Before and After: This Sunny San Diego Revamp Shows the Power of Paint
Designer Raili Clasen forges through a challenging loan process to salvage a rundown property—saving its bocce court in the process.
Designer Raili Clasen forges through a challenging loan process to salvage a rundown property—saving its bocce court in the process.
Designer Raili Clasen and her husband had recently become empty nesters when they discovered a four-bedroom home in the hills outside San Diego and started dreaming of the next chapter in their lives. "It’s set on three acres of eucalyptus trees and horse trails, and it’s all flanked by a bocce court." Raili says.
The classic post-and-beam midcentury had high ceilings and sun-dappled rooms, and it was about an hour’s drive from Raili’s eponymous design firm in Newport Beach. "All it needed was a lot of paint," she says.
But the loan officers at the bank weren’t wearing the same rose-colored glasses when they got a look at the 2,000-square-foot place, which was first built in 1950. All they saw was, well, a dump—a home well past its prime that hadn’t been touched in ages.
Before: Exterior
After: Exterior
Raili kept the exterior mostly as is, but updated it with white paint and a black accent for the unusual round gate. The front door’s sage-green hue can also be found throughout the home.
Photo by Gabriel Sullivan
"We could not get a loan, because they couldn’t see how anyone would live here," Raili says. Sure, the plumbing was a mess and the windows were cracked. The rooms were dirty, and the fixtures were outdated.
The couple kept the existing bocce court, and added throwback seating to match the midcentury home.
Photo by Gabriel Sullivan
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before and After: This Sunny San Diego Revamp Shows the Power of Paint
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