La Jolla Shores home is up for HGTV award

A La Jolla Shores home is a finalist in the 2022 HGTV Ultimate Outdoor Awards competition.

The home at 8144 Paseo del Ocaso will be considered for both the Editors’ Pick and People’s Choice awards in the Curb Appeal category. Voting is open through 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, at bit.ly/CurbAppeal2022. Winners will be announced on hgtv.com.

The home, remodeled in farmhouse style, was designed by senior interior designer Jen Pinto and residential designer David Hall of San Diego-based Jackson Design & Remodeling.

“This isn’t a typical style that you see, especially in La Jolla Shores,” Pinto said. “This one definitely stands out. There’s something very striking about that black and white contrast and that warmth of the wood accents and that beautiful Dutch door.”

The house also has “a very coastal charm to it,” she said, and as one of the few two-story homes on its street, “it also just looks a lot bigger than the rest of the houses but without looking like a big giant box.”

“This isn’t a typical style that you see, especially in La Jolla Shores,” interior designer Jen Pinto says. “This one definitely stands out.”

(Courtesy of Jackson Design & Remodeling)

Given its location a few blocks from the beach, the house has received much attention from passersby, Pinto said. “It’s also a very on-trend style with some of the elements of the house,” such as the siding and light fixtures.

The home won Jackson Design a 2022 regional Contractor of the Year award in the Entire House category from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. The national award will be announced in April.

“The original architectural style was a little bit more modern but dated,” Hall said. “The clients wanted to go with more of a farmhouse-style house, which is a little bit challenging on a narrow lot like ours, which is only 50 feet wide.”

“If you ... look at different farmhouse-style houses, [they’re] really spread out,” he added. “They have a lot of land to capture that … overall massing of the house. … It was a challenge, but I think we got it.”

The house was a “huge transformation” from the original, Pinto said. “We had some trouble getting the build started” because local planning groups objected to the design.

“We ended up working with the city [of San Diego], and the city agreed that we were in regulatory compliance,” Hall said. “So we were able to get approval and then move forward with the build on it.”

He added that they wanted to steer clear of the need for a coastal development permit, which meant the design had to maintain at least 50 percent of the existing walls while meeting the clients’ desire for more bedrooms for their growing family.

Pinto said it took two years to complete the house.

HGTV’s Ultimate Outdoor Awards honor landscape architects, architects and designers, with participants competing in five categories: Curb Appeal, Gorgeous Gardens, Outdoor Oasis, Poolside Paradise and Waterside Retreats.

The judges will review the winners of the People’s Choice and Editors’ Pick awards to select an overall winner based on the quality of the design work, innovation and creativity, relevance to the category and utilization of available square footage and materials. ◆