Artist’s Digs/ Lisa Pedersen

When Lisa Pedersen and Joe Johnston and their 2 young children decided to make the move to Santa Barbara, they were looking for a property that didn’t need much… maybe new tile in the kitchen, a little landscaping. Soon after their decision to relocate, Lisa happened upon an advertisement about a house on the western end of the Riviera that needed more than a little TLC.

Lisa was blown away by the tremendous views of the Los Padres range on the north side of the 3-acre property, and equally spectacular views of the ocean and Channel Islands to the south. In between these two views stood a rambling, unimpressive house in derelict condition.

Officially, the Santa Barbara Architectural Review Board referred to it as a “French Normandy transitional”, but only the front façade reflected any such stylistic elements. The rest of the house featured horizontal metal windows, low ceilings, wings extending at odd angles and suffered from a floor plan that had been modified over the years to suit the needs of its many inhabitants. But it was the setting that struck Lisa, so she quickly phoned her husband who was working abroad for several months and persuaded him to trust her enough to make an offer since he wouldn’t be seeing it until after escrow closed.

Lisa consulted her father, architect Harlan Pedersen. They strongly considered bulldozing and starting over but kept coming back to the basic footprint, which had a distinct, if hidden, potential. After months of brainstorming, it was decided to keep the footprint but to change almost everything else about the structure, including its dubious nationality. The house would go from French Normandy transitional to Spanish Colonial Revival, comfortably at home among the whitewashed walls and tile roofs of Santa Barbara. Even the property’s name would change, from “Les Oliviers” to “Los Olivitos”. Lisa and her father Harlan embarked on a journey, a three-year ordeal that would consume their creative energies and budgets before they would see the last detail finished on a labor of love that is now one of the secret gems of the Riviera.

Lisa, who had gone through the UCLA Architectural and Interior Design Program at UCLA perused books by Wallace Neff, George Washington Smith and Roland Coates, gleaning ideas, signature details, and architectural turns of phrase that would transform a house into a warm and welcoming home. Lisa and her father also used the beautiful city of Santa Barbara and its wealth of classic Spanish architecture as an inspiration for many details.

Builder and friend Ken Rideout from Newhaven Builders, who had worked with them on a remodel in Pasadena, was the general contractor. “It was a wonderful advantage that Ken agreed to live in a house trailer on the property while building and was able to be there 24/7”, explains Lisa. “Where’s that contractor when you need him? He was always right there and completed the job in a timely manner, even helping hang curtains and Mexican plates!”

“We wanted a visitor to enter our home and feel that it had been standing for a hundred years”, says Lisa. “Ken Rideout has a great design sense and is very knowledgeable about materials and techniques that were in common use in the Spanish Revival era.” Rough sawn lumber was used for eves and timbers, tile wainscot was used in several rooms, inset into wall plaster. Dismissing expedient but non-authentic solutions such as foam moldings commonly used in modern construction, exterior concrete detailing was laboriously screed by hand. Board and batten, which was a technique prevalent in the Monterey Colonial style, was used in different areas of the house (screened porch, family room and master bath) to relieve the sameness of plaster walls. On the roof, three different colors of mission tile were laid in offset rows, randomized in the style of many early California buildings. For the terrace, the same red roof tiles were cut and stacked in a traditional fish scale pattern that admits light and the cooling ocean breezes.

The owners photographed a tile design they liked in the classic Santa Barbara Courthouse, drew up a template and sent it off to a tile company in Mexico. They were able to affordably manufacture the custom tiles that are now gracing the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. In the master bathroom, instead of standard 1×2 batts, wood moldings were used to create a sense of elegance and intimacy.

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An upstairs art studio was designed for Lisa, who paints California landscapes. The large windows allow natural light to stream through and provide panoramic views.

With the house and pool now finished, Lisa and Joe are turning their attention to the exciting potential of the grounds. With plans for a vegetable garden, orchard, chicken house and meandering rock-lined pathways, “Los Olivitos” will keep the owners creatively and happily occupied for years to come.