Jeff Doubet invites you to see a BEFORE and AFTER transformation of a Santa Barbara historic Spanish home. See how a modern twist was introduced into the build. If you love small historic Santa Barbara Spanish homes as much as I do, you will enjoy some of the design decisions that went into this real estate investor “flip”.
The result: an immediate sale to a young family who appreciates the fresh upscale details within their new classic Spanish home.
Specializing in historic Spanish style home Designs
Are you a local Santa Barbara or Montecito homeowner looking for ways to improve your small historic home? I am a Santa Barbara Home Designer who specializes in conceptual designs. Drawings that depict upgrades to the look and feel of your home, both inside and out.
BEFORE Photo: When I arrived at this initial consult I was quite taken aback. Sometimes historic Spanish homes are fixer uppers and need a lot of work. This one was in a league of it’s own:) The investment group was well underway with a major renovation. In anticipation of a successful future sale, they sought ideas for how they could add details to improve their profit margin.
I reviewed their plans and made recommendations for improving the curb appeal. ABOVE: My design concept included a Santa Barbara style chimney, plaster door surround, iron window grille, clay vents and copper gutters. For landscaping, design ideas included a centrally located fountain, olive trees and potted plants flanking the front door. I also suggested Santa Barbara sandstone rocks as inexpensive landscape borders, and flagstone with gravel for pathways.
AFTER Photo: Everything turned out beautifully. Their team opted out of the plaster door surround idea, and went with a taller front door. Their general contractor and interior designer added a lot of their own personal touches throughout the project. As a collaborative team, everyone contributed wonderful ideas and talent. Together we created a very special home.
Building Classic Santa Barbara Spanish style Homes
Historically, local Santa Barbara Spanish homes were made with two coats of exterior plaster and then painted. This was the technique used in this renovation. Other traditional details include incorporating terra cotta clay pipe attic vents, Tecate clay patio tiles and Spanish deco tiles. This small front yard landscape design included olive trees and a flagstone gravel pathway.
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To give the front façade of this historic home a decidedly modern twist, the interior designer chose a pair of contemporary wall lanterns and pin mounted black metal house numbers. There is something cool about combining old world, with modern… don’t you think?
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The Santa Barbara Spanish-style fountain became a beautiful succulent garden. We were in a severe drought at the time.
Building Santa Barbara Spanish Architectural details
Santa Barbara is well known for Spanish architectural details. One way to improve the perceived value of your project is to build them into your own project. This Spanish-style chimney is actually a faux chimney, built with traditional materials. It was something I thought would be cool to add.
Architectural elements built with authentic materials add visual interest to any home design. Other classic details incorporated into this small Santa Barbara Spanish-style home are copper gutters and iron window grilles.
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Here, another photo of the clay vents and chimney. Cherokee Creek flagstone and California Gold gravel were installed. Flagstone “steps” provide a hard surface to walk on, and the gravel provides permeability. This landscape technique is also less expensive because there is not as much stone cutting involved.
Rebuilding Small Historic Spanish Homes in Santa Barbara
Here are images showing the process of rebuilding a historic Spanish home in Santa Barbara.
In this photo the general contractor sets up forms for pouring new cement footings to modernize the foundation.
Once the new foundation was poured, reconstruction begins. Here the new framing and plywood goes up.
During the rebuild process, a lot of supportive neighbors would stop by to see the progress. When this much effort is invested on a Santa Barbara street, it has a ripple effect throughout the entire neighborhood. A house well designed and rebuilt will increase the value of surrounding homes.
Black windows are being installed, and the weatherproofing of exterior walls and roof begin. Talented contractors keep a project moving, even when waiting on other components to arrive.
A close up photo of the plastering process shows the 2 step exterior stucco process. The front of the chimney is the first (scratch) coat. The side is the second (brown) coat. In classic Santa Barbara stucco finish, the “brown coat” is the final coat. Then paint is applied.
Pro Tips for designing small Spanish homes
Recessing windows in a thick stucco wall is a Santa Barbara building technique that provides the illusion the home was built with adobe. You will need to discuss the technique with your architect and contractor at an early planning stage, as the window installation technique is different.
Rough openings of your framing will need to be oversized to accommodate the attachment method of the windows and doors. You will also need extra spacing (of 7/8″ to 1.25″) for the exterior plaster that will wrap into the bullnosed window opening.
A substantial 2 story addition was built behind this front façade. You can see a hint of it just above the ridgeline. Flat roofs for Spanish homes are typically 1) less expensive to design and build. 2) and with parapet walls can be beneficial in hiding solar panels and skylights from view.
Benefits of Building or Renovating a Small Home in Santa Barbara or Montecito, CA.
Small Spanish homes can be a real joy to live in, especially in Santa Barbara and Montecito CA. The weather is perfect and enables year-round outdoor living. Spaces created within your landscape an also extend the livable “square footage” of your investment.
The bottom line is all historic Spanish homes are cool. See the interior renovation of this home.
Well friend, this wraps another site visit in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA. I hope you enjoyed learning how to infuse more Santa Barbara Style into your own Spanish home design project. If you are looking for other small Spanish house designs- see Collection 1 and Collection 2 . Scroll to explore more helpful links and resources for designing and building your own Spanish-style home and landscape.
