After Mark and Debbie Clausen bought their San Diego townhouse, they had been seeking a change of scenery from their mountainside Craftsman at Mammoth Lakes, California. They sought sea breezes and minimalist design, and bought the 1973 home as an occasional shore retreat and a place to their 24-year-old daughter, Tessa, a teacher, to live year-round.
To integrate flexibility and function using their outdoorsy design, Mark and Debbie aimed for a clean, hotel-inspired look that wasn’t overly stark. “If a couple of grains of sand creep in front door, it’s all part of this aesthetic,” Debbie says. The townhome underwent an eight-month renovation such as new flooring remedies, bathrooms and furniture, and retextured ceilings and walls. “Our Mammoth home is mountainy and dark, so we needed it light, airy, open rather than a lot of stuff on the walls. Clean and simple, but maybe not supermodern,” she says.
in a Glance
Who lives here: Tessa Clausen and her dogs Chloe and Daisy; parents Mark and Debbie drop in occasionally.
Location: Del Mar, north San Diego County, California
Size: 1,600 square feet; 3 bedrooms, two baths
That’s interesting: The master bathroom shower tiles are produced from recycled beer bottles.
Dana Nichols
Dana Nichols: What are your favourite elements of the home?
Debbie Clausen: The high ceilings are only fabulous. The brick fireplace and mirror stretching to the ceiling have been original capabilities. What we did was pay up the bricks and place new mirror glass. I wished to leave a few of the home’s original bones, therefore leaving that the mirror is our throwback to the ’70s.
Sofa and chairs: Design Within Reach; lamps: West Elm; rug: Crate and Barrel; bookcase and coffee table: local store (now closed)
Dana Nichols
The townhome has 3 levels, with all the kitchen and living area upstairs, the bedrooms and entrance on the next level along with a two-car garage downstairs, which the Clausens’ son transformed to a surfboard workshop.
Dana Nichols
Daisy greets neighbors and friends in the front door. A wood flooring mat grabs sand from her paws after long walks Del Mar Beach.
The townhome is at a nongated community 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean.
Dana Nichols
Mark enjoys the shore home to feel calm and calm. Surfer magazines have been tucked inside the coffee table’s built-in shelves.
Candles: West Elm
Dana Nichols
DN: What made you fall in love with this home?
Tessa Clausen: I recall that the day we looked in it. We liked how close it was on the shore. That day we walked to the shore and the lighting in the sky was so fine; we actually have a photo from that day.
DC: It had a cream carpet and popcorn ceilings, along with the high ceilings had really dark brown beams. I simply loved all of the willingness and the windows. I loved the layout. I enjoy that the kitchen opens to the living room, since I’m always talking and cooking.
Dana Nichols
Tessa is a second-grade instructor and an artist. To make these naturalistic shore scenes for her desk, then she ripped sunset photographs from browse catalogs and set them in box frames with beach pebbles. Her bedroom walls have been painted a green-tinted white, distinct from rest of the townhome’s white-on-white.
Paint: Navajo White, Dunn-Edwards; vase and art: Tessa’s work
Dana Nichols
Removed cabinet doors within the sink showcase your family’s collection of handmade pottery.
Dana Nichols
A witticism spelled out in chalk reminds dinner guests that they’re in the home of an artistic family with a young soul. “The chalkboard paint was actually one of the first things we did,” says Tessa. “It is just fun.”
Dana Nichols
DN: What was the main home layout challenge?
DC: It had been determining what to do with all the floors. On the lower level we ripped up the carpets to the concrete underneath, and we love it today, but in the time we were like, ‘Should we do that?’ … The [walnut] hardwood flooring [upstairs] is pretty well bothered. But there’s not much you can do in order to concrete. Now we love it.
TC: They tore each of the floors up, grinded it down and sealed it. You can see the tack marks and everything. The more imperfections that the greater.
Dana Nichols
The transition from hallway to master bedroom is subtle. The doors are blonde wood and white paint, and you will find concrete floors throughout the home. An antler candleholder from West Elm at the corner is a singular ode to the family’s mountain life.
Every room has white walls. “We treated each of the walls and ceiling with hand texture,” says Mark. “Removing the popcorn off the 1973-style ceilings and putting a smooth hand texture made a big difference to updating the place.”
Debbie adds, “The walls are white, and the ceiling and trim are a slightly lighter whitened. There are two colours of white since I needed a small bit of contrast. They are so close, you can only tell in a specific light.”
Wall paint: Swiss Coffee, Dunn-Edwards; ceilings and trim paint Whisper, Dunn-Edwards
Dana Nichols
The master bedroom features lofted ceilings and Tessa’s art painted for her mom in the manner of artist Andy Davis.
Bed and nightstands: Case Study Series from Modernica, Design Within Reach; bedding: West Elm
Dana Nichols
DN: What is your favorite area?
DC: The toilet. The countertop is marble, but it’s not polished. We really fell in love with that, and everything else came after.
Countertop: Stones Unlimited
Dana Nichols
The shower door treatment is artfully simple. Shower tiles made of recycled beer bottles are from Oceanside Glasstile. Both baths include skylights added during the renovation. “At certain times of the day,” says Debbie, “the shower looks iridescent.”
Dana Nichols
The guest bedroom is nearly always inhabited, as their shore home opens up to a rotating cast of surfer and snowboarder friends during the year.
Art: Sticky Shaw
Dana Nichols
Email messages don’t stop coming when Mark and Debbie visit. Mark uses this little desk at the sunlit corner of their living room as his office away from home, with a view of the Pacific Ocean just beyond the trees.
“We feel good when we are here,” says Debbie. “It is very soothing and relaxing for the two of us. It’s got a great energy to it.”
Dana Nichols
The two-car garage does double duty.