Lisa Carolla, owner and principal designer at Fish & Co., has a funny way of describing the home that she and her husband, Menotti Minutillo, bought in the Southern California beach town of Encinitas. “I’m really lucky that I’m an interior designer who loves space planning—and math,” she says with a laugh.

Before: The Kitchen

Lisa and Menotti, who works in the tech industry, are both avid surfers who were drawn to the area for its famed waves. But they were also roped in by the large lot of this 1952 property. It’s the oldest one on the block, and it was concealed from the street and surrounding neighbors by palms and bamboo. “We have beautiful, mature tropical vegetation,” she says. “Every time we come home, it’s like entering a secret garden.”

The neighborhood used to be zoned for commercial greenhouses and nurseries, and the couple’s home originally served as a place for a caretaker to get some much-needed rest. The small bungalow was later enlarged into a duplex, and then reconfigured into a single-family home by simply removing a dividing wall. By the time Lisa and Menotti picked up the keys, it had become a tiny maze.

After: The Kitchen

“It was perfectly symmetrical, even down to the windows—and guests in the living and dining room would actually get turned around and disoriented, despite it not being a large home,” Lisa says.

As nature lovers and natural entertainers, the couple envisioned a kitchen that was effortlessly tied to the outdoors and that could easily host gatherings of loved ones. And, because of their location, the pair also wanted the style to reflect the breeziness of California living.

“When we had a chance to design our dream kitchen from the ground up, our primary objective was to make it functional enough to cook for large numbers, and cool enough that folks would naturally gravitate there as the hub of the party,” she says. “We often host friends and family who love to cook themselves, so the space needed to operate almost like a restaurant, where multiple people could be prepping multiple dishes at once.”

Lisa says that it was serendipitous — given the home’s many former lives and the neighborhood’s shifting dynamics — that the small window in the existing kitchen had a peek at the ocean. She knew the first step in the renovation was keeping it. “Our neighbors with larger, two-story homes have expansive ocean views, but the positioning of this postage-stamp-size view of the ocean makes us feel like it’s the best view in town,” she says.

She spread windows out on one side of the kitchen, turned a backsplash rectangle into another window on the opposite wall, and installed glass doors that connect to a deck where surfboards are stacked. An island is centered in between, and a counter-to-ceiling backsplash of sage tiles acts as the room’s main focal point.

“I was attracted to these green tiles because they are a color reminiscent of the sage scrub on some of my favorite local trails,” Lisa says. “In order to make it look more modern, I asked my tile installer to cut them off the mesh so they could be laid in a vertical stack. I’m thankful he was willing to put in the extra effort.”

Large, gray porcelain floor tiles provide a durable and slip-resistant surface—a must for returning from the beach—and the wraparound countertops are made of an equally formidable white dolomite. Lisa chose white oak with a custom stain for the cabinetry, noting that she was looking for yet another clear connection to the outdoors. And for the kitchen’s finishing touches, Lisa looked to the past.

“The origin of surfing has its roots in many ancient cultures around the globe. Here in California, it exploded in popularity during the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, which were also the decades that gave birth to midcentury design and architecture. Surf culture and midcentury design are inextricably linked, so utilizing these design concepts for a surf house just feels right,” she says. “I gravitate toward the ’70s, when some of my favorite female surfers and mentors paved the way—so those clean midcentury lines are paired with ferns, studio pottery, and smoked glass.”

Lisa and her husband started this renovation in February 2019 and finished it five months later. They still refers to themselves as “the caretakers” of the house, although they’ve managed to leave their mark. “This home comes with lots of history and much of its own style—it’s the opposite of a blank slate,” she says. “It’s been a labor of love to make it feel like our home while preserving the essence of what it is, and always has been.”

More Before & After Stories:

A Rural Coastal Home Exudes Simplicity in Materials and Mindset

Chunky Terrazzo Sings in a Music Industry Couple’s Midcentury Home

Project Details:

Architect of Record: Marcela & Logan Architects / @marcelaloganarchitects

Builder: The Miller Building Co.

Interior Design: Lisa Carolla, Fish & Co. / @fishandcostudio

Cabinetry Design: Tim Richie, KP Contracting

Appears In

Before & After: A SoCal Surfer’s Choppy Kitchen Catches a New Wave