By Christy Scannell
SDUN Senior Editor

Two Uptown homes will be featured on the second annual National Kitchen and Bath Association’s local tour, June 26.

The San Diego NKBA chapter chose a house on Myrtle Way in North Park and a house on Falcon Street in Mission Hills for the tour. The other sites on the six-home tour are in Poway, Scripps Ranch and Coronado.

“[This tour is] really to show the general public the differences of working with a professional kitchen and bath designer versus doing it on your own,” said Elizabeth Leahy, vice president for technology and communications for the San Diego NKBA chapter.

Tatiana Machado-Rosas of Jackson Design and Remodeling was the lead designer for the Myrtle Way property, a two-story Spanish Revival home built in the early 1900s.

“We really wanted to stay true to the Spanish style, incorporating updated amenities such as body sprays and fixtures, and a lot of detail with hand painted tiles and intricate mosaics,” she said.

The four-month project reconfigured the home’s 915-square-foot first level, converting an awkward walk-through section of the house that had three bedrooms, two baths and a laundry room area into a more cohesive space with three bedrooms, two full baths, a powder room, a wine cellar and a laundry room.

The Falcon Street project was even larger in scope, said designer Michelle Strausbaugh of Reveal Studio.

“They nearly doubled the size – they basically created a new house,” she said.

The first floor of the house will be open for the tour, including an expanded living area, open kitchen, master bedroom and master bath.

Strausbaugh said taking down walls was key to the renovation’s success.

“These are very friendly people who entertain a lot,” she said about the homeowners. “So the kitchen needed to be opened up and more inviting to the rest of the house.”

The addition of a center island provided more space for guests to gather, while custom cabinetry created more storage and display areas.

Although Strausbaugh said she enjoyed the clients’ interest in doing some of the remodel’s legwork themselves, such as perusing tile stores on weekends, she recommends anyone doing a home remodel consult a professional designer for final decisions.

“People really underestimate how long it will take and how much it will cost,” she said. “A designer can come in and set some realistic expectations. I say, ‘Give me your wish list and let me see what I can do’ even if they think it’s not in their budget.”

Strausbaugh said that creativity avoids, for example, a kitchen that simply stays within the room’s current parameters.

“It breaks my heart when people just remove and replace what they already have,” she said. “There is almost always a way to do something that would be better.”

The self-guided tour, which is open to the public, is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are available online for $25 at nkbasandiego.org or by calling (858) 717-0535. Tickets may also be purchased for $30 the day of the tour at any of the homes. The homes’ addresses and more information about the tour are on the website.

A portion of the tour’s proceeds will benefit Rady Children’s Hospital.