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Renovation with Style
by Margit Whitlock-Espinosa, AIA
Principal
Architectural Concepts, Inc.
The Welk Resort San Diego is a 600-acre family vacation resort nestled in the canyons of North San Diego County. The resort opened the Lawrence Welk Resort Villas (LWRV), its first timeshare project in 1985, featuring 286 two-bedroom units surrounded by a golf course. These units were sold as a fixed week, fixed unit component, and through the years had numerous incremental renovations of the original design. Holding true to their commitment of excellence, the Welk Resort Group initiated the LWRV renovation project in September ’02, continuing the project over six separate installations to span six years. It was the teams’ overall effort, comprised of management, HOA, operations, designers and suppliers that contributed to making this project successful, especially within a limited budget and time frame.
The LWRV renovation required re-theming to bring about a new look for the interiors while utilizing existing wall finishes, cabinetry and tile work. FF&E included carpeting and custom rugs, bedding, window coverings, furniture, lighting, major appliances, electronics, art, accessories and kitchenware. The total budget including hard and soft costs was $23,000 per unit, noting each of the LWRV units is roughly 1400 sq ft with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The demographics of the owner base brought about challenges with creating the theme of the design. The owners were mostly in their 50’s when they purchased, but are now in their 70’s and their preference for peach and teal was the most challenging! We didn’t want our approach to be the typical golf motif or sunny California splash. That is where our design concept of “The Seasons of California” hit a home run. The master suite SUMMER is filled with hot colors, salmon and rust, while the guest room became SPRING where blues and greens are crisp and enjoyable. The living room ambiance is WINTER with dark, rich warm colors and a hint of blue. The dining area called AUTUMN is where you will see colors of crushed leaves in the chairs and golden stoneware along with a custom rug of leaves in a swirl of green and burgundy.
Management and operations did a phenomenal job of restructuring the reserve study and creating the financing to support this massive undertaking. Almost full unit FF&E replacement to this extent would typically require a special assessment to do all of the work at once. Without using this approach, management was able to review all costs, re-allocate replacement costs and scheduling, bringing this project to reality. “Reserve studies being what they are, make it difficult for operators to achieve a new design direction for the interiors of their units and manage it within one phase of installation,” said Jon Fredricks, President of The Welk Resort Group. “With creative restructuring of the reserve study and multiple phasing, we can provide our owners with a completely new, updated and fresh design instead of individual piece replacement tied to a peach and teal scheme anchored in the 80’s,” Fredricks added.
There was only one hitch: the renovation had to span over six years to keep in line with funding with only one week to do all installation work along with the resort’s general maintenance. The challenge is to design a product that would not go out of style and would be in stock for the next six years. “The design team chose to have many items custom-made in order to finish the project with the same FF&E as we started with. This makes my job for coordinating the six phase installation manageable without constant reselection due to discontinued items,” said Jackie Newbeck, Director of Purchasing.
With older properties, you will find there are items that the owners must keep. For LWRV it was the dining table and the peach and teal wall covering. The dining table base was replaced with a custom built metal frame that incorporated a wooden sphere to match the existing burl wood top. Custom dinning chairs were designed to match, thus producing a new, contemporary looking set, which the owners love.
“The wall covering was an enormous hurdle and it was everywhere. “The Seasons of California” theme allowed us to work around it. In color theory, you learn to balance and enhance color with color. Our theme of WINTER for the living room brought in brown, rust and blue that downplayed the peach and teal color of the wallcovering,” said Sharmista Mitra-Kelly, Project Designer. The furniture’s warm, honey toned wood with a fleck of mahogany was complimented by the fabrics and art with similar hues. The carpeting was custom colored to have a hint of peach beige, thereby blending with the existing tile floors. In the bright, sunny California days, the light can be intense and the typical window treatment can either bring in too much or too little light. We replaced the old bleached wood blinds with adjustable Maplewood shutters thus adding perfect light and a sophisticated resort look to the unit. The cost of the shutters was well worth the return, as they provided ambiance as well as warmth and comfort.
The owner base of the LWRV is in transition and many are now sharing the units with their younger families, and taking advantage of the recent trend known as “grandtripping” – grandparents traveling with grandkids. These families have also built friendships at the resort and some vacation together over the years. With so many people together, there was a need for additional social seating. The custom two-tone ottomans and the desk chair gave the living room three additional seats. As always, cooking is a family affair, so we dressed up the kitchen with new pizza pie hot pads and apron, golden stoneware, a hot red tea kettle, woven placemats and of course, a margarita pitcher! Jon Fredricks said, “The pleasure in this project was its overall success, on budget and schedule, and the overwhelming delight of the owners which is always my main concern.”
Architectural Concepts Inc. is a San Diego based full service planning, architectural and interiors firm. With projects nationally, ACI primarily focuses on the hospitality and commercial markets. Recent projects included: Cibola Vista Resort and Spa, Canyon Villa’s at the Welk Resort, Wildwood Shores and Pacific Beachfront Resort. ACI’s Principal, Margit Whitlock-Espinosa AIA is a registered architect in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
Welk Resort Group is a family business consisting of properties in San Diego and Palm Springs CA, Maui HI and Branson MO. The company is continuing to grow rapidly attributing its success to improving the ideal product, innovative unit design and providing spectacular family-targeted recreation. The Welk Resort Group has sold over 30,000 vacation intervals to more than 28,000 vacation owners.