construction project with an estimated timeline
of 16 weeks. Demolition was conducted after we confirmed
that asbestos and lead tests were negative. We used green
building guidelines during the initial phase and were able
to recycle nearly 85% of our demolition debris.
The entire kitchen and living area were demolished. The
newly designed kitchen includes custom cabinetry in a contemporary
design, granite countertops, new plumbing fixtures and
a pass-through to the living area. The cabinets are a unique
quarter sawn maple with a clear finish. The doors and drawers
are all soft close using top of the line hardware. Special
cabinet features included a rounded island cabinet, seeded
glass display cabinets, and upper cabinet television pullout.
In the main living area, we replaced the existing woodstove
with a new flush gas fireplace and installed a recessed
flat screen television above it. The floor was completely
replaced with stained ‘scraped’ engineering
flooring. New wood baseboards were installed throughout.
The single pane windows were removed and replaced with
new dual pane vinyl framed units. The original south facing
stained glass window was beautifully preserved.
The second floor guest bathroom was completely updated
with a new custom vanity cabinet with granite countertop,
new bathtub, new tile floors and shower surround, new windows,
new toilet with Toto washlet seat and new plumbing fixtures.
In the course of our remodeling work, most of the plumbing
fixtures were moved. All exposed piping was upgraded to
new copper materials. The antiquated electrical system
was replaced with a new 200 amp panel and new wiring for
70% of the house. All of the old lighting fixtures were
removed, new fixture boxes were installed in the bedrooms
and the outlets were upgraded to GFI or arc fault as appropriate.
The lighting plan in the kitchen included drop pendants
at the new island, small halogen ‘puck’ lights
in the glass fronted display cabinets and new LED recessed
lights in the general kitchen dining areas.
The old and noisy individual gas furnaces were replaced
with a new 95% efficient forced air unit installed on the
first floor in a new mechanical room. New furnace ducting,
return air supplies and heat registers were installed.
The third floor was demolished and reconfigured resulting
in a more open, functional space. A large walk-in closet
was added at the master bedroom along with a new wet bar
and storage area at the rear of the third floor suite.
The master bathroom was completely redesigned to include
a huge walk-in shower with two spray heads, a seven foot
long double vanity cabinet and a new water closet with
Toto washlet system. A new Velux skylight, tile features
and granite countertops completed the renovation.
A word from our satified clients:
““Give Your Dream a Home” is not just
a slogan by Costa Bella Builders, it is a promise.
We are absolutely thrilled with the home renovation they
performed for us. Armed with only a vision of how
we wanted to turn an outdated 1950’s beach house
into a contemporary home, they guided us every step of
the way. The workmanship and design expertise were
superior and the dedication to the project was extraordinary.
Not only was our remodel completed on time, it was done
with the same dedication, precision, and professionalism
as if it were their own home. The project was planned out
so well that any inconveniences were held to a bare minimum.
We were kept informed throughout the project and any “additions” were
solely at our request. The craftsmanship was top notch
and the communications clear.
We highly recommend the Costa Bella Builders team (Jeff,
Vitt, Chad, Raul and all the others) for any remodel or
building project you may have. We were from out of the
area when we made this choice… and we will be forever
grateful.
Linda and Tim Wadley”
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