Name: Grace, blogger of Grace Happens and Collin Sorensen
Location: San Diego, California
Size: 1,200sq ft
Years Lived In: 2.5 months
All month long, we've been sharing Home Hacks from small projects like caring for teak furniture and dealing with stripped screws to bigger challenges, like how to cover up an ugly AC unit. But how's this for the ultimate Home Hack? Grace and Collin Sorensen bought a major fixer upper and had exactly one month to make it not just livable--but a home for them, their son Harper, and their dog Riley.
Most of us would start interviewing contractors immediately, but not this family: They took on the challenge head-on. Grace credits her hardworking husband for doing the bulk of the labor from tearing down walls, tiling the bathrooms, and installing new cabinets and floors...and that's just only a little bit of what they had to do.
The Sorensen home pulls influences from all over the globe, from the Asian-inspired blue and white vases and end tables to the casual elegance of Hamptons-style beach houses, with a few nods to classic European touches especially in Grace's collection of antique silverware and embroidered monogramming in unexpected places. After moving to Cardiff in San Diego County from Virginia, the Sorensens had a difficult time embracing the beach lifestyle. OK, that's a lie. I don't think many people would be opposed to having a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean from their front porch or enjoying gorgeous weather year-round.
AT Survey:
My/Our style: Our style is very classic, coastal, and traditional, with a mix of antique and vintage pieces. We love to incorporate the colors of the sea. All of the walls are white, which lets us play around with pops of color in our decorative accessories. We have a lot of blue and white pottery and turquoise accents. Overall, our style is very laid back and cozy.
Inspiration: We live walking distance to the beach so I'd have to say that the water, waves and sand that surround us are what inspires our home. It feels very coastal cottage-like the second you walk in.
Favorite Element: There are so many things, so this is hard. I love all of our lighting especially the turquoise lanterns in our kitchen.
Biggest Challenge: Time was our biggest challenge. We had 30 days to completely gut and renovate our entire house.
What Friends Say: My friends often ask me, "why aren't you an interior decorator?" or they say that our home "looks straight out of a magazine.."
Biggest Embarrassment: The first night we stayed in our home, we did not have running water. We had to be VERY creative when it came time to use the potty. Haha!
Proudest DIY: The entire house! My husband did everything on his own. He drilled, grinded and tore up tile and wood floors to lay down new ones...he installed plumbing fixtures, tile, cabinets, lighting, and that is all just a fraction of what was done around our home. It honestly should have taken months to do what he did, but he utilized every free second to finish it in 30 days. I'm very proud of him!
Biggest Indulgence: Our carrera marble counters were a nice little splurge.
Best advice: A small home can feel big if it's full of items you love.
Resources:
Appliances: Jenn Air
Lighting: Overstock, Build.com
Paint: Sherwin Williams No Voc Paint
Flooring: Simple Floors
Tiles and Stone: Oceanside Glass Tile
Window Treatments: Overstock
Beds: Pottery Barn slipcovered headboard in Master bedroom
(Thanks, Grace, Collin, Harper and Riley!)
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The turquoise lanterns are a fabulous touch in the all-white kitchen, but I must admit that the living room chairs aren't my favorite. I think I might have gone with a white upholstery.
This generally isn't my style, but I love those two grey armchairs.
What a great transformation - a lovely, soothing home.
Your hard work has clearly paid off. Keep hold of that husband of yours!
It's a very attractive home. I like the child's room especially.
What's with all the monograms, though?
Amazing results in such a short time! Nice work.
I swear I am going to paint my kitchen light fixture turquoise this week-end!
The kitchen is beautiful transformation. I love the slated bookshelves on the wall of your child's room, promotes bedtime reading and saves space.
The storage niche in the bathroom is also nice.
Would you share your source for the kitchen stools?
Nicely done...love the kitchen so much. - From a fellow SD resident.
P.S. -I do think you have monogram overkill though.
Very serene AND an amazing remodel/renovation in such a short work of time. That kitchen is fantastic. I agree with others that there are a lot of monograms - makes me think of LL Bean totebags...but if you like 'em - keep 'em (it's your house). Thanks for sharing!
Love your choices and the creative uses of monograms!
Congrats!
i love the monograms! i adored every detail of this house...lovely!
I am starting to see the blue and white, asian-inspired ceramics everywhere again. My mother has a huge collection of this stuff and it seems like it is making a come back.
Lovely home and it's amazing to see what can be done in a short amount of time!
But.... I take issue with the photographs - why 3 photos of the same kitchen cabinet and three (very) similar photos of the china cabinet? Why a shot of flowers in a vase? I'd much rather see photos that show more of the rooms as a whole - or at least shots of DIFFERENT pieces of furniture or vignettes. Less close-ups and more whole rooms please!
This space feels like a breath of fresh air. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration.
I love the color palette of your home - love the black glass front cabinet, arm chairs, and chandelier - white crisp kitchen - all works nicely together. Adds sophistication to an otherwise casual place.
very sophisticated color palette. i love the fabric on your bed pillows - the taupe/white stripe.
Lovely home, colors and nice use of symmetry. Most of all, congrats to Grace for marrying Turboreno Man! Sorry can't come up on the fly with a better renovation superhero name. When you say that "he utilized every free second to finish it in 30 days" I know it's not an exaggeration.
I think this is lovely. Great work, and the ultra-short turnaround is unbelievable. I'm house-hunting now and this is really inspiring.
I love it! Along with everyone else, I'm completely in awe of what you accomplished in one month! This would be impressive even if it took three times as long.
I'm crazy for monograms, and I love yours. I love the black and turquoise accents also.
Overall, a very bright and welcoming home that's also elegant. Well done.
This is awesome...the renovations fit into the house perfectly and look as if they've been there for decades.
Beautifully done. Honestly, it looks like a spread from House Beautiful magazine. I really love the picture shelves in child's room with books as decor. Such a smart idea.
Unreal. I cannot believe you did so much in such a short time!
that kitchen is awesome. it looks so timeless. it doesn't look "renovated", it looks like it belongs in the house and that is just about the highest compliment i can give!
PS Grace Shu, I always enjoy your home tours. They are the best-written on this site!
i love the kitchen and how the books are displayed in the kid's room!
If the owners read this...could you please provide some commentary on how you were able to make these major decisions within such a short timeframe? Was this your style in your old home, did you have leftover tile, how were you sure the floorplan would work, etc. Just some guiding principles on decision-making, please! It took my parents 20 years to decide the right kitchen layout.
As a native Virginian that has lived out West for over 20 years I can say that the monogran-itis does tend to fade with time.
Wow! I love it! The chairs are to die for and the shutters are so romantic... but the kitchen really takes my breath away! :)
Love the palette, turquoise lanterns, glass bath tile, ceramics, and the black hutch. It's a beautiful, restful space and amazing that you've done so much in so little time. I'm not a fan of the monograms. The arrangement of gray chairs & rocking chair doesn't seem very cozy, but that may just be because the tour doesn't have good pics of the overall living room space. It would be nice to see more whole room pics or ones that give a better impression of the layout. I agree with a previous commenter who said there were too many similar shots & vignettes.
Flawless! Congrats on an amazing job!
Looks great! I think the only criticism I could give it is what you said your friends say - it looks like it's from a magazine. The downside of that is that there is not a ton of individuality to me, but everything is beautiful, tasteful, and immensely well-done. I love all the marble you used!
fantastic job! v v well done!!! love it all!!!
Thirty days whaaaat?
Such a great space....
I wish there was a place on here to post pictures of apartments to get tips or comments. Looking around at my place now I am wondering if I over-designed it.
Its nice. Id prefer the homeowners not brag and send their photo out to every interior design blog on the web. Its overall. When she finished her space she sent her photos to me and all my blog friends hoping we would post her pics and send people to her blog.
The subpar advertising scheme makes me cringe.
jayjay5: I'm with you on disliking the excessive over self promotion of some people. Based upon what I've seen on AT before, I totally expect to see this home listed for sale soon.... if it isn't already. So MANY people seem to submit home tours, only as an apparent means to increase sales interest. Legit, I suppose, but I hate that AT falls for the trick.
So, the shelves above the kitchen counters: is that a good idea? Does it work well people? I don't have a lot of storage and have to keep stuff out on the counter in my kitchen. Maybe it would look better if the counter itself was clear all the way back to the wall, but there was a shelf just above it? How much room between the counters and upper shelves (looks like they may have more vertical space than I do)?
Also, what's the story behind the monograms? It must be more than the suggested monogram-itis - each one was different!
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE LEFT SUCH WONDERFUL COMMENTS!!!! I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR KIND SWEET WORDS AND AM VERY HUMBLED TO BE ON APARTMENT THERAPY! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE OPPORTUNITY AT!
....and just a side....
I don't feel the need to answer to those who have left negative comments on a simple home tour. I'm a busy mom that has more important things to do in life. If you don't understand monograms, then fine by me:) If you dislike something in my home, no worries, that's cool. It's just a waste of my time to try and defend my personal space. Anywhoo, I will however address JayJay5 because I have NO idea who you are, but after clicking on your profile it explains a few things. People reading this, please click on JayJay5's profile. He/she does nothing all day but leave negative phony comments. I highly doubt that any well respected interior designer out there would do such a thing. Your comment is so fake on so many levels that it gives me such a good laugh! Good one. Please get a life.
PS. If you have ever seen my photos on other design blogs, it was because they requested them from me and asked for my permission. Thanks everyone and have a great day!
Um.... I was going to say I liked it. I love blue and white pottery, black furniture, and you're probably the only mom on the block whose kid has monogrammed clothes!
I love the blue and white accents!
If there's anything I love more than your beautiful design sense, it's the "rebuttal" you posted. Yea! Just terrific.
hi, can you please tell me where oh where did you find those chairs?