A family achieves community on the Long Beach Peninsula in three units with Vella plaster and sustainable results.
“We
figured if I was ever going to do it that this would be the last house I ever
build,” says says Ed Arnold. “It’s like building a boat, you get into it. It’s
my labor of love. A lot of work to do to make it into a custom home.”
It has been a lot of the work for Arnold, who for several years now has owned
several apartment units, as well as A&W restaurant chains.
“When I met the Arnolds, they had been through
two architects and two years of disappointments,” says Ed Gulian, owner of
Gulian Design Inc., also of Long Beach.
“Joe Railey (the contractor who oversaw the project, of JR Construction) was
brought in to try and salvage the design they paid handsomely for but were not
happy with. Joe asked me to come over and look at the plans and see if I could
massage around the design to make it work for the Arnolds and their wish list.
“After 10 minutes with the Arnolds, I could tell that they were not going to be
happy with what they had on paper and they needed to get this back on track so
they could feel excited about their dream home again,” Gulian continues.
“Originally, the concept (before Joe and myself), was to build two large, side
by side duplexes that used up every square inch of space on four lots in prime
Peninsula bay-front real estate. After listening to their wants and needs ...
and looking at piles of photos, I designed a home that incorporated all the
views that the lot had to offer.”
The Arnold residence, the main duplex with 7,285 square feet, is designed for
entertaining and easy living with indoor/outdoor rooms on all floors, says
Gulian. The first floor opens to a large courtyard facing the Bay to provide
easy flow in and out of a media/bar entertainment room. The second level has a
kitchen and family room with folding doors that spill into the wrap-around
covered lanai facing the water. And on the third floor is the master suite with
two separate balconies. One faces the bay; the other looks out toward the
Pacific Ocean and downtown Long Beach.
The other two bedrooms are on the backside and all have Pacific Ocean
views.
“On the other half of the lot, we only used the rear half of that so the home
would not add to the density of the Peninsula and which left a large Bay-side
courtyard with landscaping and seating areas that both homes open up into,”
says Gulian. “This modest size home is designed on a typical 30 foot by 80 foot
Long Beach Peninsula lot. The home still maintains
all the comforts and spacious feel that the main house has. Both homes are set
with the Mediterranean style with a West
Palm Beach feel. This was planned out from information
that the Arnolds had given me to work with and
the photos of Florida
style architecture they had compiled over the years.”
WAX AND WANE
As a new construction project, around 35,000 square feet of drywall was used,
says the project’s main contractor Joe Railey, who is owner of JR Construction
in Huntington Beach. The final decoration of the gypsum wallboard was of
paramount importance and a traditional finish just would not
do.
Dan Kirkland, president of Vella Venetian Plaster Systems, was introduced to
the Arnolds by
the president of a fellow manufacturing firm. Eventually, Kirkland became color consultant and then
oversaw production of the plaster application process.
“They [the Arnolds] were building on a Mediterranean design but didn’t want
textured finishes,” says Kirkland.
“It was a much more refined look they were after; smooth walls and ceilings
without a high sheen. The plaster was a semi-matted finish, similar to
suede.”
Kirkland
trained applicators on site to ensure the project’s success, even installing
some of the product himself. Furthermore, he also engineered a spray
application second coat for increased production
efficiency.
“I trained the painting contractor in applying the basecoat, which was sprayed
on using a mid-sized texture rig,” says Kirkland.
“Four men were used to mask off, prepare the necessary substrates and complete
the basecoat; one spray man, one to feed material to the rig and two men to
back roll as the texture was being applied. Half-inch paint rollers were used
to flatten out the splattered texture being sprayed over an unprimed Level 3
drywall. The process was completed in a day and a half.” For the final topcoat
and waxing process, Kirkland brought in a four man crew of trained
applicators.
“This is the easiest product to apply because you can use a trowel, a paint
roller, or a texture or airless spray rig and it can be applied on a Level 3
drywall surface saving huge amounts of time and money,” says Daniel L.
Schiefelbein, general manager of Specialized Building Products LLC, a representative
of Vella.
The contractor purchased all materials through Sherwin Williams in Huntington
Beach, Calif. The contractor’s used Vella (authentic lime based plaster),
Liscio (synthetic finish) along with various combinations of waxes and metallic
colorants.
Approximately 120 3.5 gallon buckets and 20 gallons of wax were used throughout
the whole project, including the garage. Vella Premium Venetian Plaster, Vella
Clear and Walnut Wax products, as well as the company’s Antique Bronze Metallic,
were used for some of the bathroom’s applications.
GARGANTUAN AND GREEN
Kirkland says green benefits of the project include extremely low to nil VOCs.
The Vella products wash out easily with water. The products are colored through
Vella’s paint dealers with organic and inorganic tints. The waxes are produced
with low odor as well.
“We used all natural stone and low maintenance materials,” adds Gulian. “This
has a style that will last the test of time.”
JR Construction’s Railey says the great benefit of using the Vella line was
cost, as it’s less expensive than authentic plaster. He says touch-up and
maintenance of the product is a lot easier and it goes on very
easy.
“Working with the Arnolds
was probably one of the biggest joys of the project,” says Gulian. “The
contractor [Joe Railey] has a great eye for scale and style, so if he had a
question about a certain application, he would mock something up and call me
out to the site to make sure that we were all on the same page. Great
collaboration and team.” W&C
