Situated off the Newport Beach coast, the harborside community of Balboa Island boasts an endless-summer vibe year-round. Considering that we were supposed to be arriving in Newport Beach for the HAVEN Workshop this week, it feels very fitting to be publishing this beautiful Balboa Island home from Brandon Architects and Brooke Wagner today! The dream team takes us through the creation of this coastal property and shares a look at their process—join us for a virtual trip, via Chad Mellon‘s captures, to one of Southern California’s most sought after spots.

Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the design of this coastal-inspired property.

Brandon Architects: Located on Balboa Island in Newport Beach, this single-family home was designed for a young and growing family. They wanted a highly functional and useable plan that they could grow into with their family and enjoy for years to come. The home has traditional and coastal influences along with input directly from the owners. They were heavily involved in choosing the brick color on the front and had a lot of input on the interiors as they worked with Brooke Wagner and her team to execute their vision of their first new home together.

Foyer: The small foyer gets a pop from the wall with a nice wall texture and feature mirror. It then immediately opens up onto the open plan concept with views through the great room and into the outdoor courtyard, opening up the space.

Living Room: The great room is centered between the outdoor courtyard and front patio allowing for plenty of indoor-outdoor space and a centralized connection to the living program on the first floor.

Kitchen: The kitchen is located in between the nook dining and outdoor courtyard allowing for flexible serving space and plenty of light. The open concept keeps the kitchen connected to all the action on the first floor and even has a view from the courtyard to the first-floor bedroom that will be used as a playroom for the young couple’s children. The playroom opens up onto the courtyard for more play area and connection to the great room/kitchen area.

Dining Room: The dining room was designed more as a dining nook which is more efficient in its use of space and more casual so it can be used for all dining occasions.

Bath: Very efficient and well-designed by Brooke Wagner Design. They did a great job choosing materials for each bath and keeping them light and bright with some great accent colors for some pop.

For those who may not know—can you share, how exactly does the Architect/Designer relationship work? And what do you love most about working together?

Brandon Architects: Some think the architect does a plan and designs the exterior of the house while the interior designer picks everything out for the inside of the home. It is so much more than that and works best when we design together incorporating the exterior and interior visions at the same time. It works really well when we both are involved with the client and working with each other early in the design process. In this particular case, the client had picked an interior designer early and they were able to offer input on the plans early and help us enhance the full vision of the home. We love working and collaborating with talented designers and this was definitely the case with this home.

What are your greatest challenges when designing in the quaint, yet tightly-packed coastal communities, like this one?

Brandon Architects: Every inch matters. You really need to maximize everything you can while also maintaining that curb appeal on the outside that truly helps you fall in love with the home before you even open the doors.

A staple of Southern California living, indoor/outdoor living is a crucial part of the majority of your designs. Can you talk about how that part of the process comes to life? Does the design typically revolve around that?

Brandon Architects: Yes, it is a core concept in most if not all our designs. Early in the design process, we not only think about programming the inside of the home we develop the outside area as well before a landscape architect is even on board. We feel it’s necessary to not only know whats going on inside of the home but how it’s interacting and connecting with its exterior program. We also thoroughly take in the site and its surroundings to make sure we take advantage and enhance any potential for light and views.

The color palette in this home is stunning! Can you share a few of your go-to coastal blue paint colors?

Brooke Wagner: We went the more nautical/coastal route on this project! When it comes to my go-to blue paints, we use a lot of Hague Blue and Stiffkey Blue, both by Farrow & Ball, for more classically nautical and coastal homes. If I’m looking for a charcoal/slate blue, I’ll go with Irony by Clare Paint or Railings by Farrow & Ball that is more navy toned.

Love what you see? Take a peek at the talent behind the story… Architecture: Brandon Architects · Interior Design: Brooke Wagner · Build: Waterpointe Custom Homes · Photography: Chad Mellon