‘50s Home Recast With a Mexican Ambience

Rather than spend a bundle remodeling their plain 1950s home in Playa del Rey, Marilyn and Tom Hancock decided to buy a retirement home in Tucson, preferably a house in the Mexican style they both love.

But after several jaunts, the Hancocks found Arizona not to their liking.

“It’s hot,” Marilyn said. “There isn’t a lot to do.”

Plus, other than country club tracts with East Coast architecture, the couple found “nothing homes” that cost $250,000 to $300,000. And other recent arrivals with whom they spoke lamented: “We wish we hadn’t left Minnesota” or “We wish we hadn’t sold our house.”

And finally, the more the couple thought about retiring, the more they didn’t like the idea.

“I didn’t want to go out there and vegetate,” Tom said. “I thought we were about to retire, but we really weren’t.”

Ultimately, the Hancocks concluded that staying in Southern California and making the most of their home would make them happiest.

Tom, an electronics salesman, had bought the house as a bachelor in 1972; Marilyn, a small-business owner, moved in after their marriage in 1979.

In the Mexican-style transformation of their home, which was finished two years ago, the couple had four objectives:

1) Develop the home’s best quality--white water and ocean views--by pushing out the seaside wall 5 feet and adding a wall of French doors and decks.

2) Mitigate the home’s biggest shortcoming--jet roar from LAX--with extra insulation in walls and ceilings.

3) Replace the low, flat ceilings with pitched, wooden ceilings with heavy beams.

4) Create a dream kitchen.

To begin, the Hancocks looked for an architect who was on comfortable terms with people and Mexican architecture. Some architects the couple talked to had mostly contemporary projects in their portfolios, one architect couldn’t propose a ballpark figure for the project, and another was rumored at the local lumberyard to have money problems.

After talking to five architects, the couple settled on Maxwell Wuthrich of Rancho Santa Fe, who had been recommended by a friend. Besides showing the Hancocks beautiful examples of Mexican architecture that he had designed, he had other talents. Wuthrich not only was a good listener as the couple described their dream home, but also was experienced in guiding projects through the California Coastal Commission and other agencies.

Likewise, finding a good contractor with whom the couple felt comfortable took some time. Tom ended up finding their contractor, Mike Marsh of M.J. Marsh Construction in Long Beach, while he was doing another remodel in the Hancocks’ neighborhood.

Tom recalled that while Marsh didn’t have much time to spend chatting (a good sign in retrospect; overly chatty contractors accomplish less), Tom did get to know the homeowner, who was a demanding customer. Tom figured: “If Mike can get along with him, he can get along with me.”

Once the design was set and the contractor’s bid came in within $5,000 of what the Hancocks had expected, construction started. For the next year, the Hancocks lived in a rented house across the street. That home’s four-car garage stored their furniture.

While the home’s footprint on its small lot remained the same, little else did. Because of the extent of the remodel, local planning officials required that the house be brought up to earthquake safety standards.

Exterior plaster was removed and sheer walls--plywood sheets nailed to framing studs--were added. After new plaster went on, it was faux-painted an aged-looking terra-cotta color by a guy whom Tom had seen painting for an Orange County commercial project. In fact, Tom found several craftsmen in similar fashion.

“He stops and talks to people,” Marilyn said.

Outside, a red tile roof replaced asphalt shingles. The tired frontyard shrubs were removed, and a clay-tiled courtyard was added. The small original porch was enlarged and the narrow metal poles supporting the roof overhang gave way to massive wooden posts. An assortment of clay pots, vines climbing the walls and a pepper tree help create the early California look the couple was after.

Past the front door, now heavy and wooden, the once-confining foyer was made more spacious by removal of a coat closet. Past that, the living room and ocean views are straight ahead, with the dining room and kitchen to the right.

To the left of the entryway are the master bedroom as well as Marilyn’s closet and dressing room, remade from a spare bedroom. A downstairs apartment, comprising a living room and bedroom, provides visiting space for the couple’s two grown children and five grandchildren.

Most of the changes were made in the top story. To create the desired Mexican ambience, the original wooden floors were covered with large clay pavers with dark gray grout. The walls were faux-painted to look old, and four divided-light French doors were installed leading to new decks. Above the living room, dining room and kitchen, the low ceilings were raised, covered with Douglas fir and supported with thick beams.

In the working plan, the ceilings were designed to be 1 foot lower, but as soon as Tom saw them in early construction, he told the contractor: “These are too low. This won’t work; Marilyn wanted high ceilings.”

As it turned out, the couple chose the right contractor: He was willing and able to be flexible with this and other changes. They wanted more outlets, wiring for the stereo, a couple of new windows, copper gutters, a new heating unit and other upgrades.

With each request, Marsh told Tom how much extra it would cost and how much time it would add to the duration of the job. The original budget of $140,000 stretched to $180,000, and the six-month estimate turned into a year.

But as each increase was announced, Tom told the contractor: “Look, I don’t care. I want it done.” As Marilyn explained: “Our philosophy was that we’ll never do this again, so we might as well get what we want.”

Most of all, Marilyn wanted to come out of the remodel with a large, glorious kitchen. Instead of including this in the contractor’s work, she took this on herself, asking him to prepare the walls for the cabinets and appliances she would order.

Because the original kitchen was small, she wanted and got more width by eliminating a laundry room (moving the washer and dryer downstairs), and more length by taking out the wall between the kitchen and dining room.

Finding a suitable cabinetmaker proved arduous. The cabinets at shops on Melrose Avenue and other upscale areas were either too shiny, too expensive (up to $30,000 for the raised-panel collection Marilyn wanted) or took too long between ordering and delivery.

Some shops wouldn’t make the ceiling moldings out of knotty pine, Marilyn’s preferred wood (she figured they didn’t want to harm cutting and routing tools on the knots).

Finally, Marilyn turned to David Baumann at Master Cabinets in El Segundo, who had made furniture for the couple in the past. While he didn’t feel comfortable doing the finish on the cabinets, he agreed to build and install the cabinets for $14,000. Tom found another craftsman to do the finish.

For the counters, Marilyn chose an ivory-colored Mexican tile as well as painted blue tiles to accent the hood over her dark blue Viking stove and the back splash. However, because the Mexican tiles are relatively soft, she chose harder, nearly identical, American tiles for the counters. Iron lamps came from Arte de Mexico in Los Angeles.

Although the project is beautiful, it wasn’t easy to pull off. Tom recalled that, because of all the decisions that had to be made, he sometimes dreaded coming onto the site.

One extra hassle concerned the decks, which stuck out 2 inches farther than allowed by building codes. To avoid spending thousands of dollars for remediation, Marilyn had to ask for signed variances from nearby neighbors, who had become more and more cranky as the remodel--and its dust and trucks, hammering and sawing--dragged on. Gift bottles of wine helped Marilyn get what she needed.

In the end, the transformation was complete. As Marilyn put it: “For a house built in the 1950s, this was quite a stretch.”

Kathy Price-Robinson is a freelance writer who has reported about remodeling for nine years. She can be reached at kathyprice@aol.com.

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Source Book

Project: Remodel exterior and interior of a house in Playa del Rey to give it a Mexican ambience.

Architect: Maxwell F. Wuthrich, Rancho Santa Fe, (619) 756-1788.

Builder: Mike Marsh, M.J. Marsh Construction, Long Beach, (562) 434-2999.

Cabinets: David Baumann, Master Cabinets, El Segundo, (310) 615-0248.

Duration of job: One year.

Cost: $180,000.

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